Rotunde

{{Multiple issues| {{Expand German|topic=struct|Rotunde (Wien)|date=December 2009}} {{One source|date=November 2008}} }} {{Infobox building | architect=Baron Karl von Hasenauer | circumference=Of dome only:<br>{{Cvt|319.6|m}} (inner) | classification=Former building | completion_date=1873 | coordinates={{Coord|48|12|44|N|16|24|34|E|display=inline,title|region:AT-9_type:landmark_source:dewiki}} | diameter=Of dome only:<br>{{Cvt|107.83|m}} (outer)<br>{{Cvt|101.7|m}} (inner) | image_caption=The Rotunde in 1873 | image=W Rotunde.jpg | location_city=Leopoldstadt, Vienna | location_country=Austria | pushpin_map =Austria Vienna#Austria | name=Rotunde | status=Destroyed by a fire in 1937 }}

The '''Rotunde''' ({{IPA|de|roˈtʊndə|lang}}) in Vienna's Leopoldstadt district was a building erected for the 1873 Vienna World's Fair ({{langx|de|Weltausstellung 1873 Wien}}). The building was a partially covered circular wrought iron construction, {{Cvt|84.1|m}} tall, with a diameter of {{Cvt|107.83|m}}.<ref name="Uhland 1873">{{cite journal | date=1873 | doi=10.1016/0016-0032(73)90149-x | first=Wilhelm H. Heinrich | issn=0016-0032 | issue=3 | journal=Journal of the Franklin Institute | last=Uhland | oclc=1044760573 | orig-date=1872-11 | page=185 | publisher=Published by the Franklin Institute at their Hall | title=Notes on the Vienna Universal exposition| volume=95 }}</ref>{{Efn|"Accurately stated, the exterior diameter of the Rotunde is 107·83 meters, and its height 84·1 meters"<ref name="Uhland 1873" />}} While the Rotunde stood, its dome was the largest in the world, larger than the Pantheon in Rome.{{Efn|The Pantheon in Rome, which was dedicated {{circa|126}} AD, over 1,700 years before the Rotunde was completed, has a dome that is {{Cvt|43.3|m}} in diameter}}.

The Rotunde burned down in 1937. Its former site is now occupied by buildings associated with the Vienna University of Economics and Business, and with Messe Wien.

== Construction == The Rotunde was designed by the Austrian architect Baron Karl von Hasenauer, and was built by the German entrepreneur and bridge builder {{ill |1=Johann Caspar Harkort VI | 2=de | 3=Johann Caspar Harkort VI.}} and his company based in Duisburg. The Scottish civil engineer John Scott Russell was responsible for the dome, which was built with wrought iron.<ref>{{cite web | title=The Rotunda of the 1873 Vienna International Exhibition World's Fair Treasury | date=2006-02-23 | url=https://digital.lib.umd.edu/worldsfairs/result/id/umd:992 | access-date=2023-09-12 | first=Ly Y. | last=Bui}}</ref>

thumb|left|The Rotunde under construction in October 1872 thumb|left|The opening of the 1873 Vienna World's Fair inside the Rotunde The German engineer and journalist Wilhelm Heinrich Uhland reported, that the Rotunde weighed approximately "80,000 hundredweight (Zoll centner), or about 4000 tons", that is, {{Cvt|4000000|kg}}.<ref name="Uhland 1873" />{{Efn|"The total weight of the structure of the Rotunde may be stated in round numbers at 80,000 hundredweight (Zoll centner), or about 4000 tons"<ref name="Uhland 1873" />}}

{| class="wikitable mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" | '''Conversions of the Rotunde's weight''' |- | A centner is a unit of mass equal to 100 of some base unit of mass. The German equivalent of the centner is the {{lang|de|Zentner}}, and its base unit was traditionally the pound ({{langx|de|Pfund}}), the definition of which varied in Germany. In 1854 the {{lang|de|Zollpfund}} was defined by the German Customs Union ({{langx|de|Zollverein}}) as being equal to 500 grams. The "Zoll[ ]zentner"<ref>{{cite book| date=1909| language=de| page=982| publisher=Bibliographisches Institut| title=Meyers Großes Konversations-Lexikon| volume=20}}</ref> or "Zoll[ ]centner"<ref>{{cite book| date=1862| first=Friedrich Benedikt Wilhelm| last=von Hermann| pages=RA2-PA228| series=Reports from Committees| title=Eleven Volumes. : —(2.)— : East India Communication; Sydney Branch Mint; Weights and Measures| volume=7}}</ref> is a {{lang|de|Zentner}}/centner with the {{lang|de|Zollpfund}} as its base unit: the {{lang|de|Zollzentner}} is equal to 100 {{lang|de|Zollpfund}}.

Accordingly, the weight of the Rotunde reported by Uhland can be converted into metric units:

<math> 80,000\ \text{Zollzentner}\cdot\frac{100\ \text{Zollpfund}}{1\ \text{Zollzentner}} = 8,000,000\ \text{Zollpfund} </math>

<math> 8,000,000\ \text{Zollpfund}\cdot\frac{500\ \text{g}}{1\ \text{Zollpfund}} = 4,000,000,000\ \text{g} </math>

So, by "4000 tons", Uhland presumably meant 4,000 tonnes/metric tons (SI symbol t), not short or long tons. |}

The central building of the World's Fair was accepted enthusiastically by the public. After the World's Fair, the Rotunde was used for shows and fairs.

== Fiakerlied == [[File:Gustav Pick Wiener Fiakerlied.jpg|thumb|left|Sheet music cover art of Girardi's 1885 performance in the Rotunde]] Alexander Girardi performed in the Rotunde on 24–25 May 1885, singing Gustav Pick's new composition, the {{lang|de|Fiakerlied}}, for the first time.<ref>{{cite book| issn=0005-0520| number=6| publisher=Austrian Information Service| section=The Prater—Two Centuries of a Vienna Institution| title=Austrian Information| pages=RA5-PA5| volume=XIX| year=1966}}</ref><ref>{{ cite book| first=Susana| first2=Wolfgang| isbn=9783990940891| language=de| last=Zapke| last2=Fichna| oclc=1396220012| publisher=Hollitzer Wissenschaftsverlag| title=Die Musik des Wiener Praters. Eine liederliche Träumerei: Unbekannte Lieder aus zwei Jahrhunderten| page=PA106| year=2023}}</ref>

== Jubilee Exhibition 1898 == In 1898, Emperor Franz Joseph's Jubilee Exhibition (''Jubiläumsausstellung'') was held in the Rotunde. The "Collective Exhibition of Austrian Automobile Builders" ({{langx|de|Collektivausstellung österreichischer Automobilbauer}}), organized by the {{ill|Austrian Automobile Club|de|Österreichischer Automobil-Club}} ({{langx|de|Österreichische Automobil-Club}}), was held as part of the Jubilee Exhibition. Four automobiles from manufacturers in Austria-Hungary were shown: the automobile built by Siegfried Marcus in 1888–1889 (the first automobile built in Austria-Hungary), an Egger-Lohner electric automobile, an Egger-Lohner petrol automobile, and the {{Lang|de|Nesselsdorfer Wagenbau-Fabriks-Gesellschaft}} (now Tatra) Präsident.

==Notes== {{Notelist}}

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== {{Commons category}} * [http://aeiou.at/r/r897923.htm Rotunde]{{Dead link|date=March 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} {{In lang|de}}{{Dead link|date=September 2023}}

Category:Buildings and structures completed in 1873 Category:Buildings and structures in Vienna Category:Buildings and structures in Leopoldstadt Category:World's fair architecture in Europe Category:Burned buildings and structures in Europe Category:Former buildings and structures in Austria