The Rotunda was an exhibition hall built in the popular park, the Prater, for the occasion of the 1873 World Fair held in Vienna. On the contemporary engraving, according to the inscription, the main entrance of the Industrial Palace is seen, which corresponds to the image of the next Viennese badge. When the Rotunda dome was built, it was the largest in the world with 108 meters in diameter and 84 meters high. Its construction, like London’s Christal Palace, also built as an exhibition building, rested on a steel structure covered in wood and plaster cladding. It stood for a long time with different purposes until it burned down in 1937. It wasn’t rebuilt, it’s not visible anymore. It was a gathering place for soldiers recovering during the First World War, as reported in the badge inscription (Rekonvaleszentensammelstelle). The badge was dated in 1917.
The contemporary post card shows only minor changes of the place with higher trees in front of the building.
[…] work was done in separate centers. The most famous such institution in Vienna was the Rotunda for the World Fair, which I have already written about here. There were many similar institutions […]