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Our heritage-listed rotunda sits at the heart of the Convent’s stunning gardens. Once a grand feature of this beautiful space, it has been a place to rest, read, congregate and contemplate for more than 100 years.

However, the rotunda became dilapidated and unsafe for use – and was inaccessible to the Convent’s visitors for safety reasons from 2015.

Thanks to the generous support of our community and our major funding partner, The Copland Foundation, our supporting partner, Victoria’s Heritage Restoration Fund, and a generous group of more than 100 individual donors in our community, our heritage-listed rotunda underwent a complete suite of restoration works to secure and protect its structure from further ruin.

Working closely with a Heritage Architect and a specialist heritage restoration team, we embarked on a like-for-like restoration to bring this important piece of history back to life. The ACF was committed to preserving the heritage values of the rotunda, and we retained as much of the original fabric as possible, all whilstacknowledging the evolved character of this important architectural feature.

We are thrilled that this important piece of history has been beautifully restored, reopened and reactivated – and is once again a space for the entire community to enjoy. The rotunda will be a place to experience arts and cultural programs and events into the future, and now provides much needed shelter, so that everyone can enjoy our gardens all year round.

This project was undertaken with funds from the Abbotsford Convent Foundation (ACF) Arts Trust, which is supported by the generosity of public donations.