The article presents the results of a comprehensive study of rotundal religious architecture, presented in the world and Russian architectural theory and practice. The appeal to this topic is due to the extreme rarity of the rotundal forms in the cult architecture with the high architectural and artistic merits of the rotundal temples, created during the centuries-old period from the 6th century B.C. to the 19th century A.D. The sequence of the development and inner interrelation of rotund-temples of different times and peoples is briefly described. The historical analogies of rotundal form development in the world and the Russian architecture are conducted. The ideological, aesthetic and socio-economic origins of the emergence and active use of rotundal forms in the Orthodox church architecture of Russia from the middle of the 18th to the first third of the 19th centuries are analyzed. Attention is drawn to the volume-planning and compositional solutions of Russian rotund temples that distinguish them from the rotundal churches of other countries. The symbolic significance of rotundal forms in the cult architecture in its historical development is considered. It is pointed out that the rotundal form corresponds to the sacred significance of the architecture of Russian Orthodox churches.