diff --git a/paddle/gserver/layers/RotateLayer.cpp b/paddle/gserver/layers/RotateLayer.cpp
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..10195193316eae0f545f034c3d3a93f069f327aa
--- /dev/null
+++ b/paddle/gserver/layers/RotateLayer.cpp
@@ -0,0 +1,94 @@
+/* Copyright (c) 2016 Baidu, Inc. All Rights Reserve.
+
+Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+You may obtain a copy of the License at
+
+    http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+
+Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+limitations under the License. */
+
+#include "RotateLayer.h"
+
+namespace paddle {
+
+REGISTER_LAYER(rotate, RotateLayer);
+
+bool RotateLayer::init(const LayerMap& layerMap,
+                       const ParameterMap& parameterMap) {
+  Layer::init(layerMap, parameterMap);
+
+  CHECK_EQ(inputLayers_.size(), 1UL);
+  sampleHeight_ = config_.height();
+  return true;
+}
+
+void RotateLayer::forward(PassType passType) {
+  Layer::forward(passType);
+
+  MatrixPtr input = getInputValue(0);
+  batchSize_ = input->getHeight();
+  sampleSize_ = input->getWidth();
+  sampleWidth_ = sampleSize_ / sampleHeight_;
+  CHECK_EQ(sampleSize_ % sampleHeight_, 0);
+
+  resizeOutput(batchSize_, sampleSize_);
+
+  MatrixPtr outV = getOutputValue();
+
+  for (int b = 0; b < batchSize_; b ++) {
+    MatrixPtr inputSample
+            = Matrix::create(input->getData() + b * sampleSize_,
+                             sampleHeight_,
+                             sampleWidth_,
+                             false,
+                             useGpu_);
+    MatrixPtr outputSample
+            = Matrix::create(outV->getData() + b * sampleSize_,
+                             sampleWidth_,
+                             sampleHeight_,
+                             false,
+                             useGpu_);
+    inputSample->rotate(outputSample, false, true);
+  }
+
+  if (getInputGrad(0)) {
+    zeroGrad();
+  }
+}
+
+void RotateLayer::backward(const UpdateCallback& callback) {
+  (void)callback;
+
+  MatrixPtr outputGrad = getOutputGrad();
+  if (outputGrad == NULL) {
+    return;
+  }
+  // the grad should be rotated in the reverse direction
+  MatrixPtr preGrad = getInputGrad(0);
+
+  for (int b = 0; b < batchSize_; b ++) {
+    MatrixPtr inputSampleGrad
+            = Matrix::create(preGrad->getData() + b * sampleSize_,
+                             sampleHeight_,
+                             sampleWidth_,
+                             false,
+                             useGpu_);
+    MatrixPtr outputSampleGrad
+            = Matrix::create(outputGrad->getData() + b * sampleSize_,
+                             sampleWidth_,
+                             sampleHeight_,
+                             false,
+                             useGpu_);
+    MatrixPtr tmpGrad
+            = Matrix::create(sampleHeight_, sampleWidth_, false, useGpu_);
+    outputSampleGrad->rotate(tmpGrad, false, false);
+    inputSampleGrad->add(*tmpGrad);
+  }
+}
+
+}  // namespace paddle
diff --git a/paddle/gserver/layers/RotateLayer.h b/paddle/gserver/layers/RotateLayer.h
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..c8eca7c5066b18db0de4a666d77b5274cd3127a5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/paddle/gserver/layers/RotateLayer.h
@@ -0,0 +1,49 @@
+/* Copyright (c) 2016 Baidu, Inc. All Rights Reserve.
+
+Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+You may obtain a copy of the License at
+
+    http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+
+Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+limitations under the License. */
+
+#pragma once
+
+#include "Layer.h"
+#include "paddle/math/Matrix.h"
+
+namespace paddle {
+/**
+ * A layer for rotating an input sample (assume it's a matrix)
+ * The rotation is in clock-wise
+ * \f[
+ *   y(j,i) = x(M-i-1,j)
+ * \f]
+ * where \f$x\f$ is (M x N) input, and \f$y\f$ is (N x M) output.
+ *
+ * The config file api is rotate_layer
+ *
+*/
+
+class RotateLayer : public Layer {
+public:
+  explicit RotateLayer(const LayerConfig& config) : Layer(config) {}
+
+  bool init(const LayerMap& layerMap, const ParameterMap& parameterMap);
+
+  void forward(PassType passType);
+  void backward(const UpdateCallback& callback = nullptr);
+
+private:
+  int batchSize_;
+  int sampleSize_;
+  int sampleHeight_;
+  int sampleWidth_;
+};
+
+}  // namespace paddle