A novel high pressure polymorph of iron sesquioxide, m-Fe 2 O 3 , has been identified by means of singlecrystal synchrotron X-ray diffraction (XRD). Upon compression of a single crystal of hematite, α-Fe 2 O 3 , in a diamond anvil cell, the transition occurs at pressure of about 54 GPa and results in ∼10% volume reduction. The crystal structure of the new phase was solved by the direct method (monoclinic space group P2 1 /n, a = 4.588(3), b = 4.945(2), c = 6.679(7) Å and β = 91.31(9) • ) and refined to R 1 ∼11%. It belongs to the cryolite double-perovskite structure type and consists of corner-linked FeO 6 octahedra and FeO 6 trigonal prisms filling the free space between the octahedra. Upon compression up to ∼71 GPa at ambient temperature no further phase transitions were observed. Laser heating to ∼ 2100 ± 100 K promotes a transition to the Cmcm CaIrO 3 -type (post-perovskite (PPv)) phase. The PPv-Fe 2 O 3 crystal structure was refined by means of single-crystal XRD at ∼65 GPa. On decompression the PPv-Fe 2 O 3 phase fully transforms back to hematite at pressures between ∼25 and 15 GPa.