  We review recent work on the compactification of the moduli space of
Hitchin's self-duality equation. We study the degeneration behavior near the
ends of this moduli space in a set of generic directions by showing how
limiting configurations can be desingularized. Following ideas of Hitchin, we
can relate the top boundary stratum of this space of limiting configurations to
a Prym variety. A key r\^ole is played by the family of rotationally symmetric
solutions to the self-duality equation on $\mathbb C$, which we discuss in
detail here.
