A rotational damper having a stator and a rotor that is rotatably supported in the stator, the rotor having a first friction element (31, 31 A . . . 31 F), wherein the volume between the stator and the rotor is filled with a viscous fluid. According to the invention, the rotor has a second friction element (32, 32A . . . 32F), which is supported coaxially in relation to the first friction element and rotationally coupled thereto, and which can be axially displaced relative to the first friction element. Due to the two-piece design of the friction element and the ability for axial displacement of the two friction elements, the entire effective surface of the friction element in the viscous fluid, and thus the frictional resistance and the damping characteristics of the rotational damper, can be varied. For this purpose, the second friction element preferably has a plurality of segments (5, 5A . . . 5F), which immerse into the first friction element and can be displaced by an actuator (4, 4A . . . 4G). These segments bring about the rotational coupling of the two friction elements. In this manner, continuous adjustment of the damping torque can occur across a broad range using a simple mechanism, in order to meet the diverse requirements in terms of size and type of rotational damping in various applications, using only one model.