HST FOC and ROSAT HRI X‐ray imaging is presented of the galaxy NGC4696. The X‐ray image shows similar morphology to ground‐based optical images of the emission‐line gas and dust in this object — a one‐armed spiral mostly to the South of the nucleus. A morphological correspondence between cool and hot gas phases is required in the ‘‘merger’’ interpretation of this and other similar systems. That interpretation has been proposed as a viable alter‐native to cooling‐flows, without the large mass depositions of the cooling‐flow scenario, and relying on quite different physical processes to explain the observations.A prediction of the merger model, in which cold accreted gas draws energy from pre‐existing hot coronal gas via electron conduction, was that the X‐ray and optical gaseous morphologies should be closely related. Here, we present a preliminary analysis of high resolution X‐ray imaging data, recently obtained with the ROSAT satellite, as well as high resolution HST FOC data of the core regions of this galaxy. ©1994 American Institute of Physics