Church of St Nicholas is a Serbian Orthodox church and one of the oldest baroque buildings of the Serb community north of the Sava River.
Present church was built in the period from 1733 till 1737. The church is built on location of old wooden church from 1690. The church was closed and looted during the World War II (1941-1942), and in 1991 interior of the church was dynamited by the local Croatian armed units in the city. Of the total 1991 pre-war internal inventory there is kept only 39 icons, 3 gospels and part of archive and church vessels. Reconstruction of external damage is completed, while the restoration of the interior is still in progress.
St Nicholas is nave building with an apse and bell tower at the main facade. The main front in the central part is slightly accentuated, processed by single and doubled pilasters, cornices and attic wavy line on the edges of a classicist vases. Slender tower that emphasize edge pilasters ending baroque arches with the lantern. Vaulted nave of the church is divided into four bays, which are separated by a wide archivolts resting on Ionic capitals, while the semi-dome-vaulted sanctuary. The bell tower, which was completed in 1767, is 37 meters high.
References:The Church of St Donatus name refers to Donatus of Zadar, who began construction on this church in the 9th century and ended it on the northeastern part of the Roman forum. It is the largest Pre-Romanesque building in Croatia.
The beginning of the building of the church was placed to the second half of the 8th century, and it is supposed to have been completed in the 9th century. The Zadar bishop and diplomat Donat (8th and 9th centuries) is credited with the building of the church. He led the representations of the Dalmatian cities to Constantinople and Charles the Great, which is why this church bears slight resemblance to Charlemagne's court chapels, especially the one in Aachen, and also to the Basilica of San Vitale in Ravenna. It belongs to the Pre-Romanesque architectural period.
The circular church, formerly domed, is 27 m high and is characterised by simplicity and technical primitivism.