User Reviews
The Cistercian Kutjevo monastery was founded in 1232 as a daughter-house of Zirc Abbey in Hungary, of the filiation of Clairvaux. The Cistercians planted the vineyards, which are still cultivated today. After the Turkish attack of 1521 (or 1529) the monastery was dissolved and subsequently destroyed.
In 1689 the monastery estate was granted by Emperor Leopold I to Ivan Babić, a canon of Zagreb, who was named titular abbot. In 1698 the site was re-settled by the Jesuits, who remained there until 1773. In 1882 the property was acquired by Vjenceslav Turković and Franjo Türk who developed a significant wine production on it. After World War II this was conducted as a Socialist enterprise.
The existing building complex was built by the Jesuits in the 18th century on the ruins of the Cistercian monastery. The former monastery church, dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary, still stands.
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.