The Parish Church of St. Stjepan was first mentioned in the 1100 AD, in the 'Glorious Dragoslav' grant. According to the Glagolitic inscription, it was expanded in 1510. It is dominated by elements of the Baroque and late Gothic works. Initially a single nave, the parish church in the 18th century, it became a triple nave by the merging a series of side chapels, which over the centuries were built into a one nave church. Above its entrance, there is a canopy of the unique name 'cergan', and from there it overlooks much of Kvarner. There was a bell tower next to the church, but in 1720 it was distroyed by lightning and a new one was built. The new one was not built in the same place, but in a nearby old cemetery, from where it still dominates the whole area today. This bell tower suffered devastation, by the Germans during the occupation of 1944, but was rebuilt after the war.
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.