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Church of Saint Juraj is a true pearl of ancient Croatian sacral architecture and was designed as a enormous sundial and calendar. Experts speculate that it was made between the 9th and 11th century and it is ranked as one of the most beautiful churches alongside other beauties such as Church of Holy Cross in Nin and Saint Pelegrin in Savar.
It is preserved in its original form of a semi-cross with a characteristic dome shaped as ellipse and a barrel vault.
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.