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Balmanno Castle is a moated tower house located in Perthshire hamlet of Dron. It was built between 1570 and 1580. It is now modernised and is in good condition. The moat is still partially filled with water. It was built for George Auchinleck, after acquiring the estate.
The celebrated Scots architect Sir Robert Lorimer undertook a major restoration in 1915 for William Millar, a Glasgow ship-owner, as his summer residence. Lorimer's work was of immense quality and undertaken with great care. Externally he added extra wings to form a courtyard. Lorimer allowed himself to dabble in the Gothic, while incorporating internal details from Holyrood Palace whose restoration was the work of Sir William Bruce (1630-1710). Lorimer also furnished the house in every detail, using items he had commissioned as well as commercial pieces purchased around the country. He added a courtyard and expensive furniture to the house. Balmanno was sold after the second world war. Hon. James Michael Edward Bruce CBE and his wife, Jean Coats, lived in this house from the 1950s; their family continue to live in this house.
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.