The Basilica of Saint Mary of Coro is a baroque Roman Catholic parish church and minor basilica completed in 1774.
The main nave consists of a large space of 48 by 33 metres divided into three naves, which in turn can be divided into 4 zones having as axis the pillars of the nave. Six pillars and the walls with pillars act as a buttress supporting the vaults. The octagonal pillars reach, up to their capitals, a height of 15 metres. The central dome is 27 metres high. At the end of the nave, on the right side, different rooms are used by the parish and other services: daily chapel, sacristy and storage rooms.
The main entrance is located between the two towers and looks as an altarpiece with its tortured figure of Saint Sebastian and the papal symbols that prove the status of minor basilica. The shield of the city crowns the building.
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.