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The old cathedral was located in the Old Fortress of Corfu and was dedicated to the apostles Peter and Paul. This temple was one of the oldest monuments of the old fortress and was originally an Orthodox Cathedral which from the 13th to the 17th century was the cathedral of the city's Catholics. Originally the church was a basilica and beside it was a chapel dedicated to Saint Arsenius, first bishop of Corfu (876-952) who came from Bithynia of Judea. The temple was destroyed in 1718 by a fire caused by an explosion of gunpowder and the place was built a smaller temple whom was no longer belonging to the Catholic Diocese.
Regarding the founding date of the new cathedral the information is not clear. In the place where today the church of the 15th century there was a ruined church and between 1431 and 1454.
During the second Turkish siege in 1571 the church suffered damages. In 1658 it was renovated fundamentally from the Latin Archbishop Carclus Labia at his own expense. During his days Labia added as archbishop of Corfu the official celebration of Saint Spyridon's memory.
On October 23, 1709 the church was renovated again by the Latin Archbishop Augustinus Zacco (1706-1723) and was the center of Catholic worship rituals of the island. On the night of September 13, 1943 German bombing completely destroyed the exterior of the church.
The final form of the building after the additional extensions is an aisled wooden roof basilica with three side chapels on each side (covered with monastic vaults and communicate with the main aisle with arched openings) and polygonal sanctuary particularly impressive size. Before repairing the temple seems that the main altar was once located deep in the Sanctuary and covered with ciborium reported as configured by parts, with architectural elements and sculptures from the Temple of the Annunciation. The total area of the Temple (Temple and aisles) than to 600 sq.m.
The access to the temple is from the west side close three doorways, a main central and two symmetrically arranged this. Inner side is shaped balcony narrow for the body (has been rebuilt from reinforced concrete). The floor of which rested before the destruction of the monument on four marble columns with paliotatous trunks coming in the publications or the Cathedral of the Old Fortress or from an ancient temple and which capitals were later 17th century. The roof of the main temple is situated at a height of 9.20 meters from the floor, around the base of the gable roof, which nests beams indicated in the plans of the stent, even specified that before the war was decorated with pictures of Christ, the Virgin Mary and the Apostles.
The exterior of the church was reformed in the early 20th century. The central part of the face, which comprises three members, organized on rates (Tuscan pilasters) in two-storey layout and results in a triangular pediment. Curved blades are connecting the ends and lower parts of the central. The device reminds some example of Late Baroque churches of Venice which are based on the solution of the church of Iisy of Vignola. The face is accompanied by Tower Gothic morphology, while the bell steeple, a relatively small amount and with pyramidal ending, at the back next to the sanctuary.
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.