The Björlanda Church is a medieval church built in the 13th and 14th centuries. It was inaugurated, according to the Icelandic skald Eysteinn Ásgrímsson, on a 15 July; the year of the inauguration is not known. The building has been renovated and extended numerous times. Additional windows were installed in the 17th century. In 1734, the medieval choir was torn down. The renovation works of 1936 resulted in the discovery of medieval murals. The church is surrounded by a churchyard, the first records of which come from the 18th century.
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.