Liikkala fort was built by Russians in 1791-1792 as part of the South-Eastern Finland fortification system. It was meant to defend the road from the Swedish border to Hamina, which the Swedish army had used to attack Hamina in the Russo-Swedish war in 1788. Liikkala contained two ground redoubts and four demi-bastions.
After the Finnish War (1808-1809) Liikkala was abandoned, because the border was moved far away to west. Restoration of Liikkala Fort has been in progress since 1980 as an employment project by the National Board of Antiquities and the Ministry of Labour. Nowadays there remains well-preserved ground walls and some ruins of the Russian barracks.
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.