From 1760 until the French Revolution Château de la Marquetterie stately home was the country retreat of famous writer and father of French fantastic fiction Jacques Cazotte.
At harvest time, Château La Marquetterie would become the venue for a glittering gathering of the French literati of the 18th Century, Voltaire and André Chénier to name but two. Two centuries later, young calvary officer Pierre-Charles Taittinger would also fall under the charms of Château de la Marquetterie, which he discovered on joining the command of Marshal Joffre who made his headquarters here in 1914. So smitten was Pierre-Charles that he acquired the chateau in 1934, placing a precious piece of Champagne heritage in the safe-keeping of the Taittinger family whose emblem it remains to this day.
Château de la Marquetterie is a gem of Louis XV style, preserved for posterity by Champagne House Taittinger.
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.