Dendermonde Abbey was founded in1837 is a Benedictine monastery in Dendermonde. The abbey was established to the site of a former Capuchin house, founded 1596 and suppressed in 1797. The church attached to the buildings had been reopened as a public chapel in 1815. A royal order of 1842 reserved the abbey church for public use. By 1846 there were twelve monks in the community, and in 1850 the monastery was incorporated into the Cassinese Congregation.
In 1890–1910, Dendermonde Abbey became a centre of the Liturgical Movement in Belgium. The abbey church was demolished to be replaced by a larger structure in 1901-1902. The new church was consecrated in 1902.
Most of the original conventual buildings in Dendermonde were destroyed by fire in 1914, but the church remained standing. Rebuilding commenced in 1919 and was completed in 1924, in Flemish Neo-Renaissance style. In 1939 the abbey church became a basilica.
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.