Santa Lucía del Trampal is a monastic church, one of the few surviving Visigothic buildings. Apparently, the basilica was built toward the end of the 7th century as part of a convent pertaining to the Templar monks, for which it served as a chapel, with a single nave and three chapels in the chancel. Along with the transept, the chancel is the truly Visigothic part, built upon perfectly-angled dressed stone. The main body of the church is believed to have been built around the 14th or 15th century.
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.