Château de La Motte-Tilly is a castle in the commune of La Motte-Tilly, 7 kilometres south-west of Nogent-sur-Seine. It is on the left bank of the Seine and has been open to the public since 1978.
The old castle, was first recorded in 1369. It was surrounded by a moat (which is still visible) and belonged to the lords of Trainel, then to the Raguier family, followed by the Elbeyne and Bournonville families. Finally in 1710 Louis XIV gave it to Marshal Duke Adrien Maurice de Noailles. The old castle was demolished and a new manor house was built in 1755 according to a design by the architect François-Nicolas Lancret. The new structure was intended to be a hunting lodge.
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.