Digne Cathedral construction began in 1490 by the order of the then bishop Antoine de Guiramand to cater for the movement of the town's population to a higher, more secure and defensible location round the local castle. The cathedral was renovated and expanded in the 1860s under the direction of architect Antoine-Nicolas Bailly.
The previous cathedral in the old town, Notre-Dame-du-Bourg (Cathédrale Notre-Dame-du-Bourg de Digne), a late Romanesque building of the 13th century, still stands as a museum.
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.