The red brick St. George's Church was built in 1909 as a garrison church for tsarist troops stationed in the city. The classic neo-Byzantine building was taken over by the city’s Catholics in 1919 and remodelled along less Orthodox lines in 1923. Suffering the usual Soviet fates and misfortunes, the building was used for non-religious purposes for many years before being returned to the Catholic Church and subsequently consecrated once more in 1999.
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.