The first stone church on the Lendum site was presumably a Romanesque building built around 1200. In the end of the 16th century, it was so dilapidated that a complete reconstruction was needed. The church was restored as the current red brick building which is whitewashed except the eastern end and the southern wall. The pulpit is from 1640 and the altarpiece from 1722. The beautiful altar rails are made in wrought iron and the Roman baptismal font is in granite.
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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.