The Cathedral of St Demetrius (1194-97) is a royal church, built to the order of Grand Prince Vsevolod III. It is cubic in form, with three internal naves and a helmet dome. The cathedral is one-domed and four-pillared. Originally it was surrounded by galleries with towers that connected it to the prince's palace. They were demolished during the restoration in the 19th century.
The church is famous for its white-stone carvings - its walls are decorated with ca. 600 reliefs, depicting saints, mythical and real animals. Most of the reliefs are preserved in their original form, some have been replaced during the restoration of the 19th century. Out of the internal decoration a few fragments of frescoes of the 12th century have survived, particularly fragments of the Last Judgement composition. Currently, the cathedral is a part of the Vladimir-Suzdal open-air 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.