Hyrynsalmi church was built in 1786 and it was designed by Jacob Rijf. It is one of the most significant wooden churches built in Finland in the 18th century.The separate bell tower was erected in 1840. The altarpiece painted by J. G. Hedman dates back to 1830.
During World War II corpses from the Suomussalmi battlefield were brought into this church to be returned to their home parishes for burial. The church is one of the few buildings, which survived when German troops burnt the village in the Lapland War (1944).
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.