At the turn of the 13th and 14th centuries Jasenov castle belonged to the noble man Peter from Bačkov. He was formerly an ally of the king, Charles Robert, during the period of struggle with the family of Omodejs (of the Abov county). Later, because Peter turned agains the king and tried to murder him, his property was thus entirely confiscated and in 1317 most of it given to the faithful Philip Drugeth. Since then it was owned continously by the Drugeths, still their’s even in the 17th century as a part of the the domain of castles Brekov and Jasenov.
The first written document mentions the castle in the 1320s. The geographical position of the castle, built in the mountains away from the main provincial road was suitable for the function of a noble lord‘s seat. The nearby Brekov served the more typical purpose of a guard castle in the service of defending the local land or accomodating the king on his travels. George I Rákoczi’s army conquered and destroyed the Jasenov castle in 1644, during the third great uprising against the Habsburg empire. After the initiative of Count Andrássy, the vanishing ruin of the castle was partly conserved, several objects were roofed and the entrance part was fixed during the beginning of the 20th century. Today, however, only ruins remain.
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.