Visitation of Mary Church was already recorded on Rožnik Hill in a 1526 document, stating that it had to provide a copper chalice and three pounds of hellers for the war effort. This church was razed in 1740, and a new church was built in 1746 according to plans by Candido Zulliani (1712–1769) and consecrated by Bishop Ernest Attems (1742–1757) in 1747.
The church was damaged by artillery fire during the Napoleonic siege of Ljubljana, and after its 1814 renovation it was given a Neoclassical facade. Management of the church was taken over by the Franciscans in 1826, and in 1836 it was transferred to the order as a chapel of ease. New altars were installed in the church in 1895.
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.