Podčetrtek belongs among the oldest castles in Slovenia. It was once located at an old national border, at Sotla river facing Croatia or Hungary. Podčetrtek is located in the area which already in 1071 became a property of Krško diocese. The construction of the castle can be dated to a time after the first third of the 12th century. First written record dates from 1361.
On 12th of November 1441 bishop of Krško Johan temporarily gave his castles Pilštanj, Podčetrtek, Bizeljsko and Mokronog to emperor Friderik IV who kept them until 1445, Afterwards the castle was governed by managers and between 1479 and 1490 it was in the hands of Hungarian army. In 1515 the castle succumbed to peasant revolt.
In 1527 the castle possession was moved to Hans Tattenbach and his successors leased and rented the castle and in 1612 Krško diocese imparted them the castle as heritable or private possession. At the execution of Erazem Tattenbach in 1628 the castle was confiscated by the province from which Ignac Attems. The castle was completely renovated in 1874 and remained a property of Attems' until the World War II.
After the war when the castle became a general public property it served various purposes and gradually it was soon completely robbed. Only a few artworks were rescued and are stored by Posavski muzej in Brežice. Nowadays it is abandoned.
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.