According the legend the first wooden church of Botkyrka was completed in 1129 and it was built by Björn to his brother St. Bodvid. It was replaced by a Romanescue-style stone church in 1176. The present main nave originates from this church. The tower was added some decades later and the church was enlarged in the 14th and 15th centuries.
The altar was made in Antwerpen in 1525. The sandstone epitaph date from the 12th century. The crucifix from the 14th century is today moved to the National Historical Museum in Stockholm.
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.