The Urueña castle was built around the year 1060 by the Castilian monarch Fernando I el Magno (the Great). It is built on the remains of a Roman fort. Overlooking the Tierra de Campos it has always been a strategically important place. Urueña was on the border between the two kingdoms Castilla and León. After many battles the kingdom of Castilla reconquered the castle in the year 1281.
The Queen Doña Urraca lived in this castle. Also Doña María de Padilla, mistress of King Pedro I of Castilla, lived here. Later the castle was used as a prison: Doña Beatriz Princess of Portugal was held here as one of the prisoners. From the 19th century it was used as a cemetery. Today only the exterior walls of the castle remain.
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.