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The first recorded mention of Holligen is in 1257, when it was owned by the Teutonic Knights commandry of Köniz. It is likely that there was a castle here to control the Bümpliz-Köniz road and administer the estates. However, very little is known of this building. The current castle was built around 1500 by the Bernese Schultheiss Wilhelm von Diesbach. It was built in the style of a typical Burgundian castle, with a square donjon of massive stone blocks with four towers at the corners. A residential hall with a staircase tower was added around 1575 for Peter von Graffenried.
A map by Thomas Schöpf from 1577 and a city plan from 1623/24 both show the castle surrounded by a ring wall with several small towers. Between the 1624 plan and 1667, the square castle was expanded with the construction and expansion of the residential hall to the west. In the 18th century the castle was renovated in the Baroque style. The facade and windows were redone in 1765.
Between 1991-1994 the castle was extensively renovated and repaired. Today it is owned by the Turmstiftung Schloss Holligen, a foundation that maintains the castle.
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.