Zadar - St. Donatus

Zadar has a very long history - and after the Romans had left, Ostrogoths, Huns, Avars and Slavs had been here. It was part of the Byzantine Empire upto the early 9th century, when the Franks held it, but returned it to Byzantium after the Treaty of Aachen in 812.

In 1069 Zadar was under the rule of Croatian King Petar Krešimir IV. but already 1102 whole Dalmatia became Hungarian. Since the 12th century Zadar was a rival to Venice. The Venetians and the Crusaders conquered the town after a siege in 1202. Zadar changed hands a couple of times, but in 1409 Ladislaus of Naples, titular King of Hungary (and husband of Mary of Lusignan) sold Dalmatia to Venice for 100.000 ducats.

During the Croatian War of Independence in the 1990s Zadar was under siege for about 2 years and shelled sporadically, what created a lot of damage. Attacks on the city continued until the end of the war in 1995.

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Most important bishop here was Donatus, who had strong ties to the Byzantine Emperor Nikephoros I and was a well travelled diplomat. In the "Vita Karoli Magni" Einhard, Charlemagne´s biographer, wrote about a meeting between him and Charlenagne in Thionville (805). Donatus may have seen the octogonal Palatine Chapel in Aachen - and maybe even San Vitale in Ravenna.

These structures seem to be models of the "Crkva sv. Donata", completed probably mid 9th century. Built on the foundations of the Roman forum this was the bishop´s "private chapel", neighbouring the cathedral.

Over centuries the church was used as a warehouse, during Yugoslavian times, it served as an archaeological museum. As the building has a brilliant accoustic it is now a venue for the annual International Festival of Medieval Renaissance Music.

www.donat-festival.com/

Looking down from the gallery. When the rotunda was erected on the former Roman forum, there were probably lots of Roman ruins. Many Roman spolia were reused here, like these pillars and capitals.