DESTINATION
Diocletian's palace
one of the best preserved monuments of Roman architecture in the world. The Emperor’s Palace was built as a combination of a luxury villa – a summer house and a Roman military camp, divided into four parts by two main streets. The palace is rectangular with four large towers at the corners, gates (Golden, Silver, Iron and Brass gates) on each of the four sides and with four smaller towers on the walls. The historical part of Split with Diocletian’s Palace is included in the UNESCO World Heritage List.
DESTINATION
The basements of Diocletian's palace
Represent one of the best preserved ancient complexes of its kind in the world. In Roman times, their function was to raise the space of the emperor’s apartment on the floor above; also, they served as the storage space of the Palace. Today, these ground-floor halls are entered through the Brass Gate, from the Riva or the staircase from the Peristyle.The basements are still full of life today. Painting and sculpture exhibitions, theatre performances, fairs and many other social and cultural events are regularly organised there.
DESTINATION
The bell tower of the Cathedral (57m)
The most original Dalmatian medieval building the construction of which began in the middle of the 13th century and lasted until the middle of the 16th century. Due to the extremely long period of construction, it is a combination of Romanesque and Gothic architecture, but both styles are in excellent harmony. At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, the belltower was thoroughly renovated and slightly altered. Today, it is possible to climb the stairs to the top of the belltower, where there is a spectacular view of the whole of Split.
DESTINATION
The Vestibule
is the first part of the imperial corridor that led from the Peristyle to Diocletian’s residential part of the Palace. The old imperial lobby still looks monumental today. Southeast of the Vestibule is a medieval area, within which the oldest early Romanesque house from the tenth century is located. At the other end of the square, in the former church of St. Andrew, built in the seventh century on the site of the imperial chambers, there is an Ethnographic Museum.
DESTINATION
The temple of Jupiter
dedicated to the supreme Roman deity and Diocletian’s divine father Jupiter. During late Ancient times and the Middle Ages, the temple was turned into a baptistery dedicated to St. John the Baptist, and the crypt was dedicated to St. Thomas. A baptismal font, originally located in the cathedral, was erected in the former church at the beginning of the 13th century. On one of the plaques there is a depiction of a Croatian king (Peter Krešimir IV. or Zvonimir), the earliest depiction of a European king in a medieval stone sculpture. Today, the Baptistery is dominated by the Secession sculpture of St. John the Baptist, the work of Ivan Meštrović, and in front of it one of the twelve granite sphinxes that Diocletian brought from Egypt is placed.
DESTINATION
The Peristil
As the central square of the Palace, is located in the part where several temples were built, intended for Emperor Diocletian, celebrated as the living son of Jupiter. The emperor appeared under the arch of the central part of the protiron where his people approached him. Thanks to its unique beauty and unusual acoustics, the Peristyle is today an ideal theatre stage where a rich city life takes place. Drinking coffee on the stairs around the Peristyle is a unique experience, one of the closest contacts a modern man can have with ancient heritage, while a 3,500-year-old and beautifully preserved sphinx is watching over the Peristyle.
