Diocletian’s Palace
The jewel of Split’s old town is the beautiful Diocletian’s Palace. Diocletian was the only Roman Emperor to make it to retirement, and he built this place to spend his remaining years enjoying seaside views and cabbages from his garden. Construction was completed in 305 AD which makes this UNESCO World Heritage site almost 2,000 years old. Throughout the years, after Diocletian’s passing, it was taken over by locals who converted the palace into residences. Despite the re-purposing and renovations, many of the original structures and architectural elements that make this place so unique still stand.
Let’s journey back about 1700 years. This is an artist’s interpretation of what Diocletian’s retirement place might’ve looked like back in the day. Built in just 10 years, it is now one of the longest inhabited cities in Croatia.
This is the Golden Gate on the north side. But there is also the Silver Gate, The Iron Gate, and the Bronze Gate (aka. the sea gate). There is no admission fee to enter any of the four gates into the palace.
The Peristyle. It is usually very crowded here, but we arrived early (after being told our ferry out was cancelled) to an empty, quiet rain-glossed central square. Tours and entrance tickets to the Temple of Jupiter and the Cathedral of Saint Domnius are to the door on the right.
There used to be 12 sphinxes on site, all imported from Egypt. Now, there are only two. The one in the Peristyle is the best preserved. It is said that these sphinxes are over 3000 years old. Note the column color. Purple was the color of the gods and it was no accident that these columns were placed closest to Diocletian’s private quarters.
The Temple of Jupiter is the only remaining temple out of three originally built as part of the palace. Also, here is where we found the other remaining sphinx.
The Vestibule was considered the waiting room before entering Diocletian’s private quarters area.
The floor of the Vestibule in a rare quiet moment. It was said that the four arches once housed statues of the ruling Caesars. The acoustics in this chamber are the perfect spot for these performers who perform Klapa singing, a traditional form of Croatian a cappella music.
The best part about Diocletian’s palace is exploring all of the little side alleys (we found most on the west side). These windows were part of Diocletian’s garden terrace area in his private quarters, so this is the view he would’ve seen of the sea (minus, the shops, restaurants, and cruiseships).
Yes, there are cats here too.
A little old and new here. The hexagonal building was Diocletian’s mausoleum, but it was then converted to a church and the bell tower added later. He was heavily anti-Christian, so there’s a bit of irony going on here.
The cellars now house a number of souvenir stalls and can be entered from the street through what was the original sea gate. There is also a further section of the underground that can be explored for a cost.
I was constantly looking up in this place just to see the layers of history collide and stack upon each other as people built homes and established a city here.
The East gate shows how wide the original road into the palace would’ve been. As more people moved in and re-built inside, many of the streets became windy, narrow, and end in little private residence courtyards.
There are several places that show the original Roman floor mosaics.
Anyhow, back to where we started. The Golden Gate (north side). Right above the entrance is a secret spot bricked off from prying eyes. It used to be a guardhouse, but was later converted into something more peaceful. Now protected by nuns, St. Martin’s Church sits over the Golden Gate and is the oldest and narrowest church in Split.
Not all interesting things about the palace lie inside the walls. Just outside the Iron Gate, this old city clock displays 24 hours, not just the standard 12.