Visiting Split in Croatia
Set
on a peninsula jutting out into the Adriatic, Split is the second
largest of Croatia's cities, with a fascinating history. In 295 AD the
Roman Emperor, Diocletian, ordered an enormous palace to be built here,
and the heart of the city still lies within its ancient walls.
During the
Middle Ages many new buildings were erected inside these walls,
incorporating parts of the Roman structure and obscuring the original
layout. For almost 400 years, from 1420, Split came under the authority
of Venice, and became a wealthy trading port. Gorgeous Venetian-Gothic
palaces were built and the resulting mixture of architecture is unique.
The Bronze
Gate, one of four, leads from the seafront into the Podrum, a series of
underground halls said to have been Diocletian's prison. His mausoleum,
guarded by an ancient Egyptian sphinx, is now the site of one of the
oldest Catholic cathedrals in the world, dedicated to St Domnius whose
remains replaced those of Diocletian in the seventh century. The
circular interior has eight columns supporting the dome, and a
thirteenth-century hexagonal pulpit of superbly worked stone. The wooden
doors, now protected, were made in 1214 and are magnificently carved
with scenes from Christ's life. If you can face climbing the steps of
the bell tower, you will have an amazing view of the whole area.
The City
Museum is a marvelous piece of Venetian-Gothic architecture, built as a
palace for the Papalic family in the fifteenth century. The Iron Gate,
to the west, leads to the white-marble-paved Norodni Trg (People's
Square), in which a Gothic building with three arches, built in 1443,
now holds the Ethnographic Museum.
