Diocletian's Palace (, ; ) is an

ancient Roman In modern historiography, ancient Rome is the Roman people, Roman civilisation from the founding of Rome, founding of the Italian city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the Fall of the Western Roman Empire, collapse of the Western Roman Em ...

palace and fortress complex built at the end of the third century AD by the Roman Emperor Diocletian as his retirement residence. About half of the complex was for Diocletian's personal use, with the rest housing the military garrison. The complex was built on a peninsula southwest from

Salona Salona (, ) was an ancient city and the capital of the Roman province of Dalmatia and near to Split, in Croatia. It was one of the largest cities of the late Roman empire with 60,000 inhabitants. It was the last residence of the final western ...

, the former capital of

Dalmatia Dalmatia (; ; ) is a historical region located in modern-day Croatia and Montenegro, on the eastern shore of the Adriatic Sea. Through time it formed part of several historical states, most notably the Roman Empire, the Kingdom of Croatia (925 ...

, one of the largest cities of the late empire with 60,000 people and the birthplace of Diocletian. Today the palace forms about half of the old town of

Split, Croatia Split (, ), historically known as Spalato (; ; see #Name, other names), is the List of cities and towns in Croatia, second-largest city of Croatia after the capital Zagreb, the largest city in Dalmatia and the largest city on the Croatian coast ...

, with 3,000 inhabitants and numerous shops, boutiques, cafes, bars, and restaurants. In 1979, it was listed by

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

as a

World Heritage Site World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an treaty, international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural ...

History

Diocletian Diocletian ( ; ; ; 242/245 – 311/312), nicknamed Jovius, was Roman emperor from 284 until his abdication in 305. He was born Diocles to a family of low status in the Roman province of Dalmatia (Roman province), Dalmatia. As with other Illyri ...

had ordered the construction of the heavily fortified compound near his hometown of Spalatum in preparation for his retirement on 1 May 305 AD. The site chosen was near

, the provincial administrative centre of

, on the southern side of a short peninsula. Based on Roman map data (known through the medieval parchment copy of the ''

Tabula Peutingeriana ' (Latin Language, Latin for 'The Peutinger Map'), also known as Peutinger's Tabula, Peutinger tablesJames Strong (theologian) , James Strong and John McClintock (theologian) , John McClintock (1880)"Eleutheropolis" In: ''The Cyclopedia of Bibli ...

''), there was already a Spalatum settlement in that bay, the remains and size of which have not yet been established. The beginning of construction of Diocletian's palace has not exactly been established. It is assumed to have begun around 295, after the introduction of the

Tetrarchy The Tetrarchy was the system instituted by Roman emperor Diocletian in 293 AD to govern the ancient Roman Empire by dividing it between two emperors, the ''augusti'', and their junior colleagues and designated successors, the ''caesares''. I ...

(the rule of four). Yet ten years after that decision, when Diocletian abdicated in 305, the palace seems to have still been unfinished, and there are indications that some works were taking place while the emperor was residing at the Palace. It is unknown under whose architectural ideas the palace was built and who its builders were. The complex was modelled on Roman forts of the 3rd-century era, examples of which can be seen across the ''limes'', such as the bridgehead fort of ''Castrum Divitia'' across the

Rhine The Rhine ( ) is one of the List of rivers of Europe, major rivers in Europe. The river begins in the Swiss canton of Graubünden in the southeastern Swiss Alps. It forms part of the Swiss-Liechtenstein border, then part of the Austria–Swit ...

from

Cologne Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...

. However, the engraved Greek names Zotikos and Filotas, as well as many Greek characters, indicate that a number of builders were originally from the eastern part of the empire, i.e. Diocletian brought with him masters from the East. Still, a large part of the workforce was likely of local origin. The basic materials came from close proximity. The white limestone comes from

Brač Brač is a Croatian island in the Adriatic Sea, with an area of , making it the largest island in Dalmatia, and the third largest in the Adriatic. It is separated from the mainland by the Brač Channel, which is wide.Trogir Trogir () is a historic town and harbour on the Adriatic coast in Split-Dalmatia County, Croatia, with a population of 10,107 (2021) and a total municipal population of 12,393 (2021). The historic part of the city is situated on a small island ...

;

tufa Tufa is a variety of limestone formed when carbonate minerals precipitation (chemistry), precipitate out of water in ambient temperature, unheated rivers or lakes. hot spring, Geothermally heated hot springs sometimes produce similar (but less ...

was extracted from nearby riverbeds, and bricks were made in Spalatum and other workshops located nearby. At

Carnuntum Carnuntum ( according to Ptolemy) was a Roman legionary fortress () and headquarters of the Roman navy, Pannonian fleet from 50 AD. After the 1st century, it was capital of the Pannonia Superior province. It also became a large city of app ...

, people begged Diocletian to return to the throne in order to resolve the conflicts that had arisen through Constantine's rise to power and Maxentius' usurpation. Diocletian famously replied: This was a reference to the Emperor retiring to his palace to grow

cabbage Cabbage, comprising several cultivars of '' Brassica oleracea'', is a leafy green, red (purple), or white (pale green) biennial plant grown as an annual vegetable crop for its dense-leaved heads. It is descended from the wild cabbage ( ''B.& ...

s. Diocletian lived on for four more years, spending his days in his palace gardens. He saw his tetrarchic system fail, torn by the selfish ambitions of his successors. He heard of Maximian's third claim to the throne, his forced suicide, and his ''

damnatio memoriae () is a modern Latin phrase meaning "condemnation of memory" or "damnation of memory", indicating that a person is to be excluded from official accounts. Depending on the extent, it can be a case of historical negationism. There are and have b ...

''. In his palace, statues and portraits of his former companion emperor were torn down and destroyed. Deep in despair and illness, Diocletian may have committed

suicide Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Risk factors for suicide include mental disorders, physical disorders, and substance abuse. Some suicides are impulsive acts driven by stress (such as from financial or ac ...

. He died on 3 December 312. With the death of Diocletian, the life of the palace did not end, and it remained an imperial possession of the Roman court, providing shelter to the expelled members of the Emperor's family. In 480, Emperor

Julius Nepos Julius Nepos (died 9 May 480), or simply Nepos, ruled as Roman emperor of the West from 24 June 474 to 28 August 475. After losing power in Italy, Nepos retreated to his home province of Dalmatia, from which he continued to claim the western i ...

was murdered by one of his own soldiers, reportedly stabbed to death in his villa near Salona. Since Diocletian's palace was in the area, it might have been the same building. Its second life came when Salona was largely destroyed in the invasions of the Avars and

Slavs The Slavs or Slavic people are groups of people who speak Slavic languages. Slavs are geographically distributed throughout the northern parts of Eurasia; they predominantly inhabit Central Europe, Eastern Europe, Southeastern Europe, and ...

in the 7th century, though the exact year of the destruction still remains an open debate between archaeologists. Part of the expelled population, now refugees, found shelter inside the palace's strong walls and with them a new, organized city life began. Since then, the palace has been continuously occupied, with residents making their homes and businesses within the palace basement and directly in its walls. St Martin's Church is an example of this trend. Today many restaurants and shops, and some homes can still be found within the walls. In the period of the free medieval commune, between the 12th and 14th centuries, there was a greater architectural development when many medieval houses filled not only Roman buildings but also a large part of the free space of streets and docks. Also completed in this period was the construction of the Romanesque

bell tower A bell tower is a tower that contains one or more bells, or that is designed to hold bells even if it has none. Such a tower commonly serves as part of a Christian church, and will contain church bells, but there are also many secular bell to ...

of the Cathedral of Saint Domnius, which inhabits the building that was originally erected as Jupiter's temple and then used as the Mausoleum of Diocletian. After the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

, the palace was virtually unknown in the rest of Europe until the Scottish architect

Robert Adam Robert Adam (3 July 17283 March 1792) was a British neoclassical architect, interior designer and furniture designer. He was the son of William Adam (architect), William Adam (1689–1748), Scotland's foremost architect of the time, and train ...

had the ruins surveyed. Then, with the aid of French artist and antiquary

Charles-Louis Clérisseau Charles-Louis Clérisseau (28 August 1721 – 9 January 1820) was a French architect, draughtsman, antiquary, and artist who became a leading authority on ancient Roman architecture and Roman ruins in Italy and France. With his influence extending ...

and several draughtsmen, Adam published ''Ruins of the Palace of Emperor Diocletian at Spalatro in Dalmatia'' (London, 1764). Diocletian's palace was an inspiration for Adam's new style of

Neoclassical architecture Neoclassical architecture, sometimes referred to as Classical Revival architecture, is an architectural style produced by the Neoclassicism, Neoclassical movement that began in the mid-18th century in Italy, France and Germany. It became one of t ...

Hogan, C. Michael,
"Diocletian's Palace"
The Megalithic Portal, A. Burnham ed., 6 October 2007. and the publication of measured drawings brought it into the design vocabulary of European architecture for the first time. A few decades later, in 1782, the French painter Louis-François Cassas created drawings of the palace, published by Joseph Lavallée in 1802 in the chronicles of his voyages. Today, the Palace is well preserved with all the most important historical buildings, in the centre of the city of Split, the second-largest city of modern Croatia. Diocletian's Palace far transcends local importance because of its degree of preservation. The Palace is one of the most famous and complete architectural and cultural features on the Croatian

Adriatic The Adriatic Sea () is a body of water separating the Italian Peninsula from the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula. The Adriatic is the northernmost arm of the Mediterranean Sea, extending from the Strait of Otranto (where it connects to the Ionian Se ...

coast. As the world's most complete remains of a Roman palace, it holds an outstanding place in Mediterranean, European, and world heritage.

Cultural heritage

In November 1979,

, in line with the international convention on cultural and natural heritage, adopted a proposal that the historic city of Split built around the Palace should be included in the register of World Cultural Heritage. In November 2006, the city council decided to permit over twenty new buildings within the palace (including a shopping and garage complex), although the palace had been declared a

. It is said that this decision was politically motivated and largely due to lobbying by local property developers. Once the public 2007 became aware of the project, they petitioned against the decision and won. No new buildings, shopping centres or underground garages were built. The World Monuments Fund has been working on a conservation project at the palace, including surveying structural integrity and cleaning and restoring the stone and plasterwork. The palace was depicted on the reverse of the Croatian 500 kuna banknote, issued in 1993. In recent years, conservationists and scholars have increasingly examined Diocletian's Palace in a broader debate over architectural heritage and

preservation methods Preservation may refer to: Heritage and conservation * Preservation (library and archival science) In Conservation and restoration of cultural property, conservation, Library science, library and archival science, preservation is a set of p ...

. Preservation efforts have focused on balancing structural restoration with maintaining the palace as an active part of the

Split Split(s) or The Split may refer to: Places * Split, Croatia, the largest coastal city in Croatia * Split Island, Canada, an island in the Hudson Bay * Split Island, Falkland Islands * Split Island, Fiji, better known as Hạfliua Arts, enter ...

community. Unlike many ancient ruins that have been isolated for preservation, Diocletian’s Palace remains a lived-in space, integrating historical conservation with contemporary urban life. Key conservation projects include the stabilization of the vaulted basement, preservation of the Peristyle, and

adaptive reuse Adaptive reuse is the reuse of an existing building for a purpose other than that for which it was originally built or designed. It is also known as recycling and conversion. The adaptive reuse of buildings can be a viable alternative to new con ...

of historic structures for residences and businesses. Rather than removing later additions, preservationists have embraced the palace’s layered history, allowing it to function as both a historic monument and an active part of Split’s urban fabric. Researchers such as Jorge Otero-Pailos have highlighted how conservation practices not only protect the palace’s physical fabric but also influence its cultural perception, reinforcing its significance as a living heritage site. The preservation of this palace is an exploration of how material decay, restoration techniques, and public engagement shape the site's

historical authenticity Historicity is the historical actuality of persons and events, meaning the quality of being part of history instead of being a historical myth, legend, or fiction. The historicity of a claim about the past is its factual status. Historicity denot ...

Architecture

The ground plan of the palace is an irregular rectangle measuring east: 214.97 m, north: 174.74 m, south: 181.65 m (adjusting for the terrain), with sixteen towers projecting from the western, northern, and eastern facades on the facades facing the mainland. There are four towers on the corners of the square, giving the palace a characteristic of the legionary forts similar to those on the

Danube The Danube ( ; see also #Names and etymology, other names) is the List of rivers of Europe#Longest rivers, second-longest river in Europe, after the Volga in Russia. It flows through Central and Southeastern Europe, from the Black Forest sou ...

. Two of the six octagonal ground-floor towers were framed by three landing entrances, the six rectangular ground floors of the rectangular floor being between the corner and the octagonal. To date, three corner towers (except the southwestern) have been preserved, and only the remains of octagonal and rectangular ones. Three well-preserved landings have been architecturally fragmented, especially the northern one, which was the main approach from

. The south, seaside gate, is small, simple and well-preserved. The facade walls of the palace in their lower parts are massive and simple without openings, and in the upper part, there are large arches that face the land, i.e. on the west, north and east facades. Subterranean portions of the palace feature

barrel vault A barrel vault, also known as a tunnel vault, wagon vault or wagonhead vault, is an architectural element formed by the extrusion of a single curve (or pair of curves, in the case of a pointed barrel vault) along a given distance. The curves are ...

ed stonework.

Outer walls

Only the southern facade, which rose directly from or very near to the sea, was unfortified. The elaborate architectural composition of the arcaded gallery on its upper floor differs from the more severe treatment of the three shore facades. A monumental gate in the middle of each wall led to an enclosed courtyard. The southern 'Sea Gate' (the ''Porta Meridionalis'') was simpler in shape and dimensions than the other three, and it is thought that it was originally intended either as the emperor's private access to the sea or as a service entrance for supplies.

The North Gate

The Porta septemtrionalis ("the northern gate") is one of the four principal Roman gates into the Palace. Originally the Main gate from which the Emperor entered the complex, the gate is on the road to the north, towards

, the then capital of the Roman province of

and Diocletian's birthplace. It is probably the gate the Emperor entered after his

abdication Abdication is the act of formally relinquishing monarchical authority. Abdications have played various roles in the Order of succession, succession procedures of monarchies. While some cultures have viewed abdication as an extreme abandonment of ...

from the imperial throne on 1 May 305. Today the 7th-century church of St Martin can be found above the gate, and is open to the public.

The East Gate

The Porta Orientalis ("the eastern gate") is one of the four principal Roman gates into the Palace. Originally a secondary gate, it faces east towards the Roman town of Epetia, today Stobreč. Probably in or around the 6th century, above the gate in the sentry corridor, a small church dedicated to St Apolinar was built. This coincided with the complex seeing an influx of refugees from outlying communities, similar churches were over the

Golden Gate The Golden Gate is a strait on the west coast of North America that connects San Francisco Bay to the Pacific Ocean. It is defined by the headlands of the San Francisco Peninsula and the Marin Peninsula, and, since 1937, has been spanned by ...

, the Iron Gate, and the Bronze Gate. The structure of this part of the wall and the door itself were later incorporated in various buildings in the following centuries, such as the Church of Dušica, which was destroyed in the Second World War.

The West Gate

Porta Occidentalis ("the western gate") is one of the four principal Roman gates into the Palace. Originally a military gate from which troops entered the complex, the gate is the only one to have remained in continuous use to the present day. During the persecutions under Theodosius I a relief sculpture of Nike, the Roman goddess of Victory (which stood on the lintel) was removed from the gate, later in the 5th century,

Christians A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the world. The words '' Christ'' and ''C ...

engraved a

Cross A cross is a religious symbol consisting of two Intersection (set theory), intersecting Line (geometry), lines, usually perpendicular to each other. The lines usually run vertically and horizontally. A cross of oblique lines, in the shape of t ...

in its place. In the 6th century, above the gate a small church dedicated to St. Teodora. This coincided with the complex seeing an influx of refugees from outlying communities, similar churches were over the

, the Silver Gate, and the Bronze Gate.

The South Gate

The Porta Meridionalis or "the southern gate" is the smaller of the four principal Roman gates into the Palace. Originally a sea gate from which the Emperor entered the complex by boat, via basement rooms in the Imperial Palace.

Inner layout

The design is derived from both

villa A villa is a type of house that was originally an ancient Roman upper class country house that provided an escape from urban life. Since its origins in the Roman villa, the idea and function of a villa have evolved considerably. After the f ...

and

castrum ''Castra'' () is a Latin language, Latin term used during the Roman Republic and Roman Empire for a military 'camp', and ''castrum'' () for a 'Fortification, fort'. Either could refer to a building or plot of land, used as a fortified milita ...

types and this duality is also evident in the arrangement of the interior. The transverse road (

decumanus In Roman urban planning, a ''decumanus'' was an east–west-oriented road in a Ancient Rome, Roman city or ''Castra, castrum'' (military camp). The main ''decumanus'' of a particular city was the ''decumanus maximus'', or most often simply "the ...

) linking the Eastern gate and Western gate divided the complex into two halves.

Southern half

In the southern half there were more luxurious structures than in the northern section; these included public, private and religious buildings, as well as the

Emperor The word ''emperor'' (from , via ) can mean the male ruler of an empire. ''Empress'', the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), mother/grandmother (empress dowager/grand empress dowager), or a woman who rules ...

's apartments.

Emperor's apartment

The

's apartments formed a block along the seafront, with an exterior square and circular floor plan, with a dome. From there, one approached the Emperor's apartment, which stretched 40 m deep along the entire south facade; it is only partly preserved on the upper floor, but its ground-floor, translated substructures that directly bore it are almost completely preserved, so the overall layout and appearance of the upper spaces can be seen given the coincidence of the upper and lower floor plans. On the west side of the upper floor are preserved the remains of a dome hall and two halls with apses, and on the east side are parts of an octagonal dining room (

triclinium A ''triclinium'' (: ''triclinia'') is a formal dining room in a Ancient Rome, Roman building. The word is adopted from the Greek language, Greek ()—from (), "three", and (), a sort of couch, or rather chaise longue. Each couch was sized to ...

) with three halls with a cross floor plan. The wall of the Western Cross Hall is preserved at full height. Diocletian's apartment was interconnected by a long room along the southern façade (cryptoporticus) from which through 42 windows and 3 balconies a view of the sea was opened. Two baths were recently found north of the Emperor's apartment, one adjacent to the west and the other to the eastern halls. Although for many centuries almost completely filled with refuse, most of the substructure is well preserved and indicates the original shape and disposition of the rooms above.

The Vestibule

A rotunda, that was once the first section of the imperial corridor in the Palace that led via the Peristyle to the Imperial apartments of the Palace.

The Palace Cellars

Set below what were the Imperial apartments, the Cellars of Diocletian's Palace are a set of substructures located at the southern end of the Palace, that represent one of the best preserved ancient complexes of their kind in the world.

Peristyle

A monumental court, the Peristyle, formed the northern access to the imperial apartments in front of the Vestibule. It also gave access to Diocletian's mausoleum on the east (today the Cathedral of Saint Domnius) and to three temples on the west (two of which are now lost, with the third, originally being the temple of Jupiter, becoming a baptistery). There is also a temple just to the west of the Peristyle called The Temple of Aesculapius, which has a semi-cylindrical roof built of stone blocks, which did not leak until the 1940s when it was covered with a lead roof. The temple was recently restored.

Northern half

The northern half of the palace, divided into two parts by the main north–south street (''

cardo A ''cardo'' (: ''cardines'') was a north–south street in Ancient Rome, ancient Roman cities and military castra, camps as an integral component of Urban planning, city planning. The ''cardo maximus'', or most often the ''cardo'', was the main ...

'') leading from the

(''Porta aurea'') to the Peristyle, is less well preserved. It is usually supposed that each part was a residential complex housing soldiers, servants, and possibly some other facilities.

Streets and annex buildings

Both parts of the palace were apparently surrounded by streets, leading to the perimeter walls through a rectangular buildings (possibly storage magazines).

Building materials

The Palace is built of white local

limestone Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...

and

marble Marble is a metamorphic rock consisting of carbonate minerals (most commonly calcite (CaCO3) or Dolomite (mineral), dolomite (CaMg(CO3)2) that have recrystallized under the influence of heat and pressure. It has a crystalline texture, and is ty ...

of high quality, most of which was from the Brač marble quarries on the island of

Brač Brač is a Croatian island in the Adriatic Sea, with an area of , making it the largest island in Dalmatia, and the third largest in the Adriatic. It is separated from the mainland by the Brač Channel, which is wide.tuff Tuff is a type of rock made of volcanic ash ejected from a vent during a volcanic eruption. Following ejection and deposition, the ash is lithified into a solid rock. Rock that contains greater than 75% ash is considered tuff, while rock co ...

taken from the nearby river beds, and of brick made in Salonitan and other factories. Some material for decoration was imported:

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

ian

granite Granite ( ) is a coarse-grained (phanerite, phaneritic) intrusive rock, intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly coo ...

column A column or pillar in architecture and structural engineering is a structural element that transmits, through compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural elements below. In other words, a column is a compression member ...

s, fine marble for revetments and some capitals produced in workshops in the Proconnesos.

Egyptian sphinxes

The Palace was decorated with numerous 3500-year-old granite

sphinx A sphinx ( ; , ; or sphinges ) is a mythical creature with the head of a human, the body of a lion, and the wings of an eagle. In Culture of Greece, Greek tradition, the sphinx is a treacherous and merciless being with the head of a woman, th ...

es, originating from the site of Egyptian Pharaoh

Thutmose III Thutmose III (variously also spelt Tuthmosis or Thothmes), sometimes called Thutmose the Great, (1479–1425 BC) was the fifth pharaoh of the 18th Dynasty of Egypt. He is regarded as one of the greatest warriors, military commanders, and milita ...

. Only three have survived the centuries. One is still on the Peristyle, the second sits headless in front of Jupiter's temple, and a third is housed in the city museum.

Filming location

Diocletian's Palace was used as a location for filming the fourth season of the

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television service, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based a ...

series ''

Game of Thrones ''Game of Thrones'' is an American Fantasy television, fantasy Drama (film and television), drama television series created by David Benioff and for HBO. It is an adaptation of ''A Song of Ice and Fire'', a series of high fantasy novels by ...

''. The palace also hosted a task on the 31st season of the CBS reality show ''

The Amazing Race ''The Amazing Race'' is an adventure reality competition franchise in which teams of two people race around the world in competition with other teams. ''The Amazing Race'' is split into legs, with teams tasked to deduce clues, navigate themselv ...

''.

Gallery

Outside areas within the complex

File:Historical Complex of Split with the Palace of Diocletian-108818.jpg, Diocletian's Palace. File:Diocletian's Palace - Peristyle.jpg, Peristyle of the palace. File:Diocletian's Palace, Split (11908066464).jpg, Diocletian's Palace. File:Diocletians Palace, Split (11908401546).jpg, Palace house. File:Diocletian's Palace substructure 3.jpg, Diocletian's Palace substructure garden. File:Diocletians Palace, Split (11907851513).jpg, The fortifications of the palace.

Views of the exterior of the complex

File:View of Diocletian's Palace, Split 01.jpg, South view of the Palace. File:Split center from the air 1.jpg, Aerial view of the Diocletian Palace in the city of Split (2012). File:Northern wall of Diocletian's Palace, Split.jpg, North wall of the palace. File:Porta aurea, northern gate of Diocletian's Palace, Split.jpg, Golden gate, north gate of the palace.

The Golden Gate

File:Porta Aurea, Split (20330851833).jpg, Porta Aurea (detail) in 2013. File:SPLIT-Porta Aurea plan.jpg, Aurea gate, floorplan. File:J32 370 Diokletianspalast, »Goldenes Tor«.jpg, The golden gate. File:SPLIT-Porta Aurea remains 1910.jpg, View of The Golden Gate ca. 1910, Photo by E. Hébrard and J. Zeiller, Spalato, le Palais de Dioclétien, Paris, 1912.

Diagrams and reconstructions

File:SPLIT-Model from NE.jpg, Model of the Palace in its original state. File:SPLIT-Farlati restitution.jpg, Reconstruction by Farlatija. File:SPLIT-City plan 1912.jpg, General plan of Split in 1912. File:Meister von San Apollinare Nuovo in Ravenna 003.jpg, Representation of the facade of the palace of

Theodoric the Great Theodoric (or Theoderic) the Great (454 – 30 August 526), also called Theodoric the Amal, was king of the Ostrogoths (475–526), and ruler of the independent Ostrogothic Kingdom of Italy between 493 and 526, regent of the Visigoths (511–526 ...

from

Ravenna Ravenna ( ; , also ; ) is the capital city of the Province of Ravenna, in the Emilia-Romagna region of Northern Italy. It was the capital city of the Western Roman Empire during the 5th century until its Fall of Rome, collapse in 476, after which ...

on a mosaic from the Basilica Sant'Apollinare nuovo.

Temple

File:SPLIT-Temple restitution 2.jpg, Reconstruction of Jupiter's Temple (now St. John's Church). File:SPLIT-Temple restitution 1.jpg, Cutaway reconstruction drawing by E. Hébrard, showing the temple's vaulted interior. File:One of the three surviving Egyptian sphinxes located on the Peristyle of Diocletian's Palace, Split (11907934043).jpg, Granite sphinx of Ramses II. 3,500 years old, it comes from the site of Pharaoh Thutmose III. The other two Sphinxes can be found in the Temple of Jupiter in Diocletian's Palace, and in the Split Museum.

Mausoleum

File:SPLIT-Mausoleum 3D view.jpg, 3D mausoleum cross-section. File:SPLIT-Mausoleum plan.jpg, Mausoleum Layout. File:SPLIT-Mausoleum front restored.jpg, Facade of the mausoleum. File:SPLIT-Mausoleum capital-2.jpg, Pillar from the mausoleum, collapsed drawing. File:Split16(js).jpg, Interior view of the dome of the Mausoleum: you can see the brick vault keys.

Church/Cathedral

File:Split IMG 8102.jpg,

Campanile A bell tower is a tower that contains one or more bells, or that is designed to hold bells even if it has none. Such a tower commonly serves as part of a Christian church, and will contain church bells, but there are also many secular bell to ...

of Split Cathedral. File:20130603 Split 085.jpg, Interior image of the Church of St Martin's with a view of the chancel screen (June 2013).

Cellars and underground complex of the Palace

Split2006.2.JPG, The Vestibule leading to the cellars of the Palace. File:Split D81 3066 (26844247179).jpg, Cellars of Diocletian's Palace. File:Split D81 3065 (24748413408).jpg, Cellars of Diocletian's Palace File:Diokletian Palace.JPG, The cellars of Diocletian's palace are like a peristyle (above) a place of frequent occurrences. File:20130603 Split 232.jpg, Part of the underground palace complex. File:Diocletian's Palace substructure 2.jpg, East wing of the underground complex.

Notes

References

External links

Research and Reconstruction of Diocletian's Palace Peristyle in Split 1956–1961

Robert Adam's ''Ruins of the Palace of the Emperor Diocletian at Spalatro in Dalmatia''

{{Authority control Houses completed in the 4th century Ancient Roman buildings and structures in Croatia World Heritage Sites in Croatia Palaces in Croatia Buildings and structures in Split, Croatia Royal residences in Croatia Diocletian 4th-century establishments in the Roman Empire City walls in Croatia Establishments in Dalmatia (Roman province) Tourist attractions in Split