DAY 13 - A MORNING WALK AND DIOCLETIAN'S PALACE

Our day began early and we walked down to the waterfront which was busy as usual with many tourists and much activity in the harbour.


To view a larger photo, left click on the image once or touch on a tablet.  To return to the Blog click or touch off the image.


Down on the waterfront with our target - Marjan hill in the background

The walk started out with a long climb up steps and there were many other people on the same mission.  We didn't have a very good map so weren't quite sure where we were at any time so we walked back after what was a fair distance and retraced our steps.  The view back showed the mountains that run down the Dalmatian Coast.




There was a little church on the way.

The Catholic church of St. Nicholas the Traveler is located on a plateau below the first Marjan peak. It was built in 1219.


The next place we were to visit was Diocletian's Palace which we had passed by a number times but never spent any time there.  There was large market outside with all the usual market fare, plus snails if that fitted your tastes - not ours!



Diocletian's Palace is an ancient palace built for the Roman Emperor Diocletian at the turn of the fourth century AD, that today forms about half the old town. While it is referred to as a "palace" because of its intended use as the retirement residence of Diocletian, the term can be misleading as the structure is massive and more resembles a large fortress: about half of it was for Diocletian's personal use, and the rest housed the military garrison. Today the remains of the palace are part of the historic core of Split which was listed in 1979 UNESCO as a World Heritage Site. There are 220 buildings inside the perimeter walls and 3,000 people make their home here.

There are four gates, the Golden Gate to the North, the Silver Gate to the East, The Bronze Gate to the South and the Iron Gate to the West. This is the North Gate.

This was a gate reached after the Golden Gate that was a defense mechanism allowing people to be searched before entering the Palace proper.










The Peristyle - the central courtyard in the Palace outside the Cathedral


The Cathedral of St. Domnius is a complex of a church, formed from an Imperial Roman mausoleum with a bell tower: the church is dedicated to the Virgin Mary and the bell tower to Saint Domnius.  
  
The main body of the cathedral was originally built in Roman times as Diocletian’s mausoleum.

The Cathedral was consecrated at the turn of the 7th century AD and is regarded as the oldest Catholic cathedral in the world that remains in use in its original structure. The bell tower dates from the 12th century. The structure itself, built in AD 305 as the Mausoleum of Diocletian, is the second oldest structure used by any Christian Cathedral.

The cathedral was named after Saint Domnius who was a 3rd-century Bishop of Salona, a large Roman city serving as the capital of the Province of Dalmatia.  Saint Domnius was martyred with seven other Christians in the persecutions of the Emperor Diocletian. He was born in Antioch, in modern-day Turkey, and beheaded in 304 at Salona.

The Golden Altar built in 1767

The altar of St. Anastasius 

Detail showing pillars supporting the dome

The Romanesque pulpit dating from the 13th century 

The Skrabl organ

This silver reliquary in the Treasury holds the remains of St Domnius

One ticket gets you into the Cathedral and the Baptistry (the Temple of Jupiter) on the other side of the Peristyle. It was constructed between 295 and 305 and was probably turned into the Baptistry of St. John the Baptist in the 6th century

The beautiful ceiling

A large bronze statue of St. John the Baptist

The baptismal font in the shape of a cross and John's legs

Detail of St. John the Baptist

The bell tower which was constructed in the year 1100 
Statue of a bishop high up on the wall outside the Cathedral

This silver reliquary in the Treasury holds the remains of St Domnius

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