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Split Region
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Split
When the Roman Emperor Diocletian, who had nearly the entire world
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at his feet, decided in 305 A.D. to abdicate and build the country villa in which he would spend his remaining life, he did not have to think twice
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about where. In the heart of Dalmatia on a well-protected gulf of the former Greek colony called Aspalathos -- its seaward side protected by the islands of the Split archipelago and its landward side shielded by high
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mountains -- Diolcetian the visionary marked a spot on the map of the Adriatic that would one day become the city of Split. Just six kilometers
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from cosmopolitan Salona, which was then the capital of the Roman province of Dalmatia, the palace complex had strong walls, numerous
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part of a Catholic cathedral dedicated to St. Domnius - martyed by this same Diocletian - with magnificent wooden doorframes by Andrija Buvina
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With time the mausoleum of the last pagan Roman emperor became
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without equal. Today, it is the largest complex of ancient times in Croatia.
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towers, temples, palaces and baths. For its time, it was a residence
in 1214. Succesfully withstanding the changes of history, and closely
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coexisting with the city as its thickly populated central core, Diocletian’s
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residence today is a place of lively cafes that serve domestic specialties from seafood delicacies to lamb and Sinj “arambašića”, accompanied by the finest red wines. Hiding in the wings is the smallest street in the world, known as “Let Me Pass” because only one person at a time can walk through it. The miraculous and one-of-a-kind old town of Split has been rightfully named as a Zero Category monument and included in the