Diocletian's Palace in Split is one of Croatia's main landmarks, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and a fascinating place to explore. If, however, you think of a palace like Versailles, think again because it is actually more like a city within a city.

Emperor Diocletian was the most prominent contribution of Dalmatia to the Roman Empire. When he retired to his birthplace (Salona, ​​near Split), he decided to build this monumental fortified palace.

It began in 295 and for ten years supervised the extraction of stone from neighboring island of Brach and the construction of its palace. It measures 215 m from east to west and the walls are 26 m high. Located between classical and medieval Christian civilization, Diocletian's Palace is an integral part of all the styles that preceded it.

The palace is today a commercial and residential center, a development dating back to the 7th century when nearby residents fled to a walled palace to avoid barbarian invaders.

The symmetrical layout of the building with two intersecting streets is classic, but most of the palace reflects the eclecticism of late antiquity. Partly an imperial villa and partly a fortified camp, the palace is remarkable for its variety of shapes, which include an octagonal domed mausoleum (Cathedral of St. Domnius), a rectangular temple of Jupiter, a cruciform lower level of the Vestibule and circular temples to Cybele and Venus. The vast Roman Empire of late antiquity easily absorbed foreign influences, visible in the Egyptian sphinxes in front of Jupiter’s temple and mausoleum, restored as the Cathedral of Sts. Dujma.

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