Below, our guide is explaining the location of the city. Before Diocletian built his palace in Split in the early 4 century, the main Roman city and port was north of the palace on the other side of the mountains. When the barbarians invaded the area of the Roman port in the 6th century, they were not aware of the palace. It had been abandoned shortly after Diocletian's death. The Romans took refuge within the palace walls and converted it into a city to escape the attacks.
When the city was built on top of the foundations, they would dig holes into the ceiling for use of disposing of waste. The filled in holes can be seen as pits in the ceiling.
(Below) This is all that is left of Diocletian's apartments. The windows within the arches would have provided him with a view of the sea.
The Bell Tower of the church built on top of Diocletian's resting place.
The emperor's entrance is in the background. This is where he would present himself to be worshiped as a god. Today, there are guards that are dressed as Roman legions.
The northern wall of the palace is still visible outside of the city.
Today, there is a promenade between the palace and sea.
Modern and medieval buildings were built using the original wall as the fourth wall of their structures and now line the promenade.
View of Split from my balcony on the ship. The bell tower can be seen to give an idea of the locations of other parts of the palace.
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