Palace · Croatia · Still standing

Diocletian's Palace

Dioklecijanova palača

Diocletian's Palace is a late-3rd-century Roman palace and fortress complex on the seafront of Split, Croatia, built as the retirement residence of Emperor Diocletian. The ensemble is a roughly rectangular castrum with four principal gates, projecting towers on its landward walls, a central Peristyle court, imperial apartments along the southern waterfront and extensive vaulted substructures. Much of the complex survives and is integrated with later medieval buildings, forming the historic core of Split.

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Explore it in AD 650· early medieval settlement Explore it in 1300· high medieval town

Photograph via Wikimedia Commons

First raised

AD 293

Its prime

AD 305

Today

Still standing

As it stood in AD 305

What Diocletian's Palace looked like in its prime.

Massive lower walls of white local limestone rise from the shore, punctuated by square corner towers and a regular rhythm of projecting towers on the landward facades. The south face carries an arcaded upper gallery and paired colonnades; terracotta roofs top the inner blocks. Inside, straight cardo and decumanus streets meet at a colonnaded Peristyle opening onto a domed rotunda (vestibule), while vaulted stone cellars and cryptoporticus underlie the emperor’s seafront apartments.

Step inside

11 places to explore in AD 305.

The record describes 11 distinct spots at Diocletian's Palace, including 7 interiors: the peristyle — central colonnaded court, vestibule (rotunda) — imperial rotunda leading to the apartments, imperial apartments — western cross hall and domed chamber and more. Create your own photoreal reconstruction and explore every one, more scenes means more photos, more angles and more of the immersive experience.

South (sea) approach — southern façade and Porta MeridionalisNorth Gate (Porta Aurea) — landward main entranceWest Gate (Porta Occidentalis) — military entranceThe Peristyle — central colonnaded courtVestibule (rotunda) — imperial rotunda leading to the apartmentsImperial apartments — western cross hall and domed chamberCryptoporticus beneath the imperial façade — long sea-facing corridorCellars and vaulted substructures — southern substructuresCardo and Decumanus — main internal streetsMausoleum (Cathedral of Saint Domnius) — octagonal drum and domed mausoleumWalk on the landward wall — viewpoint from a corner tower

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