Inside the Roman Diocletian's Palace, Split, Croatia. The monumental court, called the Peristyle, edge stone lion detail
A monumental court, called the Peristyle, formed the northern access to the imperial apartments. It also gave access to Diocletian's mausoleum on the east (now Cathedral of St. Domnius), and to three temples on the west (two of which are now lost, the third having become a baptistery, originally being the temple of Jupiter). There is a temple just to the west of the Peristylum called The Temple of the Aesculapius, which has a semi cylindrical roof made out of hand carved stone blocks which did not leak until the 1940s, and was then covered with a lead roof. The temple was restored recently. Diocletian's Palace is an ancient palace built by the Roman Emperor Diocletian at the turn of the fourth century AD, that today forms about half the old town and city centre of Split, in Croatia. 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. Diocletian built the massive palace in preparation for his retirement on 1 May 305 AD. It lies in a bay on the south side of a short peninsula running out from the Dalmatian coast, four miles from Salona, the capital of the Roman province of Dalmatia. The terrain slopes gently seaward and is typical karst, consisting of low limestone ridges running east to west with marl in the clefts between them.
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Photo credit: © Scenics & Science / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: called, coast, court, croatia., dalmatian, detail, diocletian, edge, emperor, fortress, garrison, lion, military, monumental, palace, peristyle, retirement, roman, split, stone
