Diocletian's Palace isn't a museum piece behind ropes – it's a functioning neighbourhood where people have lived for roughly 1,300 years, built inside the walls of a Roman emperor's retirement home.
An emperor's retirement plan
Diocletian had the palace built for his own retirement, completed around 305 AD as a fortified complex closer to the size of a small town than a conventional palace. After the nearby Roman city of Salona was destroyed in the 7th century, refugees fleeing the attack moved into the abandoned palace and built their homes directly into its structure – a settlement that never really stopped growing, eventually becoming the city of Split itself.
What to look for inside
The Golden Gate, the palace's grandest entrance, originally faced the road toward Salona; just outside it stands the statue of Gregory of Nin, a 20th-century bronze by sculptor Ivan Meštrović, its toe rubbed shiny by visitors following the local tradition that touching it brings good luck. At the centre, the Peristyle courtyard still holds one of Diocletian's original Egyptian sphinxes – brought back from Egypt and, remarkably, around 3,500 years older than the palace around it. The Cathedral of St Domnius, meanwhile, began life as Diocletian's own mausoleum, a genuinely strange twist given his reputation as one of history's fiercest persecutors of Christians – it's now the oldest Catholic cathedral anywhere still standing in its original structure. Below street level, the palace's preserved substructures mirror the imperial apartments that once stood above them, and did a stint as a Game of Thrones filming location along the way.
Booking
A guided walking tour covers the Golden Gate, the Peristyle and the cathedral in around 1.5 hours, with longer private options available if you want more time or a wider loop through the surrounding Old Town. It's one of the most-booked experiences in Split, so book a day or two ahead in peak season. Pair it with a day trip to Krka National Park if you have more than a day or two in the city.
Good to know
Frequently asked questions
The retirement palace the Roman emperor Diocletian had built for himself, completed around 305 AD – not a single building but a fortified complex roughly the size of a small town, built for his abdication from power.
Image: Bernard Gagnon via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)