Svetište Dioklecijanove palače
THE SANCTUARY OF DIOCLETIAN’S PALACE

Summary/Abstract: The reformative Emperor who changed the courtly ceremonies, reformed the economy by numerous decrees and introduced an entirely new structure of government - Tetrarchs, has also introduced fundamental changes in the architecture and urbanism of the late Empire, resulting in extremely strong influence of the Hellenized East. The palace in Split, as well as his other palaces like those in Antioch and Nicomedia, which are not preserved, is completely different from all those other imperial residences. They were rationally organized, like a military camp with walled towers and walls. Diocletian‘s palace became the model for the construction of imperial residences so it will be copied for the Constantine’s Mega palation as well as in fortified castles of medieval European rulers. Through an examination of historical and contemporary descriptions and interpretation of the temples of Diocletian‘s palace one can see a huge interest in the tradition and an impact on the formation of today‘s understanding of its religious complex. The modern interpretation of the layout of the temples in the sacred assembly is primarily based on archaeological research and patient collection of preserved traces of historic buildings during the last hundred years. In parallel we have tried to connect the archaeological finds from literary sources and historical descriptions of the temples of the Palace. The architecture of the temples of Diocletian‘s Palace shows exceptional skill of emperor’s builders, their origins traced to Asia Minor and Egypt, and workforce which had an excellent knowledge of the earlier large architectural examples that served as a role model.

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