BBC History Magazine

Split in five places

1 Cathedral of St Domnius Magnificent mausoleum

Split’s cathedral, one of the oldest in Europe, is a curious octagonal shape without a processional nave and with few windows. That’s because it wasn’t built as a church at all, but as the mausoleum for the Roman emperor Diocletian, within the vast palace he commissioned in AD 305 in preparation for his retirement.

But in the seventh century – following the repopulation of the citadel-palace by Romanised peoples seeking safety from Avars and Slavs – the bishops of nearby Salona repurposed

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