SPLIT
split is not the capital, yet certainly the
best-known croatian city. it was founded by the roman
emperor diocletian, who got his enormous palace built
from 293 to 305 at the coast near the roman town salona
and the greek town spalatum. the huge palace, 160x190 m
in size, has largely survived and is the center of
current split. its shoreline is today the famous
promenade 'riva', full of cafes and restaurants.
after the fall of the roman empire in 476, split became
part of the eastern roman empire (byzantium). from about
1000 onwards, split belonged to the croatia kingdom, to
venice, to the austrian-hungarian empire, and to
yugoslavia. in 1991 the republic croatia was
established.
the historic part of split represents a multitude of
architecture and art, such as numerous ruins of the
diocletian palace (including city gates, the peristyl,
and palace cellars), medieval churches (especially the
cathedral of st duje which incorporates diocletian's
mausoleum), statues of famous people (e.g. bishop
ninski), and very many sculptures and paintings, often
part of splendid buildings.
a special feature of split's rich culture are choirs,
especially the "klapa" music, which is an 'a cappella'
singing, which frequently happens in the historic
center, and excels during the annual split music
festival.
several nearby renowned towns, including castella,
salona and trogir, can be reached by car or by ship
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