Old Town (Split) Travel Guide - Free

The Old Town’s defining structure was commissioned by the Roman emperor Diocletian, who was born in the wider Dalmatian region and retired from imperial rule in 305 CE. Designed as a fortified residence and palace beside the sea, it combined an imperial apartment quarter on the southern side with military and service areas to the north. Its stone walls, gates, basement chambers, ceremonial Peristyle and religious buildings established the physical framework that still organises central Split. The site was not simply a private villa: its scale and defensive character reflected the political importance of the emperor and the strategic position of the eastern Adriatic.

After the Roman period, the palace was gradually adapted rather than abandoned. As the ancient urban settlement of Salona declined in late antiquity, inhabitants moved into the fortified complex, turning imperial rooms into homes, workshops and places of worship. Medieval Split grew through this dense reuse of Roman fabric. The Mausoleum became the Cathedral of Saint Domnius, the Temple of Jupiter became the Baptistery, and houses were inserted against or within the palace walls. New squares and lanes developed around the old structure, while the palace gates continued to connect the settlement with the sea and the landward approaches.

Split’s position on the Adriatic brought it into the political and commercial orbit of Venice for centuries, and Venetian influence remains visible in the stone houses, urban spaces and civic architecture around the palace. During the nineteenth century, under Austro-Hungarian rule, the city expanded beyond the Roman walls and developed more formal streets and public buildings outside the Old Town. Narodni trg, commonly called Pjaca, became an important civic space, while the waterfront evolved into a prominent urban promenade. These changes shifted the centre of administration and commerce outward without removing the palace from daily life.

The twentieth century brought modern urban growth around the historic core, while the Old Town retained its mixed role as residential district, commercial centre and cultural setting. Conservation gradually placed greater emphasis on the Roman and medieval fabric, including the palace cellars, gates and religious buildings. In 1979, Diocletian’s Palace and the historic centre of Split were inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List. Tourism has since become highly visible, especially around the Peristyle and Riva, but the area remains threaded with homes, local services, markets, religious institutions and everyday routes through the centre.