Diocletian's Palace in Split

In 305 CE, the Roman emperor Diocletian retired. As befitted the most powerful man in the world, he arranged a lavish retirement home for himself in the Croatian coastal city of Split (Spalato to Italians). Above is the peristyle, the best preserved part of the palace, as it looks after recent laser cleaning.

As this reconstruction, by the French architect Ernest Hébrard, shows, it was a town unto itself.

And this is what it became; once the emperor had died, folks moved in and carved the place up into dozens of houses and apartments. Some of this is still privately owned and occupied.

Contemporary view showing that the outline of the palace is still visible in the modern city.

Space was cleared within the structure to build a cathedral out of stone from the palace, but the Temple of Jupiter survived as the baptistery.

A Roman ceiling.

Nice view showing the intercutting walls of different periods.

The palace was largely forgotten by the outside world until the 1760s, when some French and British classicists explored its remains and published drawings. This is by the Scottish architect Robert Adam, whose work was much influenced by the studies of Roman buildings he made in Split and elsewhere.