Architecture
Diocletian's Palace (Croatian: Dioklecijanova palača) is a building in the centre of Split, built for the Emperor Diocletian (a native of Dalmatia) at the turn of the 4th century. On the intersection of two main roads, cardo and decumanus, there is a monumental court Peristyle, from which the only access to Cathedral of St. Duje is to the east.
The Cathedral of St. Duje is composed of three different sections of different ages. The main part is Emperor Diocletian's mausoleum, which dates from the end of the 3rd century. The mausoleum was built like the rest of the palace with white local limestone and marble of high quality, most of which was from marble quarries on the island of Brač, with tuff taken from the nearby river Jadro beds, and with brick made in Salonitan and other factories.
Later, in the 17th century a chorus was added to the eastern side of the mausoleum. For that purpose the eastern wall of the mausoleum was torn down in order to unify the two chambers.
The Bell Tower was constructed in the year 1100 AD, in the Romanesque style. Extensive rebuilding in 1908 radically changed the Bell Tower, and many of the original Romanesque sculptures were removed.
One of the best examples of Romanesque sculpture in Croatia, are the wooden doors on Cathedral of St. Duje. They were made by the medieval Croatian sculptor and painter Andrija Buvina around 1220. Two wings of the Buvina wooden door contains 14 scenes from the life of Jesus Christ, separated by rich ornaments in wood.
Read more about this topic: Cathedral Of Saint Domnius
Famous quotes containing the word architecture:
“Polarized light showed the secret architecture of bodies; and when the second-sight of the mind is opened, now one color or form or gesture, and now another, has a pungency, as if a more interior ray had been emitted, disclosing its deep holdings in the frame of things.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“All architecture is great architecture after sunset; perhaps architecture is really a nocturnal art, like the art of fireworks.”
—Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874–1936)
“Defaced ruins of architecture and statuary, like the wrinkles of decrepitude of a once beautiful woman, only make one regret that one did not see them when they were enchanting.”
—Horace Walpole (1717–1797)