Split is a historic town in Croatia most famous for its historic site of a Diocletian's palace. Split is a city located south of Croatia, a seaport on the Dalmatian coast, on the Adriatic Sea. It has 221 456 inhabitants, according to the 2007 census. It is the main city in the region of Dalmatia, the capital of the county of Split-Dalmatia and the second most populous city in the country, after Zagreb 380 km away. It is an important fishing port and naval base of the Adriatic, as well as an important cultural and tourist center; the old city is an architectural jewel, declared a World Heritage Site in 1979. In its environment there are shipyards, cement and plastic factories, lumber, wine and food industries.
Name
It is assumed that in the area of today's
city center in ancient times there was a settlement Aspalathos or
Spalatos (Greek). The origin of its name is derived from the plant
Spartium (lat. Spartium junceum), which grows in abundance here.
In medieval Latin documents and a large number of documents, the
city is called Spalatum, and the Italian derivative of the name is
Spalato. The Croatian name of the city was Split, and during the
19th century in official documents it was hypercavized to Spljet,
and then it was changed again to the present name of the city.
According to another theory, stated by Thomas the Archdeacon,
the name of the city originated from the Latin word for Diocletian's
Palace (palatium = S-palatium).
Other recorded names are:
Spalatrum, Spalathron, Spalantum, Spaleta, Spalat, Spalatro.
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Cathedral of St. Domnius (Split)
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Church of Saint John the Baptist Aka Temple of Jupiter (Split)
Archaeological Museum in Split
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Mestrovic Gallery in Split
Meštrović Gallery, a museum institution founded in 1952 in the Ivan Meštrović Palace, which was built for housing and working needs from 1931 to 1936. Today's collection of the gallery consists of a total of 192 sculptures, 583 drawings, 4 paintings, 291 architectural drawings from the period 1898 - 1961.
Prehistory
The oldest traces of settlements in
the area of the city of Split were found in the city area of
Gripe.
The old age
Although the origin of the city of
Split is associated with the construction of Diocletian's Palace, in
295-305, ie in the 4th century, archaeological finds excavated after
2000 (sacral buildings, amphitheater, harbor on the north side of
Marjan), prove that this area was inhabited in ancient Roman times,
long before Diocletian. It is possible that there was one of the
Greek colonies, and due to its favorable geographical position,
probably an Illyrian settlement.
Diocletian, the Roman
emperor from 284-305, came from a humble family and was originally
called Diocletian. He is known as the great reformer of the Roman
Empire because he introduced a system called the tetrarchy, which is
the simultaneous rule of four rulers. He was a persecutor of
Christians who considered himself a god. The great palace in the
area of today's Split was built to spend his retirement days
(Diocletian was the only Roman emperor to resign without coercion).
Diocletian's Palace is the largest and best preserved late
antique palace in the world. The east and west walls are 216 m long,
the south 181 m, and the north 175 m. In the northern part of the
palace were located the servants and the army, while to the south
were the emperor's chambers. There was a water supply system in use
that brings water from the source of the river Jadro, and it is
still used today. The latest of the theories claims that
Diocletian's Palace was never just a place to rest, but a real wool
processing factory. In 480, the last legitimate emperor of the
Western Roman Empire, Julia Nepos, was poisoned in the palace (the
often cited Romulus Augustulus ‘ruled’ only Italy). One street of
today's Split bears his name.
Today, the complex has
preserved walls, 4 gates (Gold - Porta Aurea, Silver - Porta
Argentea, Iron - Porta Ferrea and Brass - Porta Aenea), the
emperor's mausoleum (now the Cathedral of St. Domnius), corner
towers, Temple of Jupiter or the Temple of All Gods , the central
square - the Peristyle, and directly south of the Peristyle, the
Vestibule.
Middle Ages
The more significant settlement of
Diocletian's Palace probably began in the 7th century, at the time
of the first Slavic-Avar invasions. Later, Split expanded beyond the
walls. After the settlement of the Croats, Split remained a
Romanesque city. For a long time it was part of the so-called
Byzantine Dalmatia because, like other cities on the coast, it was
occasionally under Byzantine rule, and occasionally under the
control of Croatian princes and kings. Split was Christianized at
that time, so the emperor's mausoleum became a church. Subsequently,
in the Baroque period during the reign of Archbishop Marco Antonio
de Dominis, a choir was added, and from 13-18. a monumental bell
tower was added in the 19th century, (thoroughly restored in the
19th century.)
In the 10th century, key church councils were
held in Split, which decided the fate of the Glagolitic people, the
diocese of Nin (see Gregory of Nin) and the church of the Croats.
On the peninsula west of the city port in the Middle Ages was
the Benedictine monastery of St. Stipana under the pines (San
Stephanus de Pinis, sub pinis). The peninsula is named after the
same - Sustipan. The most famous ordained of that monastery was the
son of the Croatian king Dmitar Zvonimir, Stjepan. The founder of
this monastery was the Archbishop of Split Lovre, otherwise a friend
of King Zvonimir. Sources mention this monastery for the first time
in 1020.
From the 11th century, Byzantine rule in Split was
continued by various rulers (Norman, Hungarian), and the city until
the XV. century operates as an independent commune, with its own
Council and Statute of 1312. The Statute of the City of Split and
the Libro d`oro or Golden Book form a unique whole and are a
valuable source for getting to know the legal, political and social
life of the city from the 13th century until the collapse of the
Venetian Republic in 1797. The first statute called the Capitularium
from 1240 has not been preserved. It was compiled for the first
testament of Gargano de Arscindis, who was invited from Ancona for
mayor on the idea of Thomas the Archdeacon. A new codification of
Split law was made by Perceval, son of Ivan, of Fermo, also from the
Italian region of Marche, in 1312, and was written as was then
common in Europe, in Latin. There are various transcripts.
New era
Venetian government
From the 15th century until the
fall of Venice in 1797, the whole of Dalmatia (with the exception of
the Republic of Dubrovnik) was under Venetian rule. During the
Turkish conquests, part of the Split hinterland was ruled by the
Ottomans, so Split began to develop as a city on the border and as
an import-export port. The town used to be a cultural center where
one of the first and best Croatian writers, the writer Marko Marulić
(1450-1524), the author of the famous epic Judith, worked.
The Napoleonic era
From 1805 to 1813, Split, like the whole of
Dalmatia, was ruled by Napoleonic France. The memory of the
short-lived rule of the French in Split is the first modern street,
today Marmontova, named after the French Marshal August Marmont and
the Marjan peak Telegrin. After Napoleon's defeat, Dalmatia belonged
to Habsburg Austria.
Habsburg Monarchy and Austro-Hungary
After the
Austro-Hungarian settlement and the creation of a dual monarchy
(1867), Split belonged to the Austrian part of the Monarchy as part
of the Kingdom of Dalmatia. Split was one of the focal points of the
struggle of pro-Italian (initially non-Italian) autonomists and
populists who advocated stronger ties with the rest of Croatia.
In the midst of these struggles, the autonomist Antonio
Bajamonti came to power in Split in 1860. Split at that time was an
extremely neglected city and cried out for revitalization. Antonio
Bajamonti, otherwise extremely liberal and democratic, saw in this
his calling and opportunity. In his twenty-year reign, he introduced
numerous innovations into city institutions. One of the first
actions he initiated was the opening of a savings bank that was
supposed to help the most needy in the city. He introduced full
transparency into municipal action. He was especially committed in
the field of education of the general public and encouraged the
opening of reading rooms.
Bajamonti's contribution to the
city of Split is great. Arriving in power, Bajamonti immediately
started the reconstruction and construction of the city center. He
built numerous buildings that still contribute to the view of Split.
On the neglected Marmont Park, he had a monumental complex of
buildings built around the central square known as the
Procuratorate. The architectural ensemble was supposed to exude the
Venetian spirit, so Italian painters, sculptors and architects were
most often hired for the work. The complex consisted of a theater
building located at the top of the square and two single-storey side
wings that have porches on the ground floor on square pillars, while
their floor is dissolved by bifores. To the south, towards the sea,
the space was open. Procuraratives were conceived as a set of
buildings that were supposed to serve various functions. The west
wing of the Procuratorate was built in 1863-1867, two-thirds of the
southern part of the east wing was built in 1810-1811, and the final
northern third of the building was completed in 1928. In the
extension of this complex he built his palace Bajamonti (later
called Dešković) in the Neo-Renaissance style and restored the
Franciscan monastery which then received the eastern facade, also in
the Neo-Renaissance style.
In order to complete the works on
Diocletian's waterworks and bring drinking water to the city in
1880, Mayor Bajamonti had a Monumental Fountain (fountain) built,
popularly known as "Bajamontuša". The author of the model of the
fountain was Luigi Ceccon, a sculptor from Padua, and the
stonemason's workshop responsible for the performance was F.
Dall’Ara e Comp. The pedestal of the fountain was made of Brač
stone, and the fountain itself was made of Veronese, and the
sculptures of Carrara marble. On top of it was a half-naked figure
of a boy, about two meters tall, who had a lictor's bundle in his
right hand, and with his left hand pointed to the east, that is, to
the future, the progress of Split. The complex iconographic program
of the fountain was probably designed by Bajamonti himself, and the
fountain was often the motif of postcards of the time. However,
during the Italian occupation of Dalmatia, 1941-43. year, the
fascist occupiers held the Italian and Dalmatian flags on it and
ideologically adopted it, looking at the lictor bundle at the top of
the fountain as a symbol of fascism - which was founded well after
the construction of the fountain. For these reasons, it was often
mistakenly associated with the fascist movement, and in the end, due
to this, but of course also due to the wrong judgment about the
artistic quality of the fountain, it was mined and demolished by the
communists in 1947. Trying to reduce the damage of this culturicide,
the then director of the Art Gallery and painter Vjeko Parać
collected individual fragments of the fountain and later donated
them to the Museum of the City of Split. Shortly after the blasting,
the fountain was replaced by a circular pool with a fountain by
Milorad Družeić, and Bajamontuša fell into oblivion.
Political embezzlement and conflict managed to overshadow these
Bajamonti ventures and after numerous accusations of squandering
city money, Italianization, and lack of documentation on municipal
affairs and projects he lost the election.
On October 28,
1882, the Narodniks under the leadership of Gaj Bulat took power in
the Split city municipality. The first populist mayor of Split was
Dujam Rendić-Miočević. However, until the end of the First World
War, Dalmatia was not united with the rest of Croatia. Despite the
high port traffic, the construction of the connection with the
continental railway network began only in 1912 (and it is
questionable whether it went to Zagreb or to Livno and Banja Luka),
but was interrupted due to the outbreak of the First World War. It
is assumed that in that period of national awakening, the Croatian
patriotic song "Marjane, Marjane" was written, which sings an ode to
Croatia symbolized through the Croatian flag at the top of Marjan.
The symbolism of that peak as a symbol of Croatia has remained to
this day and has been a defiance of unpopular regimes.
Kingdom of SCS and Yugoslavia
In the interwar period, relatively few public
buildings of a modern architectural concept were built in Split. The
building of the Ambassador Hotel, the Pirate's Home on Matejuška,
the building of the Aquarium on Marjan, the building of the
Elementary School Manuš-Dobri and others are known from that time.
World War II
In the Second World War, after the April War and
the collapse of Yugoslavia, he was briefly in the Independent State
of Croatia. With the Roman agreements, it belonged to Italy, where
it remained until the fall of Italy and the chief's termination of
the Roman agreements, thus belonging to the Independent State of
Croatia. After the fall of Italy, it was controlled by partisans,
and after a few days the forces of the Third Reich and the NDH
entered. He was in the Independent State of Croatia until October
26, 1944.
Socialist Yugoslavia
Protest removal of the flag
on Marjan in 1947.
Related to this is the demonstrative act in
Split from April 10, 1947, when a group of Croatian patriots were
members of the Croatian Liberation Movement (Frane Bettini, Ivica
Bavčević, Nikola Pensa, Jelka Betica, Vlado Zelinak, Borica Jonić,
Ruža Anić, Katica Šanić, Jakov Kirigin, Tomislav Karaman, Vjekoslav
Matijević and Frane Tente) took down the flag with a red star and
hung an 18-meter Croatian flag on top of Marjan.
After the
end of the First World War, Dalmatia entered the newly created state
(Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes), which later became
Yugoslavia). The city has since shared the fate of Croatia and
Croats in it.
From that moment, Split began to grow
intensively, becoming an increasingly important cultural,
administrative and economic center. The completion of the railway to
Zagreb (Lika railway) in 1925, with the efforts of the then mayor,
Dr. Ivo Tartaglia, greatly contributed to the economic development
of Split. The annexation of Zadar, Istria and Rijeka (cities and
regions that were mostly Croatian) or Trieste (which had a
significant Slovenian and Croatian community) to Italy also
contributes to this. Numerous Croats who do not want to be under
Italian rule and want to avoid Italianization and tal. government,
moved, transferring their principals and companies, and to Split.
While peace talks were underway, there was a possibility that Split
would fall under Italian rule. As the Allied military authorities
alternated, so did the Italian ones. Italian provocations almost
created a big problem. In the end, thanks to the great efforts of
Croatian politicians, Split did not fall under Italy. In addition to
the aforementioned conditions that contributed to the growth of
Split, Split also became the seat of a large administrative unit,
the Primorska Banovina. During the 1930s, the HSS strengthened
considerably in Split. On the eve of the war, it became part of the
Banovina of Croatia. Projects have been launched and plans for
further growth in Split have been drawn up. The HSS network
contributed to the stable growth of Split and worked on the
cooperation of workers and employers. Communists in Split resorted
to violent methods.
After the Axis powers attacked the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, Yugoslavia quickly disintegrated because no one wanted to be in that violent creation in which Balkan fascism was. Enthusiastic citizens of Split emphasized Croatian features, feeling the breath of freedom after a decade of Greater Serbian hegemony. But shock soon followed. Dirty political trade falls under Italian rule by the Treaties of Rome, because the Ustasha authorities had to pay tribute to their mentor. A large part of the Croats felt betrayed. The terror of the Italian fascist regime in all fields resulted in a great response of the people of Split to the partisan resistance movement or to the territory of the Independent State of Croatia. On the occasion of the arrival of the Italians in Split and the establishment of the Independent State of Croatia, some prominent leaders of the HSS and patriots in general left Split, leaving only a few in Split. Humiliations were daily. Despite being very pro-Allied, Split did not pass without bombing. In addition to the Axis bombings, Split unfortunately suffered unnecessary Allied bombings that resulted in heavy civilian casualties. Hunger also suffered from great scarcity and famine. After the fall of Italy, the NOVH came to power in Split. The partisan administration lasted fifteen days. In late September 1943, German troops captured the city and returned it to the rule of the NDH (after the first days before the Treaties of Rome). Many younger citizens of Split withdrew with the partisans. Part of the population joined the refugee who would sail via Vis to Italy, then to El Shatt. With new pressure from the new masters, the citizens were hardest hit by the daily overflights, bombing and machine-gunning of Anglo-American aircraft. In the first half of 1944, there were 1,890 raids, 640 alerts and 21 bombings over Split and its surroundings. More than 450 people were killed. The city was constantly under air alert, and the citizens were in constant tension. The June 3, 1944 bombings were particularly severe. The unreasonableness of the bombing is proved by the fact that from Firule to Meje, from Bačvice to Kopilica, from Poljička cesta to the slopes of Marjan, few streets were spared. 121 houses were completely demolished, 217 were seriously damaged and 210 were slightly damaged. 227 innocent civilians were killed. Church of St. Duje (Diocletian's mausoleum) and the bell tower were miraculously spared. At the same time, buildings that are military in nature and that were to be expected to be bombed were not hit: no bomb hit the Gripe Fortress (which dominates the city and is very conspicuous!) Or any of the buildings in which they were located. German military headquarters: Banovina, Hotel Amabasador, Jadranska banka on the Riva, etc. The people of Split, mostly pro-Allied, were saddened and indignant. While the people of Split cursed the Allies, the partisan illegal newspaper NOO Split (Glas Splita no. 11, dated June 8, 1944) wrote as if it were from some other reality, without condemning an unnecessary and completely failed Allied action. The issue read: "The Allied bombing of Split had great benefits for our liberation struggle. The occupying gangs panicked wildly, so that they fled the city once and for all. A terrible confusion was created in the entire military and administrative apparatus of the Ustasha government in the city. . (...) At one point, all the efforts of the Ustashas to create opportunities in the city that would convince them to carry out their anti-national policy unhindered ... "After the war, for the entire existence of socialist Yugoslavia, until 1990, critical writing or talking about these Anglo-American destructions of Split and other Dalmatian cities was an undesirable topic. There was little talk about this taboo topic and only politically eligible Yugoslav communist cadres were allowed to talk about it. The day after that great destruction by bombing, on June 4, Bishop Dr. Kvirin Klement Bonefačić, through the Apostolic Nuncio in Vienna, reported to Pope Pius XII. that German and Ustasha soldiers had left the city, and asked him to intercede in order to declare Split an open city. Radio London news was broadcast on June 5 by the New Age daily, which said "The attack was carried out at the request of Marshal Tito."
With the liberation from the cruel Axis regime on October 26, 1944, the much-coveted freedom and democracy did not come. Although many citizens of Split were happy to welcome their fellow citizens, whom they saw as liberators, a new fear loomed over the city. Intolerant communist totalitarians dealt cruelly with prominent intellectuals, and the HSS members were particularly targeted, as they were the previous democratically elected government with majority support in Split. Some were killed at the beginning of the war (Luka Čulić), some before the liberation of Split (Vojko Krstulović), and some had to flee (Desimir Jakaša). After the liberation, several partisan camps were established in Split, which existed during the remaining months of the war, but also after the Second World War (1944-1946). Some of these camps are so-called. the Gripe camp, Rok, and the Firule camp (left over from the Italians), held by the UN, and where numerous partisan deserter fighters, captured home guards, Ustasha, German and Italian soldiers, and numerous civilians were brought. The existence of these camps was a taboo topic throughout the existence of socialist Yugoslavia. According to the testimony of Msgr. Ivan Bilić from 2011, on Lovrinac (which was then kilometers away from the city) there are three mass graves: "And when I peeked behind a hill, and that would be north of the new morgue building and east of the old one where now the administration ... I saw three mass graves, between 120 and 150 meters long, about four meters wide, with earth about a meter and a half on them, there were once walled fields. people who were brought from all over Dalmatia from October 1944 to the middle of 1946 and killed without trial. " The executions of the citizens were part of a plan by totalitarian Party members to destroy "class enemies" and intimidate the rest of the population. Residents were liquidated without trial, without any documents. The Lovrinac execution site is an example of similar ones throughout Croatia, and orders for fratricidal executions were given by the Croats themselves.
In socialist Yugoslavia, Split recorded a large
increase in population and a high rate of industrialization.
At the beginning of the Homeland War, the Greater Serbia forces
attacked Split from the sea on the morning of November 15, 1991, and
the night before the attack was preceded by a change of fire between
Croatian units and the JNA and JRM barracks. Little is known that
Split had been attacked once before, but to a lesser extent. On
September 24, 1991, JRM torpedo boats fired several grenades at
Marjan. On December 18, 1991, the so-called Nis special forces
detained 24 Croatian volunteers, workers of Brodosplit, in the
military port of Lora, which was still under the control of the JNA,
who took part in taking over the seized Croatian weapons. According
to the Žitnica Agreement, the JNA was to return the weapons it had
confiscated from the Croatian Territorial Defense in May 1990. This
was followed by the abuse of Croatian prisoners, who were not
released until the morning of 19 December.
The 4th Guards
Brigade of the Croatian Army "Spiders" was based in Split.
Temperature in Split rise in July and August significantly along with tourist crowds and prices. Precipitation on the other hand decreases. If you travel outside of the city and you see a fire or a smoke, don't ignore it. Summer fires might be quiet deadly and travel much faster than you expect. The best time to visit the city is in May- June or in September. Temperatures are still pretty high, but they are not scorching.