|
SPALATO, or SPALATRO (Serbo-Croatian Spljet or Split) , an episcopal city, and the centre of an administrativeSee also: district, in Dalmatia, See also: Austria, and on the Adriatic See also: Sea
.
Pop
.
(1900), of See also: town and commune, 27,198; chiefly Serbo-Croatian, and almost exclusively See also: Roman Catholic
.
Spalato is situated ' on the seaward See also: side of a peninsula between the Gulf of Brazza and the Gulf of Salona
.
Though not the capital, it is commercially the most important city in Dalmatia and carries on an extensive See also: trade in See also: wine and oil
.
It is a See also: port of See also: call for the See also: Austrian Lloyd steamers, and communicates by See also: rail with See also: Sebenico, Knin and Sinj
.
Spalato has a striking sea-front, fn which the leading feature is the ruined See also: facade of the See also: great palace of See also: Diocletian, to which the city owes its origin
.
A large See also: part of Spalato is actually within the limit of the palace; and many See also: modern houses are built against its See also: ancient walls and incorporate parts of them, not only on the inner but also on the See also: outer side
.
This palace was erected between A.D
.
290 and 310
.
In ground See also: plan it is almost a square, with a quadrangular tower at each of the four corners
.
It covers 91 acres
.
There were originally four See also: principal See also: gates, with four streets meeting in the See also: middle of the quadrangle, after the See also: style of a Roman See also: camp
.
The eastern See also: gate, or Porta Aenea, is destroyed, but, though the side towers are gone, the western gate, or Porta Ferrea, and the See also: main entrance of the See also: building, the beautiful Porta Aurea, in the See also: north front, are still in fairly See also: good preservation
.
The streets are lined with massive arcades
.
The See also: vestibule now forms the Piazza del Duomo or See also: cathedral square; to the north-See also: east of this lies the See also: temple of See also: Jupiter, or perhaps the See also: mausoleum
.
This has long been the cathedral of St Doimo or Domnius, small and dark, but noteworthy for its finely carved choir stalls
.
To the See also: south-east is the temple of See also: Aesculapius, which served originally as a kind of See also: court See also: chapel, and has long been transformed into a baptistery
.
A beautiful Romanesque campanile was added to the baptistery in the 14th and 15th centuries
.
Architecturally the most important of the many striking features of the palace is the arrangement in the vestibule by which the supporting See also: arches spring directly from the capitals of the large granite Corinthian columns
.
This, as far as the known remains of ancient See also: art are concerned, is the first instance of such a method
.
The ruins of Salona or Salonae, lying about 4 m. north-east of the palace, were chiefly exhumed during a series of excavations undertaken after the visit of the emperor See also: Francis I. in 1818
.
Research was carried on regularly from 1821 to 1827, and again from 1842 to 185o
.
It was afterwards resumed at intervals
until 1877, when the excavation committee was granted an See also: annual subsidy by the Austrian See also: government
.
Many discoveries were made, including the ruins of a theatre, amphitheatre, city walls and gates,See also: baths, aqueducts, See also: pagan and Christian cemeteries, basilicas and many fragments of houses and arches
.
Professor F
.
Bulie, who had See also: charge of the See also: work and of the museum at Spalato, reported in 1894 that the collection of minor See also: objects comprised " 2034 inscriptions, 387 sculptures, 176 architectural pieces, 1548 fragments or objects of terra-cotta and vases, 1243 objects of See also: glass, 3184 of See also: metal, 929 of See also: bone, 1229 gems, 128 objects from prehistoric times, and 15,000 coins " (See also: Munro, p
.
244)
.
These are preserved in the museum
.
One See also: vase, of Corinthian workmanship, See also: dates from the 6th century B.c.; and many of the early Christian See also: relics are of unusual See also: interest
.
The so-called " cyclopean " walls, mortarless, but constructed of neatly squared and fitted blocks, are probably of Roman workmanship
.
See also: Jackson suggests that perhaps, like the long walls at Athens, they were intended to unite the city with its port
.
Salona under the early Roman emperors was one of the chief ports of the Adriatic, on one of the most central sites in the Roman See also: world
.
Made a Roman colony after its second capture by the See also: Romans (78 B.c.), it appears as Colonia Martia Julia and Colonia Claudia See also: Augusta Pia Veteranorum, and bears at different periods the titles of respublica, conventus, metropolis, praefectura . and praetorium
.
Diocletian died in 313; and before long the city became an episcopal see, with St Doimo as its first See also: bishop
.
The palace was transformed into an imperial See also: cloth factory, and, as most of the workers were See also: women, it became known as the gynaecium
.
Salona was several times taken and retaken by the Goths and See also: Huns before 639, when it was sacked and nearly destroyed by the See also: Avars
.
Its inhabitants fled to the Dalmatian islands, but returned shortly afterwards to found a new city within the walls of the palace
.
Salona itself was not entirely deserted until the close of the 12th century
.
In 65o the papal See also: legate, See also: John of
See also: Ravenna, was created bishop of Spalato, as the new city was named
.
" Spalato," or " Spalatro " (a very old spelling), was long regarded as a corruption of Salonae Palatium; but its true origin is doubtful
.
The most ancient See also: form is Aspalathum, used in the loth century by See also: Constantine Porphyrogenitus
.
Spalathum, Spalathrum and Spalatrum are early variants: In a few years Spalato became an archbishopric, and its holders were metropolitans of all Dalmatia until 1033
.
In 1105 Spalato became a vassal See also: state of Hungary; in 1327 it revolted to Venice; in 1357 it returned to its allegiance
.
It was ruled by the Bosnian See also: king, Tvrtko, from 1390 to 1391; and in 1402 the famous and powerful Bosnian
See also: prince, Hrvoje or Harvoye, received the dukedom of Spalato from See also: Ladislaus of Naples, the claimant to the Hungarian See also: throne
.
In 1413, after the overthrow of Ladislaus by the emperor See also: Sigismund, Hrvoje was banished; but a large octagonal tower, the Torre d'Harvoye, still bears his name
.
Spalato received a Venetian garrison in 1420, and ceased to have an See also: independent See also: history
.
The See also: castle and city walls, erected by the Venetians between 1645 and 1670. were dismantled after 1807
.
See T . G . Jackson, Dalmatia, the Quarnero and See also: Istria (See also: Oxford, 1887) ; and E
.
A
.
Freeman, Subject and Neighbour Lands of Venice (See also: London, 1881), for a general description of Spalato, its antiquities and history
.
A valuable account of the researches at Salona is given in R
.
Munro, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Dalmatia (London, 1900), There are two magnificently illustrated volumes which See also: deal with Diocletian's palace: R
.
See also: Adam, Ruins of the Palace of the Emperor Diocletian at Spalatro, in Dalmatia (London, 1764), engravings by See also: Bartolozzi; and L
.
J
.
Cassas and J
.
Lavallee, Voyage pittoresque et historique de l'Istrie (See also: Paris, 1802)
.
The Dalmatian See also: chronicles, reproduced by G
.
Lucio in his De regno Dalmatiae et Croatiae ( See also: Amsterdam, 1666), include several which deal specially with Salona and Spalato
.
The most important is the Historia salonitanorum pontificum et spalatensium, by See also: Thomas, archdeacon of Spalato (1200-1268)
.
|
|
|
[back] GEORGE SPALATIN |
[next] SPALDING |
There are no comments yet for this article.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.
Links to articles and home page are encouraged.