Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

SPALATO, or SPALATRO (Serbo-Croatian ...

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V25, Page 592 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

See also:

SPALATO, or SPALATRO (Serbo-Croatian Spljet or Split)  , an episcopal See also:city, and the centre of an administrative See also:district, in See also:Dalmatia, See also:Austria, and on the Adriatic See also:Sea . Pop . (1900), of See also:town and See also:commune, 27,198; chiefly Serbo-Croatian, and almost exclusively See also:Roman See also:Catholic . See also:Spalato is situated ' on the seaward See also:side of a See also:peninsula between the Gulf of Brazza and the Gulf of Salona . Though not the See also: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 See also: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 See also: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 See also:tower at each of the four corners . It covers 91 acres .

There were originally four See also:

principal See also:gates, with four streets See also: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 See also:long been the cathedral of St Doimo or Domnius, small and dark, but noteworthy for its finely carved See also:choir stalls . To the See also:south-east is the temple of See also:Aesculapius, which served originally as a See also:kind of See also:court See also:chapel, and has long been transformed into a See also: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 See also:spring directly from the capitals of the large See also: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 See also:series of excavations undertaken after the visit of the See also:emperor See also:Francis I. in 1818 . See also: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 See also:committee was granted an See also:annual See also:subsidy by the Austrian See also:government .

Many discoveries were made, including the ruins of a See also:

theatre, See also:amphitheatre, city walls and gates, See also:baths, aqueducts, See also:pagan and See also:Christian cemeteries, basilicas and many fragments of houses and arches . See also: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 See also:minor See also:objects comprised " 2034 See also:inscriptions, 387 sculptures, 176 architectural pieces, 1548 fragments or objects of terra-See also: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 See also:century B.c.; and many of the See also: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 See also:Athens, they were intended to unite the city with its port . Salona under the early Roman emperors was one of the See also:chief ports of the Adriatic, on one of the most central sites in the Roman See also:world . Made a Roman See also:colony after its second See also: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, See also: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 .

Phoenix-squares

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 See also: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 See also:vassal See also:state of See also:Hungary; in 1327 it revolted to See also:Venice; in 1357 it returned to its See also: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 See also: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 See also: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 . See also:Freeman, Subject and See also:Neighbour Lands of Venice (See also:London, 1881), for a See also:general description of Spalato, its antiquities and history . A valuable See also: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, See also:archdeacon of Spalato (1200-1268) .

End of Article: SPALATO, or SPALATRO (Serbo-Croatian Spljet or Split)
[back]
GEORGE SPALATIN
[next]
SPALDING

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click and select "copy." Paste it into a website, email, or other HTML document.