June 15 - Split

Split

We woke up very early today to catch a 6am catamaran ride from Korcula to Split.  It was a 3 hour ride that unfortunately was highlighted by cloudy skies and strong winds, so not much to see or take pictures of.  We arrived in Split at 9 am and headed to our room that was right along the wall of Diocletian’s palace.  Diocletian was a ruthless ruler in the 3^rd Century and built himself a fairly large palace in Split.  Because the palace is almost 2,000 years old, there is not a lot of original buildings left and we were unlucky in that the one guard tower that is supposed to be in tact was covered in scaffolding. 

We walked around and saw what we could in the palace.  There were some interesting things to see – the second floor was Diocletians and it had holes in the floor to drop garbage and sewer into the basement/first floor.  Glad we weren't the servants living in the first floor at the time of Diocletian!

Diocletian was such a ruthless ruler and killed so many people that when he died, the people ransacked the church/temple that he had built for his remains.  About the only thing that didn't get stolen from the cathedral were the small red Egyptian marble columns at the very top of the building (probably too hard and too heavy to reach).

We also walked about 4 miles roundtrip to go to Ivan Mestrovic's house.  He is a famous sculptor in Croatia. It was a beautiful house, with some incredible sculptures.  He was captured by the Nazi government during the war and wouldn't cede to their beliefs.  So when he was finally released, he fled to the US; quite the interesting story. You’ll see some of the sculptures in the pictures below.

Jen with the Klapa Choir - an a capella group singing in the Entry Vestibule of the Palace

The main square/courtyard.  Notice the red brooms on the Roman guards helmets :)

Bell Tower

This was a huge sculpture of Ivan Mestrovic.  Covered up with scaffolding for repairs or cleaning... but they left his lucky toe exposed.  Rub it and make a wish.... wonder what Jen is wishing for....

Mestrovic 'house'

Jen admiring a sculpture of Cyclops.... She wasn't too impressed since she's seen me strike that pose lots of times.

A sculpture for Gracie

Christ's body with Joseph of Aramathea, Mary, and Mary Magdalene.  Notice the angles of the faces...

Back to the palace.  This was the cathedral where Diocletian was buried, and the original columns at the top.  This is the only in-tact dome that we've seen here.  Pretty cool.

The roof in Jupiter's Temple/St John's Baptistry.  Check out the detail in each panel.

The baptistry.  Diocletian built it as a temple to Jupiter, as he thought he was Jupiter Jr.  It was later turned into a baptistry.  Another Mestrovic sculpture of John the Baptist.

Found this on the side of the entrance to the baptistry.