Dalmatia Travel

Both culture and history were generous to these parts in providing inspiration to artists who from as far back as the antiquity created their art in the stone, walls and palaces of its towns and urban centres, in buildings made of stone that are one of the most memorable characteristics of central Dalmatia. Today these towns and urban centres offer both peace and solitude and joyous, noisy nights rich with the spirit of the Mediterranean south. Works in stone, marble and wood created in central Dalmatia from the antiquity to the present day never remained only inside the churches and museums of the region, but are to this day found on the houses, facades and in the historical cores of the cities, mostly built in the Romanesque and Gothic styles – true masterpieces of urban culture. Nowhere can one, like in central Dalmatia, in a 30 km radius find two cities under UNESCO protection and listed in the register of World Culture Heritage: Diocletian’s Palace and the historical core of the city of Trogir.Spectacular works of art in stone have been left to posterity, like the portal of the Trogir cathedral, sculpted by the hand of Master Radovan in the year 1240. Bonino of Milan, Juraj Dalmatinac, Andrija Aleši and Nikola Firentinac all left their greatest works in stone here. The walnut-wood doorframe of the Split cathedral made by master Andrija Buvina in 1214 are a part of the history of European Romanesque wood sculpting. The Split cathedral itself is the oldest building housing a Catholic cathedral in the world, as one part of it emerged from the Mausoleum built by Emperor Diocletian. The wealth of tradition in the arts in this region, based on the work of those who came before and who found inspiration here for their most beautiful works of art, has spawned many a great name, like that of Emanuel Vidović, Croatia’s best known painter at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. The pinnacle of sculpting was reached by Ivan Meštrović who hailed from Otavica near Drniš, his works grace museums and galleries around the world. In Split itself, besides a series of works at the Meštrović Gallery, there is his celebrated bronze monument to Bishop Grgur of Nin located at the north portal to Diocletian’s palace. Legend has it that wishes are fulfilled if one touches the big toe of his foot. Within the former Imperial Palace, Split also has the smallest street in the world, called “Pusti me proći” (Let Me Pass) because only one person can move along it at a time.