The Split Cathedral
Kruno Prijatelj, Nenad Gattin

-An emperor lived in our town« — states the narrator of an interesting »Split« episode from Slobodan Novak's book, thus expressing in the most straightforward way, the historical impact and spatial pathos of an ambience, that is, of that city which emerged from the Emperor's decision some two thousand years ago. However, Diocletian's Split is not an archaeological construction or a mere antiquarian fiction nor fictitious projection ot its later inhabitants, but a real, tangible fact, with a unique continuous existence, remarkable logical changes and gradual transformations. Althougn the world can boast of more outstanding and preserved wholes, it is hard to find a place so charged with diachronic layers of events, so impregnated with the past, present and future.
Diocletian's mausoleum is undoubtedly the most outstanding monument in the late Roman palace. During the time when Split was a mediaeval communal organization, it served as a cathedral, and has continued to play the central role in urban lite, and still has great symbolic and spiritual meaning today. That strong, monumental building bears unmistakable signs of dramatic historical confrontations and it reflects real dialectic of continuance and transience. Originally, built as the mausoleum for this pagan ruler who violently hated and persecuted Christians, it eventually became the temple of the adverse and victorious Christian cult. At the same time, paradoxically, it has preserved the memory of its commissioner and creator in an, otherwise, strange and uncommon context of the Christian church. It testifies to the strength of the Roman architectural genius, but also confirms the implicit, restrained strength of the surrounding Slav population. The newcomers knew how and managed to adopt that precious symbol in time and space.
Regardless of Split's growth — 1 myself, being a
wirrcss to its quadrupling in less than half a century -
the mausoleum/cathedral with its bell-tower and Peristyle, has always been and ideal core of the city.
It is true that proportions do somewhat change and so dimensions become relative, but the greatest change brought by modern times is the {act that the sanctuary of St. Dujam (patron saint of the city), is much more often visited by foreign tourists than by the inhabitants and citizens whom he directly protects. Naturally, it was different some thirty or forty years ago when visiting the Split Cathedral or Emperor's Mausoleum, for on was admitted, initiated, and even dedicated to a certain secret of pure, severe geometry and to real wonders of historical and meta-historical transformations.