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Split (city)
Encyclopedia
Split is a Mediterranean
city on the eastern shores of the Adriatic Sea
, centered around the ancient Roman Palace of the Emperor Diocletian
and its wide port bay. With a population of 178,192 citizens, and a metropolitan area
numbering up to 467,899, Split is by far the largest Dalmatia
n city and the second-largest city of Croatia
. Spread over a central peninsula
and its surroundings, Split's greater area includes the surrounding seaside towns as well. An intraregional transport hub, the city is a link to numerous Adriatic islands and the Apennine peninsula, as well as a popular tourist destination.
Split is also one of the oldest cities in the area. While it is traditionally considered just over 1,700 years old counting from the construction of Diocletian's Palace
in AD 305, archaeological research relating to the original founding of the city as the Greek colony of Aspálathos (Aσπάλαθος) in the 6th century BC
, establishes the urban tradition of the area as being several centuries older.
), a common shrub in the area, after which the Greek colony of Aspálathos (Aσπάλαθος) or Spálathos (Σπάλαθος), from which the city originates, was named. As the city became a Roman possession, the Latin name became "Spalatum", which in the Middle Ages evolved into "Spalatro" in the Dalmatian language
of the city's Romance population. The South Slavic
version became "Split", while the Italian version was "Spalato". During a period in the early 19th century the name was "Spljet", and finally "Split" once more.
Thus, contrary to a number of older theories, the origin of the name is not related to the Latin word for "palace" (palatium), thought to be a reference to Diocletian's Palace
which still forms the core of the city. The erroneous "palace" etymology was notably due to Byzantine Emperor Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus, and was later also mentioned by Thomas the Archdeacon
.
, the city was founded earlier as a Greek colony of Aspálathos.
The Greek
settlement lived off trade with the surrounding Illyrian
tribes, mostly the Delmatae, who inhabited the (much larger) nearby city of Salona
. In time, the Roman Republic
became the dominant power in the region, and conquered the Illyrians in the Illyrian Wars
of 229 and 219 BC. Upon establishing permanent control, the Romans
founded the province of Dalmatia
with Salona as the capital, and at that time the name of the nearby Greek colony Aspálathos was changed to "Spalatum".
After he nearly died of an illness, the Roman Emperor
Diocletian
(ruled AD 284 to 305), great reformer of the late Roman Empire
, decided to retire from politics in AD 305. The Emperor ordered work to begin on a retirement palace near his hometown, and since he was from the town of Dioclea he chose the harbor near Salona for the location. Work on the palace began in AD 293 in readiness for his retirement from politics. The palace was built as a massive structure, much like a Roman military fortress. It faces the sea on its south side, with its walls 170 to 200 meters (570 to 700 feet) long, and 15 to 20 meters (50 to 70 feet) high, enclosing an area of 38,000 m² (9½ acres). The palace water supply was substantial, fed by an aqueduct from Jadro Spring
. This opulent palace and its surroundings were at times inhabited by a population as large as 8,000 to 10,000 people, who required parks and recreation space; therefore, Diocletian established such outdoor areas at Marjan
hill. The palace was finished in AD 305
, right on time to receive its owner, who retired exactly according to schedule, becoming the first Roman Emperor to voluntarily remove himself from office. After a few years, a group of Roman Senators came to Diocletian's palace, asking the former emperor to return to Rome and help the Empire to overcome growing political problems. Diocletian refused, and while he was showing them his garden, he told them that he could not leave his beautiful garden which he had created by his own hands. This gesture showed that he remained bound by his word to leave political life after 21 years of ruling the Roman Empire.
Following the fall of the Western Roman Empire
in AD 476, Spalatum became a part of the Eastern Roman Empire, also known as Byzantium. It grew very slowly as a satellite town of the much larger Salona. However, around AD 639 Salona fell to the invasion of Avars
and Slavs, and was razed to the ground, with the majority of the displaced citizens fleeing to the nearby Adriatic islands. Following the return of Byzantine rule to the area, the Romanic citizens returned to the mainland under the leadership of the nobleman known as Severus the Great. They chose to inhabit Diocletian's Palace
in Spalatum, because of its strong (more "medieval") fortifications. The palace was long deserted by this time, and the interior was converted into a city by the Salona refugees, making Spalatum much larger as the successor to the capital city of the province. Today the palace constitutes the inner core of the city, still inhabited, full of shops, markets, squares, with an ancient Cathedral of St. Duje
(formerly Diocletian's mausoleum
) inserted in the corridors and floors of the former palace. As a part of the Byzantine Empire
, the city had varying but significant political autonomy.
The Medieval period
in Split's Dalmatia
province is marked by the waning power of the Byzantine Empire, and by the struggle of the neighboring powers, namely the Venetian Republic, the Kingdom of Croatia
, and (later) the Kingdom of Hungary
, to fill the power vacuum. The arrival of the South Slavs
(mostly Croats
) in the 7th century AD profoundly influenced the area. The hinterland and the islands were predominantly populated by the Croats, who began influencing the city itself. The early Medieval Croatian state
(later the Kingdom of Croatia) founded neighboring littoral cities (such as Šibenik
), and encompassed the vast majority of the hinterland. In the following centuries Split developed an increasingly Croatian character, which can be seen in the architecture (particularly of churches) in the city and its surroundings. The city's Romance population increasingly mingled with the surrounding populace. The city was for the first time fully integrated within the state by Peter Krešimir IV in 1069, and again in 1075 by Demetrius Zvonimir.
To the north, the Venetian Republic began to influence the Dalmatian region from the 10th century, using its growing economic influence to gain control over the islands and the coastal cities. It gained control over the city during several periods, due mostly to the temporary weakness of the Croatian or Hungarian state. With the decline of the Byzantine Empire
, the Kingdom of Croatia held de-facto suzerainty over the city, granting it significant autonomy due to the state's feudal character. In the year 1102, Croatia was forced into a personal union
with the Kingdom of Hungary
(see Croatian pacta conventa
) by its King, Coloman. The city however maintained its significant degree of independence, and in 1312, it issued statutes as well as currency of its own.
and the Capetian House of Anjou
of the Kingdom of Naples
, the losing contender, Ladislaus of Naples, sold his rights on Dalmatia to the Venetian Republic for 100,000 ducats. The more centralized Republic took over the city by the year 1420, it was to remain under Venetian rule for 377 years (1420–1797).
The population was by that time largely Croatian
, while Romance Dalmatian
names were not so numerous, according to the Medieval city archives, and the common language was also Croatian
, but Italian
(a mixture of Tuscan
and Venetian dialects) was also spoken due to the Italian minorities. The autonomy of the city was reduced: the highest authority was a prince-captain, always of Venetian birth.
Despite this, Split eventually developed into a significant port-city, with important trade routes to the Ottoman
-held interior through the nearby Klis
pass. Culture flourished as well, Split being the hometown of Marko Marulić
, a classic Croatian author. Marko Marulić's most acclaimed work, Judita
(1501), was an epic poem about Judith and Holfernes and written in Split, it was printed in Venice in 1521. It is widely held to be the first modern work of Croatian literature. Still, it should be noted the advances and achievements were reserved mostly for the aristocracy
: the illiteracy rate was extremely high, mostly because Venetian rule showed little interest in educational and medical facilities. Split was ruled by the Venetian Republic up to its downfall in 1797. After a brief period of Napoleonic rule
(1806–1813) when was even part of the Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy, the city was allocated to the Empire of Austria by the Congress of Vienna
. Large investments were undertaken in the city during that period, new streets were built and parts of the ancient fortifications were removed.
During the period of the Austrian Empire
Split's region, the Kingdom of Dalmatia
, was a separate administrative unit. After the revolutions of 1848
as a result of the romantic nationalism
, two factions appeared. One was the pro-Croatian Unionist faction (later called the "Puntari", "Pointers"), led by the People's Party and, to a lesser extent, the Party of Rights, both of which advocated the union of Dalmatia with Croatia-Slavonia which was under Hungarian administration. This faction was strongest in Split, and used it as its headquarters. The other faction was the pro-Italian Autonomist faction (also known as the "Irredentist
" faction), whose political goals varied from autonomy within the Austro-Hungarian Empire, to a political union with the Kingdom of Italy
.
The political alliances in Split shifted over time. At first, the Unionists and Autonomists were allied against the centralism of Vienna
. After a while, when the national question came to prominence, they separated. Under Austria, however, Split can generally be said to have stagnated. The great upheavals in Europe in 1848 gained no ground in Split, and the city did not rebel.
Antonio Bajamonti
became Mayor of Split in 1860 for and – except for a brief interruption during the period 1864–65 – held the post for over two decades until 1880. Bajamonti was also a member of the Dalmatian Sabor (1861–91) and the Austrian Chamber of Deputies (1867–70 and 1873–79). In 1882 the Bajamonti's party lost the elections and Dujam Rendić-Miočević, a prominent city lawyer, was elected to the post.
and the dissolution of Austria-Hungary
, the province of Dalmatia
, along with Split, became a part of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes
(which in 1929 changed its name to Kingdom of Yugoslavia). Since both Rijeka
and Zadar
, the two other large cities on the eastern Adriatic coast, were annexed by Italy
, Split became the most important port in Yugoslavia. In the new country, Port of Split
became the seat of new administrative unit, Littoral Banovina
. The Lika railway, connecting Split to the rest of the country, was completed in 1925. After the Cvetković-Maček agreement, Split became the part of new administrative unit (merging of Sava and Littoral Banovina plus some Croat populated areas), Banovina of Croatia
in Kingdom of Yugoslavia.
by Nazi Germany
, Split was occupied by Italy and formally annexed one month later. Italian rule met heavy opposition from the Croat population as Split became a center of anti-fascist sentiment in Yugoslavia. Between September and October 1941 alone, ten officials of the Italian fascist occupation were assassinated by the citizens.
In September 1943, following the capitulation of Italy, the city was temporarily liberated by Tito's brigades with thousands of people volunteering to join the Partisans of Marshal Josip Broz Tito
(a third of the total population, according to some sources). A few weeks later, however, the Partisans were forced into retreat as the Wehrmacht
placed the city under the occupation of the Nazi puppet NDH
a few weeks later. The local football clubs refused to compete in the Italian championship; HNK Hajduk
and RNK Split
suspended their activities and both joined the Partisans along with their entire staff after the Italian capitulation provided the opportunity. Soon after Hajduk became the official football club of the Partisan movement.
During the occupation, some of the port facilities as well as parts of the old city were damaged by NDH and German bombing. In a tragic turn of events, besides being bombed by axis forces, the heavily pro-Partisan city was also bombed by the Allies, causing hundreds of deaths. Partisans finally liberated the city on October 26, 1944 and instituted it as the provisional capital of Croatia. On February 12, 1945 the Kriegsmarine
conducted a daring raid on the Split harbor, damaging the British cruiser Delhi
.
, itself a constituent sovereign republic of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
. During the period the city experienced its largest economic and demographic boom. Dozens of new factories and companies were founded with the city population increasing three times during the period. The city became the economic center of an area exceeding the borders of Croatia and was flooded by waves of rural migrants from the undeveloped hinterland who found employment in the newly-established industry, as part of large-scale industrialization and investment by the Yugoslav Federal Government.
The shipbuilding industry was particularly successful and Yugoslavia, with its Croatian shipyards, became one of the world's top nations in the field. Many recreational facilities were also constructed with federal funding, especially for the 1979 Mediterranean Games
, such as the Poljud Stadium. The city also became the largest passenger and military port in Yugoslavia, housing the headquarters of the Yugoslav Navy (Jugoslavenska ratna mornarica, JRM) and the Army's
Coastal Military District (equivalent of a field army
). In the period between 1945 and 1990, the city was transformed and expanded, taking up the vast majority of the Split peninsula
. In the same period it achieved an as yet unsurpassed GDP and employment level, still above the present day's, growing into a significant Yugoslav city.
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When Croatia declared its independence again in 1991, Split had a large garrison of JNA troops (drafted from all over Yugoslavia), as well as the headquarters and facilities of the Yugoslav War Navy (JRM). This led to a tense months-long stand-off between the JNA and Croatian National Guard and police forces, occasionally flaring up in various incidents.
The most tragic such incident occurred on November 15, 1991, when the JRM light frigate Split
fired a small number of shells at the city and its surroundings. The damage was insignificant but there were a few casualties. Three general locations were bombarded: the old city center, the city airport and an uninhabited part of the hills above Kaštela
, between the airport and Split. JRM Sailors who had refused to attack Croat civilians, most of them Croats themselves, were left in the vessel's brig. The JNA and JRM evacuated all of its facilities in Split during January 1992. The 1990s economic recession soon followed.
In the years following 2000, Split finally gained momentum and started to develop again, with a focus on tourism. From being just a transition centre, Split is now a major Croatian tourist destination. Many new hotels are being built, as well as new apartment and office buildings. Many large development projects are revived, and new infrastructure is being built. An example of the latest large city projects is the Spaladium Arena, built in 2009.
between the eastern part of the Gulf of Kaštela and the Split Channel
. The Marjan
hill (178 m), rises in the western part of the peninsula. The ridges Kozjak
(779 m) and his brother Mosor
(1339 m) protect the city from the north and northeast, and separate it from the hinterland.
; hot, relatively dry summers and mild, wet winters. Average annual rainfall is in excess of 820 mm (32.28 in). July is the hottest month, with an average high temperature around 30 °C (86 °F). January is the coldest month, with an average low temperature around 10 °C (50 °F). November is the wettest month, with a precipitation total of nearly 113 mm (4.45 in) and 12 rainy days. August is the driest month, with a precipitation total of around 43 mm (1.69 in) and 5 rainy days. Winter is the wettest season, however it can rain in Split at any time of the year. Snow is usually exceedingly rare, but the months of December, January and February have each accrued an average of 1 snowy day since record-keeping began. Split receives in excess of 2,600 sunshine hours annually.
According to the first results of the 2011 census, the city of Split had 178,192 inhabitants.
Ethnically, Croats make up 95.15% of the population, and 88.37% of the residents of the city are Roman Catholics.
The settlements included in the administrative area of the City are:
In the wider urban area Split has about 220,000 inhabitants, while there are approximately 410,000 people in the Split metropolitan area. That area includes the surrounding towns and settlements: Trogir
, Omiš
, Solin
, Kaštela
, Podstrana
, Sinj
, Dugopolje
, Klis
and Supetar
on the island Brač
. The entire Split-Dalmatia County
has around 470,000 residents.
caused by the transfer to a market economy
and privatization
. In the Yugoslav era, however, the city had been a highly significant economic centre with a modern and diverse industrial and economic base, including shipbuilding
, food
, chemical
, plastics
, textile
, and paper industry, in addition to a large revenues from tourism. In 1981 Split's GDP per capita was 137% of the Yugoslav average. Today, most of the factories are out of business (or are far below pre-war production and employment capacity) and the city has been trying to concentrate on commerce and services, consequently leaving an alarmingly large number of factory workers unemployed.
Brodosplit shipyard is the largest one in Croatia. It employs around 4,000 people, and has built over 350 vessels, including many tankers, both panamax and non-panamax, as well as container ships, bulk carriers, dredgers, off-shore platforms, fregates, submarines, patrol boats and passenger ships. 80% of the ships built are exported to foreign contractors.
The new A1 motorway, integrating Split with the rest of the Croatian freeway network, has helped stimulate economic production and investment, with new businesses being built in the city centre and its wildly sprawling suburbs. The entire route was opened in July 2005. Today, the city's economy relies mostly on trade
and tourism
with some old industries undergoing partial revival, such as food (fishing
, olive
, wine
production), paper, concrete
and chemicals. Since 1998, Split is host to the annual Croatia Boat Show
.
In 1979, the historic center of Split was included into the UNESCO list of World Heritage Site
s. Split is said to be one of the centres of Croatian culture. Its literary tradition can be traced to medieval times, and includes names like Marko Marulić
, while in more modern times Split excelled by authors famous for their sense of humor. Among them the most notable is Miljenko Smoje
, famous for his TV series Malo misto and Velo misto, with the latter dealing with the development of Split into a modern city.
Despite colorful settings and characters, as well as a cinema tradition that could be traced to early 20th century works of Josip Karaman, there were relatively few films shot in or around Split. However, the city did produce several famous actors, most notably Boris Dvornik
.
Also well known is Ivo Tijardović
, and his famous operetta "Little Floramye" (Mala Floramye). Both Smoje and Tijardović are famous artists thought to represent the old Split traditions that are slowly dying out due to the city being overwhelmed by large numbers of rural migrants from the undeveloped hinterland. The old Split families still cling to the littoral Dalmatian way of life and values, often publicly stating their disgust at the ruralization of the ancient city.
(Salona
and Tusculum
Collection) and two regional centres at Vid near Metkovic (Narona
Collection), and on the island of Vis
(Issa
Collection). The Split Archaeological Museum is the oldest museum institution in Croatia, founded in 1820 by the decree of the Dalmatian government in Zadar
. Some 150,000 artifacts cover prehistoric times, the period of Greek
colonization of the Adriatic, Roman
Provincial and Early Christian
era to the early Middle Ages
and the period of Croatian popular rulers). Of special interest is the collection of stone inscriptions from Salona and the collections of Graeco-Hellenistic ceramic objects, Roman glass, ancient clay lamps, bone and metal articles, as well as the collection of gems. In addition, the museum houses an extensive collection of ancient and medieval coins, a submarine achaeological collection, and a rich archive library.
The Museum of Croatian Archaeological Monuments located at Meštrovićevo šetalište 18, is the only museum in Croatia dedicated to researching and presenting cultural artifacts of the Croats in the Middle Ages, between the 7th and 15th centuries, particularly the time of the early medieval Croatian state from 9th to 12th century. Originally founded in Knin
in 1893, the museum was moved first to Sinj
, then Klis
and finally to Split where today the collection is displayed in a purpose-built museum complex, opened in 1976. The holdings consist mainly of jewellery, weapons and items of daily use, and include a large number of stone artifacts that once belonged to the old Croatian church interiors. The collection of early medieval wicker, clay figurines, and old Croatian Latin epigraphic monuments is the largest collection of its kind in Europe.
The Split City Museum at Papalićeva 1, is housed in the former Papalić Palace. The collection presents the urban, cultural, artistic and economic heritage of the city. The museum is also home to the Emanuel Vidović
Gallery, dedicated to the most important Split painter of the 20th century.
The Ethnographical Museum at Severova 1, has a wide range of ethnographic content mainly from Dalmatia
. Founded in 1910, the museum collects original and contemporary applications of traditional heritage. They also track contemporary popular culture living with traces of old foundations and preserve and promote the value of folk heritage, renewing them and presenting exhibitions.
The Croatian Maritime Museum at Glagoljaška 18 - Tvrđava Gripe has a collection of marine equipment and supplies, weapons and navigation equipment, medals, ship models, uniforms and equipment, and related artwork. A permanent exhibition is planned to complete the presentation of military maritime and naval history, with a presentation that covers the period from the arrival of the Slavs to the present day.
Split Science museum and Zoo
located at Kolombatovićevo šetalište 2 on the Marjan
peninsula.
The Gallery of Fine Arts
, located at Kralja Tomislava 15, is an art museum that contains works from 14th century to the present day providing an overview of the artistic developments in the local art scene. The gallery was founded in 1931, and has a permanent exhibition of painting
s and sculpture
s that includes works by major Croatian artists such as Vlaho Bukovac
, Mato Celestin Medović
, Branislav Dešković
, Ivan Meštrović
, Emanuel Vidović
and Ignjat Job
. The gallery also has an extensive collection of icon
s, and holds special exhibits of works by contemporary artists. In May 2009, the gallery opened its new premises in the old Split Hospital building behind Diocletian's Palace
.
The Ivan Meštrović Gallery
(Croatian: Galerija Meštrović), on the Marjan
peninsula is an art museum dedicated to the work of the 20th century sculptor, Ivan Meštrović
. The gallery displays some of his most significant work, and the building itself is an art monument. The permanent collection includes works of sculpture
, drawings, design
, furniture
and architecture
. The gallery building and grounds were based on original plans by Meštrović himself, and included living and working areas, as well as exhibition spaces. Not far from the Gallery lies Kaštelet-Crikvine, a restored chapel that houses a set of wooden wall panels carved by Ivan Meštrović.
, Ivo Tijardović
, Zdenko Runjić
- some of the most influential musicians in former Yugoslavia. Also, the more notable musicians and bands from Split are Oliver Dragojević
, Gibonni, Daleka Obala
, Magazin
, Severina, Dino Dvornik
, Jasmin Stavros
, Neno Belan
, Goran Karan
, Dražen Zečić
, Doris Dragović
, Jelena Rozga
, Danijela Martinović
, Siniša Vuco
, Luka Nižetić
and others. There is great cultural activity during summers, when the prestigious Split Music Festival is held, followed by the Split Summer (Splitsko ljeto) theater festival.
Sportsmen are traditionally held in high regard in Split, and the city is famous for producing many champions. The most popular sports in Split are football (soccer)
, tennis
, basketball
, swimming
, rowing
, sailing
, waterpolo, athletics, and handball
. Residents of Split prefer to call their city as "The sportiest city in the world".
The main football (soccer)
club is HNK Hajduk
, the most popular club in Croatia supported by a fans known as Torcida Split
, while RNK Split
is the city's second club. The largest football stadium is the Poljud Stadium (HNK Hajduk's ground), with 35,000 capacity (55,000 prior to the renovation to an all-seater). Slaven Bilić
, Aljoša Asanović
, Igor Tudor
, and Stipe Pletikosa
are some of the famous Split natives who started their careers at Hajduk. Basketball
is also popular, and the city basketball club, KK Split
(Jugoplastika Split), holds the record of winning the Euroleague
three consecutive times (1989–1991), with notable players like Toni Kukoč
and Dino Rađa both of whom are Split natives.
Split's most famous tennis
stars are the retired Wimbledon
champion Goran Ivanišević
, and Mario Ančić
("Super Mario").
Members of the local rowing
club HVK Gusar won numerous Olympic
and World Championship
medals.
Swimming also has a long tradition in Split, with Đurđica Bjedov (1968 Olympic Gold Medal and Olympic record in the 100 m breaststroke), Duje Draganja
and Vanja Rogulj
as the most famous swimmers from the city. As a member of the ASK Split athletics club, the champion Blanka Vlašić
also originates from the city. The biggest sports events to be held in Split were the 1979 Mediterranean Games
, and the 1990 European Athletics Championships.
Split is one of the host cities of the 2009 World Men's Handball Championship
. The city constructed a new sporting arena for the event, the Spaladium Arena. Its capacity is 12,000 spectators (in basketball
events). The cost of the arena was evenly divided between the city and the government. Ivano Balić, two time IHF World Player of the Year
is the most famous handball player to come from Split.
Picigin
is a traditional local sport (originating in 1908), played on the famous sandy beach Bačvice. It is played in very shallow water (just ankle deep) with a small ball. Picigin is played by five players. The ball is the peeled tennis ball. There is a tradition of playing picigin in Split on New Year's Day, regardless of the weather conditions, in spite of the sea temperature rarely exceeding 10 °C.
RK Nada
are the most successful rugby union
club in the Balkan region, with 11 titles in the Yugoslav championship and 14 in Croatia since independence.
Split SeaWolves is the only team of American Football
in Dalmatia
. Active from 2008. currently still developing and main focus is on flag football team.
and the wider region. In addition to the Zagreb
-Split freeway (A1
), all the road traffic along the Adriatic coast on the route Rijeka
–Dubrovnik
(Adriatic Highway) flows through the city. The city also has a series of expressways and avenues, enabling efficient, fast transit by car around the city and its suburbs.
The most important mean of transport in Split is bus
, the city being inadequate for trams due to its hilly geography. The local public transport company Promet Split renovated its fleet in 2008 with the latest MAN and Mercedes-Benz
models.
Split is also the southernmost integrated point of the Croatian Railway
network. Within Split's city centre, railway traffic passes two tunnels before reaching the Central Station. The line to Split is unremarkable; a journey from Split to Zagreb or Rijeka takes around 5 hours, as the line is unelectrified and consists of only one track. Currently, there are no definite plans to upgrade the line, but with the start of work on the new Zagreb-Rijeka railway line in October 2007. The Split Suburban Railway network opened in early December 2006. It currently has one line, running from the Split city harbour to Kaštel Stari
. The line is expected to get a second track and be fully electrified in the near future. New, low-floor trains are expected to be implemented as well. This line will also be lengthened, to encompass the aforementioned Split International Airport, and continue on to the towns of Trogir
and Seget Donji. Split also plans to construct a mini-metro that is to be operational by 2012.
The Split Airport
in Kaštela
is the second largest in Croatia in terms of passenger numbers (1,203,778 in 2008), with year-round services to Zagreb, London
, Frankfurt
and the Cologne Bonn Airport
in Germany
, as well as heavy tourist traffic in the summer. The expansion of the terminal is scheduled to commence in 2012.
Port of Split
, with its annual traffic of 4 million passengers, is the third busiest port in the Mediterranean, with daily coastal routes to Rijeka
, Dubrovnik
and Ancona
in Italy. During the summer season Split is connected with other Italian cities as well, such as Pescara
. Most of the central Dalmatian islands are only reachable via the Split harbor (with Jadrolinija
and Split Tours ferries
). This includes the islands of Brač
, Hvar
and Šolta
, as well as the more distant Vis
, Korčula
and Lastovo
. Split is also becoming a major cruise ship
destination, with over 260 ship visits, carrying 130,000 passengers. The largest ship scheduled to dock is the 315m long Celebrity Eclipse
.
with:
Mediterranean Sea
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean surrounded by the Mediterranean region and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Anatolia and Europe, on the south by North Africa, and on the east by the Levant...
city on the eastern shores of the Adriatic Sea
Adriatic Sea
The Adriatic Sea is a body of water separating the Italian Peninsula from the Balkan peninsula, and the system of the Apennine Mountains from that of the Dinaric Alps and adjacent ranges...
, centered around the ancient Roman Palace of the Emperor Diocletian
Diocletian's Palace
Diocletian's Palace is a building in Split, Croatia, that was built by the Roman emperor Diocletian at the turn of the fourth century AD.Diocletian built the massive palace in preparation for his retirement on 1 May 305 AD. It lies in a bay on the south side of a short peninsula running out from...
and its wide port bay. With a population of 178,192 citizens, and a metropolitan area
Metropolitan area
The term metropolitan area refers to a region consisting of a densely populated urban core and its less-populated surrounding territories, sharing industry, infrastructure, and housing. A metropolitan area usually encompasses multiple jurisdictions and municipalities: neighborhoods, townships,...
numbering up to 467,899, Split is by far the largest Dalmatia
Dalmatia
Dalmatia is a historical region on the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea. It stretches from the island of Rab in the northwest to the Bay of Kotor in the southeast. The hinterland, the Dalmatian Zagora, ranges from fifty kilometers in width in the north to just a few kilometers in the south....
n city and the second-largest city of Croatia
Croatia
Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...
. Spread over a central peninsula
Peninsula
A peninsula is a piece of land that is bordered by water on three sides but connected to mainland. In many Germanic and Celtic languages and also in Baltic, Slavic and Hungarian, peninsulas are called "half-islands"....
and its surroundings, Split's greater area includes the surrounding seaside towns as well. An intraregional transport hub, the city is a link to numerous Adriatic islands and the Apennine peninsula, as well as a popular tourist destination.
Split is also one of the oldest cities in the area. While it is traditionally considered just over 1,700 years old counting from the construction of Diocletian's Palace
Diocletian's Palace
Diocletian's Palace is a building in Split, Croatia, that was built by the Roman emperor Diocletian at the turn of the fourth century AD.Diocletian built the massive palace in preparation for his retirement on 1 May 305 AD. It lies in a bay on the south side of a short peninsula running out from...
in AD 305, archaeological research relating to the original founding of the city as the Greek colony of Aspálathos (Aσπάλαθος) in the 6th century BC
6th century BC
The 6th century BC started the first day of 600 BC and ended the last day of 501 BC.Pāṇini, in India, composed a grammar for Sanskrit, in this century or slightly later...
, establishes the urban tradition of the area as being several centuries older.
Name
The ancient originally city draws its name from the spiny broom (calicotome spinosa; brnistra or žuka in modern CroatianCroatian language
Croatian is the collective name for the standard language and dialects spoken by Croats, principally in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Serbian province of Vojvodina and other neighbouring countries...
), a common shrub in the area, after which the Greek colony of Aspálathos (Aσπάλαθος) or Spálathos (Σπάλαθος), from which the city originates, was named. As the city became a Roman possession, the Latin name became "Spalatum", which in the Middle Ages evolved into "Spalatro" in the Dalmatian language
Dalmatian language
Dalmatian was a Romance language spoken in the Dalmatia region of Croatia, and as far south as Kotor in Montenegro. The name refers to a pre-Roman tribe of the Illyrian linguistic group, Dalmatae...
of the city's Romance population. The South Slavic
South Slavs
The South Slavs are the southern branch of the Slavic peoples and speak South Slavic languages. Geographically, the South Slavs are native to the Balkan peninsula, the southern Pannonian Plain and the eastern Alps...
version became "Split", while the Italian version was "Spalato". During a period in the early 19th century the name was "Spljet", and finally "Split" once more.
Thus, contrary to a number of older theories, the origin of the name is not related to the Latin word for "palace" (palatium), thought to be a reference to Diocletian's Palace
Diocletian's Palace
Diocletian's Palace is a building in Split, Croatia, that was built by the Roman emperor Diocletian at the turn of the fourth century AD.Diocletian built the massive palace in preparation for his retirement on 1 May 305 AD. It lies in a bay on the south side of a short peninsula running out from...
which still forms the core of the city. The erroneous "palace" etymology was notably due to Byzantine Emperor Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus, and was later also mentioned by Thomas the Archdeacon
Thomas the Archdeacon
Thomas the Archdeacon was a medieval Dalmatian historian and Archdeacon of Split most remembered for Historia Salonitana, a chronicle of the Bishops and Archbishops of Split until 1266....
.
- Medieval
Antiquity
While the beginnings of Split are often connected to the construction of Diocletian's PalaceDiocletian's Palace
Diocletian's Palace is a building in Split, Croatia, that was built by the Roman emperor Diocletian at the turn of the fourth century AD.Diocletian built the massive palace in preparation for his retirement on 1 May 305 AD. It lies in a bay on the south side of a short peninsula running out from...
, the city was founded earlier as a Greek colony of Aspálathos.
The Greek
Greeks
The Greeks, also known as the Hellenes , are a nation and ethnic group native to Greece, Cyprus and neighboring regions. They also form a significant diaspora, with Greek communities established around the world....
settlement lived off trade with the surrounding Illyrian
Illyrians
The Illyrians were a group of tribes who inhabited part of the western Balkans in antiquity and the south-eastern coasts of the Italian peninsula...
tribes, mostly the Delmatae, who inhabited the (much larger) nearby city of Salona
Salona
Salona was an ancient Illyrian Delmati city in the first millennium BC. The Greeks had set up an emporion there. After the conquest by the Romans, Salona became the capital of the Roman province of Dalmatia...
. In time, the Roman Republic
Roman Republic
The Roman Republic was the period of the ancient Roman civilization where the government operated as a republic. It began with the overthrow of the Roman monarchy, traditionally dated around 508 BC, and its replacement by a government headed by two consuls, elected annually by the citizens and...
became the dominant power in the region, and conquered the Illyrians in the Illyrian Wars
Illyrian Wars
Illyrian Wars were a set of conflicts of 229 BC, 219 BC and 168 BC when Rome overran the Illyrian settlements and suppressed the piracy that had made the Adriatic unsafe for Italian commerce. There were three campaigns, the first against Teuta, the second against Demetrius of Pharos and the third...
of 229 and 219 BC. Upon establishing permanent control, the Romans
Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
founded the province of Dalmatia
Dalmatia (Roman province)
Dalmatia was an ancient Roman province. Its name is probably derived from the name of an Illyrian tribe called the Dalmatae which lived in the area of the eastern Adriatic coast in Classical antiquity....
with Salona as the capital, and at that time the name of the nearby Greek colony Aspálathos was changed to "Spalatum".
After he nearly died of an illness, the Roman Emperor
Roman Emperor
The Roman emperor was the ruler of the Roman State during the imperial period . The Romans had no single term for the office although at any given time, a given title was associated with the emperor...
Diocletian
Diocletian
Diocletian |latinized]] upon his accession to Diocletian . c. 22 December 244 – 3 December 311), was a Roman Emperor from 284 to 305....
(ruled AD 284 to 305), great reformer of the late Roman Empire
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
, decided to retire from politics in AD 305. The Emperor ordered work to begin on a retirement palace near his hometown, and since he was from the town of Dioclea he chose the harbor near Salona for the location. Work on the palace began in AD 293 in readiness for his retirement from politics. The palace was built as a massive structure, much like a Roman military fortress. It faces the sea on its south side, with its walls 170 to 200 meters (570 to 700 feet) long, and 15 to 20 meters (50 to 70 feet) high, enclosing an area of 38,000 m² (9½ acres). The palace water supply was substantial, fed by an aqueduct from Jadro Spring
Jadro Spring
The Jadro Spring is a water source rising in the Dinaric Alps in Croatia. The spring was the original water supply for the ancient city comprised by Diocletian's Palace . Contemporary studies indicate favourable water quality levels at the spring source. The Jadro Spring is the source of the...
. This opulent palace and its surroundings were at times inhabited by a population as large as 8,000 to 10,000 people, who required parks and recreation space; therefore, Diocletian established such outdoor areas at Marjan
Marjan
Marjan is a hill on the peninsula of the city of Split, largest city of Croatia's Dalmatia region. It is covered in a dense Mediterranean pine forest and completely surrounded by the city and the sea, making it a unique sight. Originally used as a park by the citizens as early as the 3rd century,...
hill. The palace was finished in AD 305
305
Year 305 was a common year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Constantius and Valerius...
, right on time to receive its owner, who retired exactly according to schedule, becoming the first Roman Emperor to voluntarily remove himself from office. After a few years, a group of Roman Senators came to Diocletian's palace, asking the former emperor to return to Rome and help the Empire to overcome growing political problems. Diocletian refused, and while he was showing them his garden, he told them that he could not leave his beautiful garden which he had created by his own hands. This gesture showed that he remained bound by his word to leave political life after 21 years of ruling the Roman Empire.
Following the fall of the Western Roman Empire
Western Roman Empire
The Western Roman Empire was the western half of the Roman Empire after its division by Diocletian in 285; the other half of the Roman Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire, commonly referred to today as the Byzantine Empire....
in AD 476, Spalatum became a part of the Eastern Roman Empire, also known as Byzantium. It grew very slowly as a satellite town of the much larger Salona. However, around AD 639 Salona fell to the invasion of Avars
Eurasian Avars
The Eurasian Avars or Ancient Avars were a highly organized nomadic confederacy of mixed origins. They were ruled by a khagan, who was surrounded by a tight-knit entourage of nomad warriors, an organization characteristic of Turko-Mongol groups...
and Slavs, and was razed to the ground, with the majority of the displaced citizens fleeing to the nearby Adriatic islands. Following the return of Byzantine rule to the area, the Romanic citizens returned to the mainland under the leadership of the nobleman known as Severus the Great. They chose to inhabit Diocletian's Palace
Diocletian's Palace
Diocletian's Palace is a building in Split, Croatia, that was built by the Roman emperor Diocletian at the turn of the fourth century AD.Diocletian built the massive palace in preparation for his retirement on 1 May 305 AD. It lies in a bay on the south side of a short peninsula running out from...
in Spalatum, because of its strong (more "medieval") fortifications. The palace was long deserted by this time, and the interior was converted into a city by the Salona refugees, making Spalatum much larger as the successor to the capital city of the province. Today the palace constitutes the inner core of the city, still inhabited, full of shops, markets, squares, with an ancient Cathedral of St. Duje
Cathedral of St. Duje in Split
The Cathedral of Saint Domnius , known locally as the Saint Duje , is the Catholic cathedral of Split, the largest Dalmatian city and the seat of Split-Dalmatia County, in Croatia. The cathedral is the seat of the Archdiocese of Split-Makarska, headed by Archbishop Marin Barišić. The Cathedral...
(formerly Diocletian's mausoleum
Mausoleum
A mausoleum is an external free-standing building constructed as a monument enclosing the interment space or burial chamber of a deceased person or persons. A monument without the interment is a cenotaph. A mausoleum may be considered a type of tomb or the tomb may be considered to be within the...
) inserted in the corridors and floors of the former palace. As a part of the Byzantine Empire
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...
, the city had varying but significant political autonomy.
Middle Ages
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
in Split's Dalmatia
Dalmatia
Dalmatia is a historical region on the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea. It stretches from the island of Rab in the northwest to the Bay of Kotor in the southeast. The hinterland, the Dalmatian Zagora, ranges from fifty kilometers in width in the north to just a few kilometers in the south....
province is marked by the waning power of the Byzantine Empire, and by the struggle of the neighboring powers, namely the Venetian Republic, the Kingdom of Croatia
Kingdom of Croatia (medieval)
The Kingdom of Croatia , also known as the Kingdom of the Croats , was a medieval kingdom covering most of what is today Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina in the Balkans.Established in 925, it ruled as a sovereign state for almost two centuries...
, and (later) the Kingdom of Hungary
Kingdom of Hungary
The Kingdom of Hungary comprised present-day Hungary, Slovakia and Croatia , Transylvania , Carpatho Ruthenia , Vojvodina , Burgenland , and other smaller territories surrounding present-day Hungary's borders...
, to fill the power vacuum. The arrival of the South Slavs
South Slavs
The South Slavs are the southern branch of the Slavic peoples and speak South Slavic languages. Geographically, the South Slavs are native to the Balkan peninsula, the southern Pannonian Plain and the eastern Alps...
(mostly Croats
Croats
Croats are a South Slavic ethnic group mostly living in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and nearby countries. There are around 4 million Croats living inside Croatia and up to 4.5 million throughout the rest of the world. Responding to political, social and economic pressure, many Croats have...
) in the 7th century AD profoundly influenced the area. The hinterland and the islands were predominantly populated by the Croats, who began influencing the city itself. The early Medieval Croatian state
Medieval Croatian state
Medieval Croatia can refer to:* Principality of Pannonian Croatia - medieval duchy in existence between the 7th and 10th centuries A.D.* Principality of Littoral Croatia - medieval principality in existence between the 8th century and 925 A.D....
(later the Kingdom of Croatia) founded neighboring littoral cities (such as Šibenik
Šibenik
Šibenik is a historic town in Croatia, with population of 51,553 . It is located in central Dalmatia where the river Krka flows into the Adriatic Sea...
), and encompassed the vast majority of the hinterland. In the following centuries Split developed an increasingly Croatian character, which can be seen in the architecture (particularly of churches) in the city and its surroundings. The city's Romance population increasingly mingled with the surrounding populace. The city was for the first time fully integrated within the state by Peter Krešimir IV in 1069, and again in 1075 by Demetrius Zvonimir.
To the north, the Venetian Republic began to influence the Dalmatian region from the 10th century, using its growing economic influence to gain control over the islands and the coastal cities. It gained control over the city during several periods, due mostly to the temporary weakness of the Croatian or Hungarian state. With the decline of the Byzantine Empire
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...
, the Kingdom of Croatia held de-facto suzerainty over the city, granting it significant autonomy due to the state's feudal character. In the year 1102, Croatia was forced into a personal union
Personal union
A personal union is the combination by which two or more different states have the same monarch while their boundaries, their laws and their interests remain distinct. It should not be confused with a federation which is internationally considered a single state...
with the Kingdom of Hungary
Kingdom of Hungary in the Middle Ages
The Kingdom of Hungary was formed from the previous Principality of Hungarywith the coronation of Stephen I in AD 1000. This was a result of the conversion of Géza of Hungary to the Western Church in the 970s....
(see Croatian pacta conventa
Pacta conventa (Croatia)
Pacta conventa was an alleged agreement concluded between King Coloman of Hungary and the Croatian nobility. While some claim it was a voluntary union of the two crowns, leaving Croatia as a sovereign state, others argue that Hungary simply annexed Croatia outright and forced an agreement...
) by its King, Coloman. The city however maintained its significant degree of independence, and in 1312, it issued statutes as well as currency of its own.
Early modern period
During the 20-year Hungarian civil war between King SigismundSigismund, Holy Roman Emperor
Sigismund of Luxemburg KG was King of Hungary, of Croatia from 1387 to 1437, of Bohemia from 1419, and Holy Roman Emperor for four years from 1433 until 1437, the last Emperor of the House of Luxemburg. He was also King of Italy from 1431, and of Germany from 1411...
and the Capetian House of Anjou
Capetian House of Anjou
The Capetian House of Anjou, also known as the House of Anjou-Sicily and House of Anjou-Naples, was a royal house and cadet branch of the direct House of Capet. Founded by Charles I of Sicily, a son of Louis VIII of France, the Capetian king first ruled the Kingdom of Sicily during the 13th century...
of the Kingdom of Naples
Kingdom of Naples
The Kingdom of Naples, comprising the southern part of the Italian peninsula, was the remainder of the old Kingdom of Sicily after secession of the island of Sicily as a result of the Sicilian Vespers rebellion of 1282. Known to contemporaries as the Kingdom of Sicily, it is dubbed Kingdom of...
, the losing contender, Ladislaus of Naples, sold his rights on Dalmatia to the Venetian Republic for 100,000 ducats. The more centralized Republic took over the city by the year 1420, it was to remain under Venetian rule for 377 years (1420–1797).
The population was by that time largely Croatian
Croats
Croats are a South Slavic ethnic group mostly living in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and nearby countries. There are around 4 million Croats living inside Croatia and up to 4.5 million throughout the rest of the world. Responding to political, social and economic pressure, many Croats have...
, while Romance Dalmatian
Dalmatian language
Dalmatian was a Romance language spoken in the Dalmatia region of Croatia, and as far south as Kotor in Montenegro. The name refers to a pre-Roman tribe of the Illyrian linguistic group, Dalmatae...
names were not so numerous, according to the Medieval city archives, and the common language was also Croatian
Croatian language
Croatian is the collective name for the standard language and dialects spoken by Croats, principally in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Serbian province of Vojvodina and other neighbouring countries...
, but Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
(a mixture of Tuscan
Tuscan dialect
The Tuscan language , or the Tuscan dialect is an Italo-Dalmatian language spoken in Tuscany, Italy.Standard Italian is based on Tuscan, specifically on its Florentine variety...
and Venetian dialects) was also spoken due to the Italian minorities. The autonomy of the city was reduced: the highest authority was a prince-captain, always of Venetian birth.
Despite this, Split eventually developed into a significant port-city, with important trade routes to the Ottoman
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
-held interior through the nearby Klis
Klis
Klis is a village located around a mountain fortress bearing the same name. It is located in central Dalmatia, Croatia, located just northeast of Solin and Split near the eponymous mountain pass...
pass. Culture flourished as well, Split being the hometown of Marko Marulić
Marko Marulic
Marko Marulić |Split]], 18 August 1450 – Split, 5 January 1524) was a Croatian national poet and Christian humanist, known as the Crown of the Croatian Medieval Age and the father of the Croatian Renaissance. He signed his works as Marko Marulić Splićanin , Marko Pečenić, Marcus Marulus ...
, a classic Croatian author. Marko Marulić's most acclaimed work, Judita
Judita
Judita is one of the most important Croatian literary works, an epic poem written by the "father of Croatian literature" Marko Marulić in 1501.-Editions:...
(1501), was an epic poem about Judith and Holfernes and written in Split, it was printed in Venice in 1521. It is widely held to be the first modern work of Croatian literature. Still, it should be noted the advances and achievements were reserved mostly for the aristocracy
Aristocracy
Aristocracy , is a form of government in which a few elite citizens rule. The term derives from the Greek aristokratia, meaning "rule of the best". In origin in Ancient Greece, it was conceived of as rule by the best qualified citizens, and contrasted with monarchy...
: the illiteracy rate was extremely high, mostly because Venetian rule showed little interest in educational and medical facilities. Split was ruled by the Venetian Republic up to its downfall in 1797. After a brief period of Napoleonic rule
Illyrian provinces
The Illyrian Provinces was an autonomous province of the Napoleonic French Empire on the north and east coasts of the Adriatic Sea between 1809 and 1816. Its capital was established at Laybach...
(1806–1813) when was even part of the Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy, the city was allocated to the Empire of Austria by the Congress of Vienna
Congress of Vienna
The Congress of Vienna was a conference of ambassadors of European states chaired by Klemens Wenzel von Metternich, and held in Vienna from September, 1814 to June, 1815. The objective of the Congress was to settle the many issues arising from the French Revolutionary Wars, the Napoleonic Wars,...
. Large investments were undertaken in the city during that period, new streets were built and parts of the ancient fortifications were removed.
During the period of the Austrian Empire
Austrian Empire
The Austrian Empire was a modern era successor empire, which was centered on what is today's Austria and which officially lasted from 1804 to 1867. It was followed by the Empire of Austria-Hungary, whose proclamation was a diplomatic move that elevated Hungary's status within the Austrian Empire...
Split's region, the Kingdom of Dalmatia
Kingdom of Dalmatia
The Kingdom of Dalmatia was an administrative division of the Habsburg Monarchy from 1815 to 1918. Its capital was Zadar.-History:...
, was a separate administrative unit. After the revolutions of 1848
Revolutions of 1848
The European Revolutions of 1848, known in some countries as the Spring of Nations, Springtime of the Peoples or the Year of Revolution, were a series of political upheavals throughout Europe in 1848. It was the first Europe-wide collapse of traditional authority, but within a year reactionary...
as a result of the romantic nationalism
Romantic nationalism
Romantic nationalism is the form of nationalism in which the state derives its political legitimacy as an organic consequence of the unity of those it governs...
, two factions appeared. One was the pro-Croatian Unionist faction (later called the "Puntari", "Pointers"), led by the People's Party and, to a lesser extent, the Party of Rights, both of which advocated the union of Dalmatia with Croatia-Slavonia which was under Hungarian administration. This faction was strongest in Split, and used it as its headquarters. The other faction was the pro-Italian Autonomist faction (also known as the "Irredentist
Italia irredenta
Italian irredentism was an Italian Irredentist movement that aimed at the unification of all ethnically Italian peoples....
" faction), whose political goals varied from autonomy within the Austro-Hungarian Empire, to a political union with the Kingdom of Italy
Kingdom of Italy (1861–1946)
The Kingdom of Italy was a state forged in 1861 by the unification of Italy under the influence of the Kingdom of Sardinia, which was its legal predecessor state...
.
The political alliances in Split shifted over time. At first, the Unionists and Autonomists were allied against the centralism of Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
. After a while, when the national question came to prominence, they separated. Under Austria, however, Split can generally be said to have stagnated. The great upheavals in Europe in 1848 gained no ground in Split, and the city did not rebel.
Antonio Bajamonti
Antonio Bajamonti
Antonio Bajamonti was a Dalmatian politician. Bajamonti's parents were Giuseppe Bajamonti and Helena Candido of Šibenik. He was one of the most successful mayors of Split...
became Mayor of Split in 1860 for and – except for a brief interruption during the period 1864–65 – held the post for over two decades until 1880. Bajamonti was also a member of the Dalmatian Sabor (1861–91) and the Austrian Chamber of Deputies (1867–70 and 1873–79). In 1882 the Bajamonti's party lost the elections and Dujam Rendić-Miočević, a prominent city lawyer, was elected to the post.
Kingdom of Yugoslavia
After the end of World War IWorld War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
and the dissolution of Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary , more formally known as the Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council and the Lands of the Holy Hungarian Crown of Saint Stephen, was a constitutional monarchic union between the crowns of the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary in...
, the province of Dalmatia
Dalmatia
Dalmatia is a historical region on the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea. It stretches from the island of Rab in the northwest to the Bay of Kotor in the southeast. The hinterland, the Dalmatian Zagora, ranges from fifty kilometers in width in the north to just a few kilometers in the south....
, along with Split, became a part of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes
Kingdom of Yugoslavia
The Kingdom of Yugoslavia was a state stretching from the Western Balkans to Central Europe which existed during the often-tumultuous interwar era of 1918–1941...
(which in 1929 changed its name to Kingdom of Yugoslavia). Since both Rijeka
Rijeka
Rijeka is the principal seaport and the third largest city in Croatia . It is located on Kvarner Bay, an inlet of the Adriatic Sea and has a population of 128,735 inhabitants...
and Zadar
Zadar
Zadar is a city in Croatia on the Adriatic Sea. It is the centre of Zadar county and the wider northern Dalmatian region. Population of the city is 75,082 citizens...
, the two other large cities on the eastern Adriatic coast, were annexed by Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, Split became the most important port in Yugoslavia. In the new country, Port of Split
Port of Split
The Port of Split is a seaport in Split, Croatia, located in the Central Dalmatia. A trading post at the site was originally established by Greek settlers from the island of Vis and subsequently taken over by the Romans...
became the seat of new administrative unit, Littoral Banovina
Littoral Banovina
The Littoral Banovina or Littoral Banate was a province of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia between 1929 and 1939. This province consisted of much of the historical region of Dalmatia, now in Croatia, and parts of present-day Bosnia and Herzegovina and was named for its coastal location...
. The Lika railway, connecting Split to the rest of the country, was completed in 1925. After the Cvetković-Maček agreement, Split became the part of new administrative unit (merging of Sava and Littoral Banovina plus some Croat populated areas), Banovina of Croatia
Banovina of Croatia
The Banovina of Croatia or Banate of Croatia was a province of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia between 1939 and 1943 . Its capital was at Zagreb and it included most of present-day Croatia along with portions of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia...
in Kingdom of Yugoslavia.
World War II
In April 1941, following the invasion of YugoslaviaInvasion of Yugoslavia
The Invasion of Yugoslavia , also known as the April War , was the Axis Powers' attack on the Kingdom of Yugoslavia which began on 6 April 1941 during World War II...
by Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
, Split was occupied by Italy and formally annexed one month later. Italian rule met heavy opposition from the Croat population as Split became a center of anti-fascist sentiment in Yugoslavia. Between September and October 1941 alone, ten officials of the Italian fascist occupation were assassinated by the citizens.
In September 1943, following the capitulation of Italy, the city was temporarily liberated by Tito's brigades with thousands of people volunteering to join the Partisans of Marshal Josip Broz Tito
Josip Broz Tito
Marshal Josip Broz Tito – 4 May 1980) was a Yugoslav revolutionary and statesman. While his presidency has been criticized as authoritarian, Tito was a popular public figure both in Yugoslavia and abroad, viewed as a unifying symbol for the nations of the Yugoslav federation...
(a third of the total population, according to some sources). A few weeks later, however, the Partisans were forced into retreat as the Wehrmacht
Wehrmacht
The Wehrmacht – from , to defend and , the might/power) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the Heer , the Kriegsmarine and the Luftwaffe .-Origin and use of the term:...
placed the city under the occupation of the Nazi puppet NDH
Independent State of Croatia
The Independent State of Croatia was a World War II puppet state of Nazi Germany, established on a part of Axis-occupied Yugoslavia. The NDH was founded on 10 April 1941, after the invasion of Yugoslavia by the Axis powers. All of Bosnia and Herzegovina was annexed to NDH, together with some parts...
a few weeks later. The local football clubs refused to compete in the Italian championship; HNK Hajduk
HNK Hajduk Split
HNK Hajduk Split, commonly referred to as Hajduk Split or simply Hajduk, is a Croatian football club founded in 1911 and based in the city of Split. The club's home ground since 1979 is the 35,000-seater Poljud Stadium and the team's traditional home colours are white shirts with blue shorts and...
and RNK Split
RNK Split
RNK Split is a Croatian football club based in the city of Split.-History:Radnički nogometni klub means "Workers' football club".The club was known as workers' club. The club had a strong fanbase in the Split's shipyard...
suspended their activities and both joined the Partisans along with their entire staff after the Italian capitulation provided the opportunity. Soon after Hajduk became the official football club of the Partisan movement.
During the occupation, some of the port facilities as well as parts of the old city were damaged by NDH and German bombing. In a tragic turn of events, besides being bombed by axis forces, the heavily pro-Partisan city was also bombed by the Allies, causing hundreds of deaths. Partisans finally liberated the city on October 26, 1944 and instituted it as the provisional capital of Croatia. On February 12, 1945 the Kriegsmarine
Kriegsmarine
The Kriegsmarine was the name of the German Navy during the Nazi regime . It superseded the Kaiserliche Marine of World War I and the post-war Reichsmarine. The Kriegsmarine was one of three official branches of the Wehrmacht, the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany.The Kriegsmarine grew rapidly...
conducted a daring raid on the Split harbor, damaging the British cruiser Delhi
HMS Delhi (D47)
HMS Delhi was a Danae class cruiser that served with the Royal Navy in the Baltic and in World War II. She was laid down in 1917 and scrapped in 1948 after war service in the Atlantic and Mediterranean....
.
SFR Yugoslavia
After World War II, Split became a part of the Socialist Republic of CroatiaSocialist Republic of Croatia
Socialist Republic of Croatia was a sovereign constituent country of the second Yugoslavia. It came to existence during World War II, becoming a socialist state after the war, and was also renamed four times in its existence . It was the second largest republic in Yugoslavia by territory and...
, itself a constituent sovereign republic of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was the Yugoslav state that existed from the abolition of the Yugoslav monarchy until it was dissolved in 1992 amid the Yugoslav Wars. It was a socialist state and a federation made up of six socialist republics: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia,...
. During the period the city experienced its largest economic and demographic boom. Dozens of new factories and companies were founded with the city population increasing three times during the period. The city became the economic center of an area exceeding the borders of Croatia and was flooded by waves of rural migrants from the undeveloped hinterland who found employment in the newly-established industry, as part of large-scale industrialization and investment by the Yugoslav Federal Government.
The shipbuilding industry was particularly successful and Yugoslavia, with its Croatian shipyards, became one of the world's top nations in the field. Many recreational facilities were also constructed with federal funding, especially for the 1979 Mediterranean Games
Mediterranean Games
The Mediterranean Games are a multi-sport games held every four years, mainly for nations bordering the Mediterranean Sea, where Europe, Africa and Asia meet. The idea was proposed at the 1948 Summer Olympics by Muhammed Taher Pasha, chairman of the Egyptian Olympic Committee, and they were first...
, such as the Poljud Stadium. The city also became the largest passenger and military port in Yugoslavia, housing the headquarters of the Yugoslav Navy (Jugoslavenska ratna mornarica, JRM) and the Army's
Yugoslav People's Army
The Yugoslav People's Army , also referred to as the Yugoslav National Army , was the military of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.-Origins:The origins of the JNA can...
Coastal Military District (equivalent of a field army
Field army
A Field Army, or Area Army, usually referred to simply as an Army, is a term used by many national military forces for a military formation superior to a corps and beneath an army group....
). In the period between 1945 and 1990, the city was transformed and expanded, taking up the vast majority of the Split peninsula
Peninsula
A peninsula is a piece of land that is bordered by water on three sides but connected to mainland. In many Germanic and Celtic languages and also in Baltic, Slavic and Hungarian, peninsulas are called "half-islands"....
. In the same period it achieved an as yet unsurpassed GDP and employment level, still above the present day's, growing into a significant Yugoslav city.
Republic of Croatia
The most tragic such incident occurred on November 15, 1991, when the JRM light frigate Split
Yugoslav frigate Split
The Yugoslav frigate Split or VPBR-31 Split, often called destroyer Split is the name for an anti-submarine warfare frigate built as a Koni class frigate by the Soviet Union in 1976, and upgraded to the Kotor class frigate between 1985 and 1986 by SFR Yugoslavia.In the prelude to the Battle of the...
fired a small number of shells at the city and its surroundings. The damage was insignificant but there were a few casualties. Three general locations were bombarded: the old city center, the city airport and an uninhabited part of the hills above Kaštela
Kaštela
Kaštela is a series of seven towns in central Dalmatia, located northwest of Split, west of Solin and east of Trogir, in Croatia. They are part of the Split-Dalmatia county and are treated as a single city with a population of 38,474 , although they are individually between 3,000 and 7,000...
, between the airport and Split. JRM Sailors who had refused to attack Croat civilians, most of them Croats themselves, were left in the vessel's brig. The JNA and JRM evacuated all of its facilities in Split during January 1992. The 1990s economic recession soon followed.
In the years following 2000, Split finally gained momentum and started to develop again, with a focus on tourism. From being just a transition centre, Split is now a major Croatian tourist destination. Many new hotels are being built, as well as new apartment and office buildings. Many large development projects are revived, and new infrastructure is being built. An example of the latest large city projects is the Spaladium Arena, built in 2009.
Geography
Split is situated on a peninsulaPeninsula
A peninsula is a piece of land that is bordered by water on three sides but connected to mainland. In many Germanic and Celtic languages and also in Baltic, Slavic and Hungarian, peninsulas are called "half-islands"....
between the eastern part of the Gulf of Kaštela and the Split Channel
Split Channel
The Split Channel |Split]] Gates" or the "Gates of Split"), named after the nearby city of Split, is a narrow passage between the islands of Brač and Šolta in Croatia's Dalmatia region. Situated on the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea, it is the quickest seaway to the regional capital, Split...
. The Marjan
Marjan
Marjan is a hill on the peninsula of the city of Split, largest city of Croatia's Dalmatia region. It is covered in a dense Mediterranean pine forest and completely surrounded by the city and the sea, making it a unique sight. Originally used as a park by the citizens as early as the 3rd century,...
hill (178 m), rises in the western part of the peninsula. The ridges Kozjak
Mali Kozjak
Kozjak, also known as Mali Kozjak or Primorski Kozjak is a mountain located above the town of Kaštela in Dalmatia, Croatia....
(779 m) and his brother Mosor
Mosor
Mosor is a mountain range in Croatia located near the town of Split on the Adriatic coast. It belongs to Dinaric Alps, and it stretches from the pass of Klis in the northwest to the Cetina River in the southeast....
(1339 m) protect the city from the north and northeast, and separate it from the hinterland.
Climate
Split has a Mediterranean climateMediterranean climate
A Mediterranean climate is the climate typical of most of the lands in the Mediterranean Basin, and is a particular variety of subtropical climate...
; hot, relatively dry summers and mild, wet winters. Average annual rainfall is in excess of 820 mm (32.28 in). July is the hottest month, with an average high temperature around 30 °C (86 °F). January is the coldest month, with an average low temperature around 10 °C (50 °F). November is the wettest month, with a precipitation total of nearly 113 mm (4.45 in) and 12 rainy days. August is the driest month, with a precipitation total of around 43 mm (1.69 in) and 5 rainy days. Winter is the wettest season, however it can rain in Split at any time of the year. Snow is usually exceedingly rare, but the months of December, January and February have each accrued an average of 1 snowy day since record-keeping began. Split receives in excess of 2,600 sunshine hours annually.
Demographics
In the 2001 census, the city of Split had 188,694 citizens.According to the first results of the 2011 census, the city of Split had 178,192 inhabitants.
Ethnically, Croats make up 95.15% of the population, and 88.37% of the residents of the city are Roman Catholics.
The settlements included in the administrative area of the City are:
- Donje Sitno, population 314
- Gornje Sitno, population 391
- Kamen, population 1,691
- SlatineSlatineSlatine is a village on Čiovo, an island in Split-Dalmatia County, Croatia. It is a small fishing and tourist village situated on the northeastern side of the island Čiovo, only 8 km from Trogir...
, population 1,106 - Split, population 165,893
- Srinjine, population 1,218
- StobrečStobrecStobreč is a historical town, now village in Croatia located near Split and Solin. In modern times, Stobreč is considered a desirable vacation/camping spot located on a beautiful scenic peninsula ensconced between the Adriatic Sea and pine woods. Population: approximately 4,700...
, population 2,953 - ŽrnovnicaŽrnovnicaŽrnovnica is a settlement in Croatia, administratively part of the city of Split. The population is 2,524 .-References:...
, population 3,234
In the wider urban area Split has about 220,000 inhabitants, while there are approximately 410,000 people in the Split metropolitan area. That area includes the surrounding towns and settlements: Trogir
Trogir
Trogir is a historic town and harbour on the Adriatic coast in Split-Dalmatia County, Croatia, with a population of 12,995 and a total municipality population of 13,322 . The historic city of Trogir is situated on a small island between the Croatian mainland and the island of Čiovo...
, Omiš
Omiš
Omiš is a town and port in the Dalmatia region of Croatia, and is a municipality in the Split-Dalmatia County. The town is situated approximately south-east of Croatia's second largest city, Split. Its location is where the emerald-green Cetina River meets the Adriatic Sea...
, Solin
Solin
Solin is a town in Dalmatia, Croatia. It is situated northeast of Split, on the Adriatic Sea and the river Jadro.Solin developed on the location of ancient town of Salona which was the capital of the Roman province of Dalmatia and the birthplace of Emperor Diocletian...
, Kaštela
Kaštela
Kaštela is a series of seven towns in central Dalmatia, located northwest of Split, west of Solin and east of Trogir, in Croatia. They are part of the Split-Dalmatia county and are treated as a single city with a population of 38,474 , although they are individually between 3,000 and 7,000...
, Podstrana
Podstrana
Podstrana is a municipality and settlement in Croatia in the Split-Dalmatia County. It has a population of 7,341 , 97% which are Croats.In the Second World War, the town suffered 131 casualties....
, Sinj
Sinj
Sinj is a town in the continental part of Split-Dalmatia County, Croatia. The town itself has a population of 11,448, while the population of the administrative municipality which includes surrounding villages is 24,832 ....
, Dugopolje
Dugopolje
Dugopolje is a highly developed municipality in Croatia in the Split-Dalmatia county. It has a population of over 3500, 99.5% which are Croats. Noted in Dugopolje is a vranjaca, or cave. The city of Split, where considerable early history is centred, is located 15 km from Dugopolje...
, Klis
Klis
Klis is a village located around a mountain fortress bearing the same name. It is located in central Dalmatia, Croatia, located just northeast of Solin and Split near the eponymous mountain pass...
and Supetar
Supetar
Supetar is a town on the northern side of the Dalmatian island of Brač,in the Splitsko-Dalmatiska County, in Croatia. It became the island's official centre in 1827...
on the island Brač
Brac
Brač is an island in the Adriatic Sea within Croatia, with an area of 396 km², making it the largest island in Dalmatia, and the third largest in the Adriatic. Its tallest peak, Vidova Gora, or Mount St. Vid, stands at 778 m, making it the highest island point in the Adriatic...
. The entire Split-Dalmatia County
Split-Dalmatia County
Split-Dalmatia County is the central-southern Dalmatian county in Croatia. The administrative center is Split. The population of the county is 455,242...
has around 470,000 residents.
Economy
Split's economy is still suffering the backlash from the recessionRecession
In economics, a recession is a business cycle contraction, a general slowdown in economic activity. During recessions, many macroeconomic indicators vary in a similar way...
caused by the transfer to a market economy
Market economy
A market economy is an economy in which the prices of goods and services are determined in a free price system. This is often contrasted with a state-directed or planned economy. Market economies can range from hypothetically pure laissez-faire variants to an assortment of real-world mixed...
and privatization
Privatization
Privatization is the incidence or process of transferring ownership of a business, enterprise, agency or public service from the public sector to the private sector or to private non-profit organizations...
. In the Yugoslav era, however, the city had been a highly significant economic centre with a modern and diverse industrial and economic base, including shipbuilding
Shipbuilding
Shipbuilding is the construction of ships and floating vessels. It normally takes place in a specialized facility known as a shipyard. Shipbuilders, also called shipwrights, follow a specialized occupation that traces its roots to before recorded history.Shipbuilding and ship repairs, both...
, food
Food industry
The food production is a complex, global collective of diverse businesses that together supply much of the food energy consumed by the world population...
, chemical
Chemical industry
The chemical industry comprises the companies that produce industrial chemicals. Central to the modern world economy, it converts raw materials into more than 70,000 different products.-Products:...
, plastics
Plastics Industry
The plastics industry manufactures polymer materials and offers services in plastics important to a range of industries, including aerospace, building and construction, electronics, packaging, and transportation.-See also:...
, textile
Textile industry
The textile industry is primarily concerned with the production of yarn, and cloth and the subsequent design or manufacture of clothing and their distribution. The raw material may be natural, or synthetic using products of the chemical industry....
, and paper industry, in addition to a large revenues from tourism. In 1981 Split's GDP per capita was 137% of the Yugoslav average. Today, most of the factories are out of business (or are far below pre-war production and employment capacity) and the city has been trying to concentrate on commerce and services, consequently leaving an alarmingly large number of factory workers unemployed.
Brodosplit shipyard is the largest one in Croatia. It employs around 4,000 people, and has built over 350 vessels, including many tankers, both panamax and non-panamax, as well as container ships, bulk carriers, dredgers, off-shore platforms, fregates, submarines, patrol boats and passenger ships. 80% of the ships built are exported to foreign contractors.
The new A1 motorway, integrating Split with the rest of the Croatian freeway network, has helped stimulate economic production and investment, with new businesses being built in the city centre and its wildly sprawling suburbs. The entire route was opened in July 2005. Today, the city's economy relies mostly on trade
Trade
Trade is the transfer of ownership of goods and services from one person or entity to another. Trade is sometimes loosely called commerce or financial transaction or barter. A network that allows trade is called a market. The original form of trade was barter, the direct exchange of goods and...
and tourism
Tourism
Tourism is travel for recreational, leisure or business purposes. The World Tourism Organization defines tourists as people "traveling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes".Tourism has become a...
with some old industries undergoing partial revival, such as food (fishing
Fishing
Fishing is the activity of trying to catch wild fish. Fish are normally caught in the wild. Techniques for catching fish include hand gathering, spearing, netting, angling and trapping....
, olive
Olive
The olive , Olea europaea), is a species of a small tree in the family Oleaceae, native to the coastal areas of the eastern Mediterranean Basin as well as northern Iran at the south end of the Caspian Sea.Its fruit, also called the olive, is of major agricultural importance in the...
, wine
Wine
Wine is an alcoholic beverage, made of fermented fruit juice, usually from grapes. The natural chemical balance of grapes lets them ferment without the addition of sugars, acids, enzymes, or other nutrients. Grape wine is produced by fermenting crushed grapes using various types of yeast. Yeast...
production), paper, concrete
Concrete
Concrete is a composite construction material, composed of cement and other cementitious materials such as fly ash and slag cement, aggregate , water and chemical admixtures.The word concrete comes from the Latin word...
and chemicals. Since 1998, Split is host to the annual Croatia Boat Show
Croatia Boat Show
The Croatia Boat Show is a boat show, held annually in the city of Split, Croatia, typically during the month of April. The exhibition is organised by Croatian business entrepreneur Vicenco Blagaić, and takes place at the City harbour of the Port of Split.- See also :* List of sailboat designers...
.
Education
There are 24 primary schools and 23 secondary schools including 5 gymnasiums.University
The University of Split (Croatian: Sveučilište u Splitu) was founded in 1974. In the last few years it has grown to a big extent. Now it has 26,000 students and is organized in 12 faculties. Currently the new campus is being built, and it will be finished somewhere in 2012. It will house all of the faculties, a large student centre with a sports hall, sporting grounds and a university library.Culture
World Heritage Site
A UNESCO World Heritage Site is a place that is listed by the UNESCO as of special cultural or physical significance...
s. Split is said to be one of the centres of Croatian culture. Its literary tradition can be traced to medieval times, and includes names like Marko Marulić
Marko Marulic
Marko Marulić |Split]], 18 August 1450 – Split, 5 January 1524) was a Croatian national poet and Christian humanist, known as the Crown of the Croatian Medieval Age and the father of the Croatian Renaissance. He signed his works as Marko Marulić Splićanin , Marko Pečenić, Marcus Marulus ...
, while in more modern times Split excelled by authors famous for their sense of humor. Among them the most notable is Miljenko Smoje
Miljenko Smoje
Miljenko Smoje was a Croatian writer and journalist.Smoje was born in Split in a family of poor labourers. The neighbourhood where he grew up was known for its support for anarchism, socialism and other left-wing ideologies...
, famous for his TV series Malo misto and Velo misto, with the latter dealing with the development of Split into a modern city.
Despite colorful settings and characters, as well as a cinema tradition that could be traced to early 20th century works of Josip Karaman, there were relatively few films shot in or around Split. However, the city did produce several famous actors, most notably Boris Dvornik
Boris Dvornik
Boris Dvornik was a Croatian actor.Born in Split to the family of a carpenter, Boris Dvornik discovered acting talent at an early age, while performing in children's plays. After studying to become an electrician, he began to pursue a full-time acting career...
.
Also well known is Ivo Tijardović
Ivo Tijardovic
Ivo Tijardović was a Croatian composer, writer, and painter....
, and his famous operetta "Little Floramye" (Mala Floramye). Both Smoje and Tijardović are famous artists thought to represent the old Split traditions that are slowly dying out due to the city being overwhelmed by large numbers of rural migrants from the undeveloped hinterland. The old Split families still cling to the littoral Dalmatian way of life and values, often publicly stating their disgust at the ruralization of the ancient city.
Museums and galleries
The Archaeological Museum main collection is housed at Zrinsko-Frankopanska 25 in Split. There is also a branch building in SolinSolin
Solin is a town in Dalmatia, Croatia. It is situated northeast of Split, on the Adriatic Sea and the river Jadro.Solin developed on the location of ancient town of Salona which was the capital of the Roman province of Dalmatia and the birthplace of Emperor Diocletian...
(Salona
Salona
Salona was an ancient Illyrian Delmati city in the first millennium BC. The Greeks had set up an emporion there. After the conquest by the Romans, Salona became the capital of the Roman province of Dalmatia...
and Tusculum
Tusculum
Tusculum is a ruined Roman city in the Alban Hills, in the Latium region of Italy.-Location:Tusculum is one of the largest Roman cities in Alban Hills. The ruins of Tusculum are located on Tuscolo hill—more specifically on the northern edge of the outer crater ring of the Alban volcano...
Collection) and two regional centres at Vid near Metkovic (Narona
Narona
Narona was the name of the ancient Roman city that was located in the Neretva valley in present day Croatia. It was part of the Roman province of Dalmatia. The city was established after the Illyrian Wars and was located on the alluvial planes, between present day city of Metković and village of...
Collection), and on the island of Vis
Vis (island)
Vis is the most outerly lying larger Croatian island in the Adriatic Sea, and is part of the Central Dalmatian group of islands, with an area of 90.26 km² and a population of 3,617 . Of all the inhabited Croatian islands, it is the farthest from the coast...
(Issa
Issa
Issa or ISSA may refer to:Issa*Abdisalam Issa-Salwe, Somali scholar*Darrell Issa, a Californian Representative*List of The Belgariad and The Malloreon characters#Issa, a divine character in David Eddings's fantasy series The Belgariad and The Malloreon*Issa or Isa, the Arabic name for Jesus in...
Collection). The Split Archaeological Museum is the oldest museum institution in Croatia, founded in 1820 by the decree of the Dalmatian government in Zadar
Zadar
Zadar is a city in Croatia on the Adriatic Sea. It is the centre of Zadar county and the wider northern Dalmatian region. Population of the city is 75,082 citizens...
. Some 150,000 artifacts cover prehistoric times, the period of Greek
Ancient Greece
Ancient Greece is a civilization belonging to a period of Greek history that lasted from the Archaic period of the 8th to 6th centuries BC to the end of antiquity. Immediately following this period was the beginning of the Early Middle Ages and the Byzantine era. Included in Ancient Greece is the...
colonization of the Adriatic, Roman
Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
Provincial and Early Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
era to the early Middle Ages
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
and the period of Croatian popular rulers). Of special interest is the collection of stone inscriptions from Salona and the collections of Graeco-Hellenistic ceramic objects, Roman glass, ancient clay lamps, bone and metal articles, as well as the collection of gems. In addition, the museum houses an extensive collection of ancient and medieval coins, a submarine achaeological collection, and a rich archive library.
The Museum of Croatian Archaeological Monuments located at Meštrovićevo šetalište 18, is the only museum in Croatia dedicated to researching and presenting cultural artifacts of the Croats in the Middle Ages, between the 7th and 15th centuries, particularly the time of the early medieval Croatian state from 9th to 12th century. Originally founded in Knin
Knin
Knin is a historical town in the Šibenik-Knin county of Croatia, located near the source of the river Krka at , in the Dalmatian hinterland, on the railroad Zagreb–Split. Knin rose to prominence twice in history, as a one-time capital of both the Kingdom of Croatia and briefly of the...
in 1893, the museum was moved first to Sinj
Sinj
Sinj is a town in the continental part of Split-Dalmatia County, Croatia. The town itself has a population of 11,448, while the population of the administrative municipality which includes surrounding villages is 24,832 ....
, then Klis
Klis
Klis is a village located around a mountain fortress bearing the same name. It is located in central Dalmatia, Croatia, located just northeast of Solin and Split near the eponymous mountain pass...
and finally to Split where today the collection is displayed in a purpose-built museum complex, opened in 1976. The holdings consist mainly of jewellery, weapons and items of daily use, and include a large number of stone artifacts that once belonged to the old Croatian church interiors. The collection of early medieval wicker, clay figurines, and old Croatian Latin epigraphic monuments is the largest collection of its kind in Europe.
The Split City Museum at Papalićeva 1, is housed in the former Papalić Palace. The collection presents the urban, cultural, artistic and economic heritage of the city. The museum is also home to the Emanuel Vidović
Emanuel Vidović
Emanuel Vidović , was a painter and graphic artist from Split, Croatia.Emanuel Vidović was instrumental in bringing the modern art ideas to Split. From 1900 he was an active member of the Literary-Art Club, and in 1907, together with Ivan Meštrović, he founded the Medulić Society...
Gallery, dedicated to the most important Split painter of the 20th century.
The Ethnographical Museum at Severova 1, has a wide range of ethnographic content mainly from Dalmatia
Dalmatia
Dalmatia is a historical region on the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea. It stretches from the island of Rab in the northwest to the Bay of Kotor in the southeast. The hinterland, the Dalmatian Zagora, ranges from fifty kilometers in width in the north to just a few kilometers in the south....
. Founded in 1910, the museum collects original and contemporary applications of traditional heritage. They also track contemporary popular culture living with traces of old foundations and preserve and promote the value of folk heritage, renewing them and presenting exhibitions.
The Croatian Maritime Museum at Glagoljaška 18 - Tvrđava Gripe has a collection of marine equipment and supplies, weapons and navigation equipment, medals, ship models, uniforms and equipment, and related artwork. A permanent exhibition is planned to complete the presentation of military maritime and naval history, with a presentation that covers the period from the arrival of the Slavs to the present day.
Split Science museum and Zoo
Split Science museum and Zoo
Split Science Museum and Zoo is one of the smallest zoos in the world at only . It is located on mount Marjan, in Split, Croatia. The Science museum is an old house.-History:...
located at Kolombatovićevo šetalište 2 on the Marjan
Marjan
Marjan is a hill on the peninsula of the city of Split, largest city of Croatia's Dalmatia region. It is covered in a dense Mediterranean pine forest and completely surrounded by the city and the sea, making it a unique sight. Originally used as a park by the citizens as early as the 3rd century,...
peninsula.
The Gallery of Fine Arts
Gallery of Fine Arts, Split
The Gallery of Fine Arts , is an art museum in Split, Croatia containing works from 14th century up to the present day providing an overview of the artistic developments in the local art scene...
, located at Kralja Tomislava 15, is an art museum that contains works from 14th century to the present day providing an overview of the artistic developments in the local art scene. The gallery was founded in 1931, and has a permanent exhibition of painting
Painting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...
s and sculpture
Sculpture
Sculpture is three-dimensional artwork created by shaping or combining hard materials—typically stone such as marble—or metal, glass, or wood. Softer materials can also be used, such as clay, textiles, plastics, polymers and softer metals...
s that includes works by major Croatian artists such as Vlaho Bukovac
Vlaho Bukovac
Vlaho Bukovac was a Croatian painter.-Life:- Early life :Bukovac was born Biagio Faggioni in the town of Cavtat south of Dubrovnik in Dalmatia...
, Mato Celestin Medović
Mato Celestin Medović
Mato Celestin Medović was a Croatian painter. Best known for his large paintings depicting historical scenes, and his series of colourful landscapes and seascapes of his native Dalmatia, Medović is one of the earliest modern Croatian painters.In his youth Medović was schooled to become a priest in...
, Branislav Dešković
Branislav Dešković
Branislav Dešković was a Croatian sculptor, best known for his expressive animal sculptures, especially his hunting dogs. He is considered the first Impressionist sculptor in Croatia.-Biography:...
, Ivan Meštrović
Ivan Meštrovic
Ivan Meštrović was a Croatian and Yugoslav sculptor and architect born in Vrpolje, Croatia...
, Emanuel Vidović
Emanuel Vidović
Emanuel Vidović , was a painter and graphic artist from Split, Croatia.Emanuel Vidović was instrumental in bringing the modern art ideas to Split. From 1900 he was an active member of the Literary-Art Club, and in 1907, together with Ivan Meštrović, he founded the Medulić Society...
and Ignjat Job
Ignjat Job
Ignjat Job was a Croatian painter from Dubrovnik.He was an important representative of colour expressionism in the art scene of Yugoslavia during the 1930s. His landscapes of Dalmatia are reminiscent of the style of Van Gogh. He is best known for his series of paintings inspired by life on the...
. The gallery also has an extensive collection of icon
Icon
An icon is a religious work of art, most commonly a painting, from Eastern Christianity and in certain Eastern Catholic churches...
s, and holds special exhibits of works by contemporary artists. In May 2009, the gallery opened its new premises in the old Split Hospital building behind Diocletian's Palace
Diocletian's Palace
Diocletian's Palace is a building in Split, Croatia, that was built by the Roman emperor Diocletian at the turn of the fourth century AD.Diocletian built the massive palace in preparation for his retirement on 1 May 305 AD. It lies in a bay on the south side of a short peninsula running out from...
.
The Ivan Meštrović Gallery
Ivan Meštrović Gallery
Ivan Meštrović Gallery , is an art museum in Split, Croatia dedicated to the work of the 20th-century sculptor, Ivan Meštrović. The gallery preserves and presents to the public the most significant works of Meštrović, and is in itself an art monument. The permanent collection includes works of...
(Croatian: Galerija Meštrović), on the Marjan
Marjan
Marjan is a hill on the peninsula of the city of Split, largest city of Croatia's Dalmatia region. It is covered in a dense Mediterranean pine forest and completely surrounded by the city and the sea, making it a unique sight. Originally used as a park by the citizens as early as the 3rd century,...
peninsula is an art museum dedicated to the work of the 20th century sculptor, Ivan Meštrović
Ivan Meštrovic
Ivan Meštrović was a Croatian and Yugoslav sculptor and architect born in Vrpolje, Croatia...
. The gallery displays some of his most significant work, and the building itself is an art monument. The permanent collection includes works of sculpture
Sculpture
Sculpture is three-dimensional artwork created by shaping or combining hard materials—typically stone such as marble—or metal, glass, or wood. Softer materials can also be used, such as clay, textiles, plastics, polymers and softer metals...
, drawings, design
Design
Design as a noun informally refers to a plan or convention for the construction of an object or a system while “to design” refers to making this plan...
, furniture
Furniture
Furniture is the mass noun for the movable objects intended to support various human activities such as seating and sleeping in beds, to hold objects at a convenient height for work using horizontal surfaces above the ground, or to store things...
and architecture
Architecture
Architecture is both the process and product of planning, designing and construction. Architectural works, in the material form of buildings, are often perceived as cultural and political symbols and as works of art...
. The gallery building and grounds were based on original plans by Meštrović himself, and included living and working areas, as well as exhibition spaces. Not far from the Gallery lies Kaštelet-Crikvine, a restored chapel that houses a set of wooden wall panels carved by Ivan Meštrović.
Music
One of the most recognisable aspects of Split culture is popular music. Notable composers include Josip HatzeJosip Hatze
Joseph Hatze was one of the first and most prominent Croatian composers in the Mediterranean style in the first half of last century....
, Ivo Tijardović
Ivo Tijardovic
Ivo Tijardović was a Croatian composer, writer, and painter....
, Zdenko Runjić
Zdenko Runjic
Zdenko Runjić was Croatian songwriter based in Split....
- some of the most influential musicians in former Yugoslavia. Also, the more notable musicians and bands from Split are Oliver Dragojević
Oliver Dragojevic
Oliver Dragojević is one of the most popular Croatian pop singers. A native of Vela Luka from the island of Korčula, he emerged onto the music scene in the 1970s thanks to the popular Split Festival, one of several musical annual events which began in the former Yugoslavia and still is being held...
, Gibonni, Daleka Obala
Daleka obala
Daleka obala is a Croatian rock band based in Split. The band is composed of Marijan Ban, Jadran Vušković, Boris Hrepić and Zoran Ukić...
, Magazin
Magazin
Magazin is a Croatian pop band from Split.Founded in the 1970s under the name Dalmatinski magazin , the band quickly began to make a mark on local pop music festivals with its songs influenced by Dalmatian folk music...
, Severina, Dino Dvornik
Dino Dvornik
Miljenko "Dino" Dvornik was a Croatian singer, songwriter, music producer, actor and reality television star.-Early life:...
, Jasmin Stavros
Jasmin Stavros
Jasmin Stavros born 1954 in Split, is a Croatian pop musician.One of his most popular songs remains "Dao bi sto Amerika" , which relates to his time spent in the United States before his return to Croatia shortly before the country's independence.He is currently signed to Hit Records.- Discography...
, Neno Belan
Neno Belan
Neno Belan is a Croatian rock musician, known as the frontman of Đavoli, as well as for his solo work.-Early career:Neno Belan started his career as a teenager in the band Losos, Kavijar i Marsovi Bizoni...
, Goran Karan
Goran Karan
Goran Karan , is a Croatian singer from Split. He specializes in songs influenced by Dalmatian folk music and is known for his powerful and refined tenor voice...
, Dražen Zečić
Dražen Zečić
Dražen Zečić is a Croatian pop singer and song-writer.Dražen Zečić was born in Split in 1967. He initially began his career as a song-writer, writing for musicians such as Mate Bulić, Zlatko Pejaković, and Mišo Kovač...
, Doris Dragović
Doris Dragovic
Dorotea "Doris" Dragović is a Croatian singer-songwriter. She represented Yugoslavia in the Eurovision Song Contest 1986 with the song "Željo moja", finishing the 11th with 49 points, and Croatia in the Eurovision Song Contest 1999 with the song "Marija Magdalena", finishing fourth with 118...
, Jelena Rozga
Jelena Rozga
Jelena Rozga is a Croatian pop singer. She became the new lead singer of the popular band Magazin in 1996, when she was only 18 years old. In 2006 she left Magazin and released her first solo album, Oprosti mala, on City Records. In 2007 she won the Grand Prix at the Split Festival.-External links:*...
, Danijela Martinović
Danijela Martinovic
Danijela Martinović, known artistically as Danijela is a popular Croatian singer with success across all of the Balkans.-Biography:...
, Siniša Vuco
Siniša Vuco
Siniša Vuco , his stage name being simply Vuco, is a Croatian singer, spiritual leader and songwriter...
, Luka Nižetić
Luka Nižetic
Luka Kužer Nižetić is a Croatian musician. His debut album Premijera was recorded in 2006. He is best known for his hits "Ponekad poželim" and "Proljeće" .-Biography:Luka is the second child of Tamara and Milo Nižetić...
and others. There is great cultural activity during summers, when the prestigious Split Music Festival is held, followed by the Split Summer (Splitsko ljeto) theater festival.
Sports
Football (soccer)
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...
, tennis
Tennis
Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...
, basketball
Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
, swimming
Swimming (sport)
Swimming is a sport governed by the Fédération Internationale de Natation .-History: Competitive swimming in Europe began around 1800 BCE, mostly in the form of the freestyle. In 1873 Steve Bowyer introduced the trudgen to Western swimming competitions, after copying the front crawl used by Native...
, rowing
Rowing (sport)
Rowing is a sport in which athletes race against each other on rivers, on lakes or on the ocean, depending upon the type of race and the discipline. The boats are propelled by the reaction forces on the oar blades as they are pushed against the water...
, sailing
Sailing
Sailing is the propulsion of a vehicle and the control of its movement with large foils called sails. By changing the rigging, rudder, and sometimes the keel or centre board, a sailor manages the force of the wind on the sails in order to move the boat relative to its surrounding medium and...
, waterpolo, athletics, and handball
Team handball
Handball is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each pass a ball to throw it into the goal of the other team...
. Residents of Split prefer to call their city as "The sportiest city in the world".
The main football (soccer)
Football (soccer)
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...
club is HNK Hajduk
HNK Hajduk Split
HNK Hajduk Split, commonly referred to as Hajduk Split or simply Hajduk, is a Croatian football club founded in 1911 and based in the city of Split. The club's home ground since 1979 is the 35,000-seater Poljud Stadium and the team's traditional home colours are white shirts with blue shorts and...
, the most popular club in Croatia supported by a fans known as Torcida Split
Torcida Split
Torcida is a Hajduk Split supporters group, from Croatia, founded on 28 October 1950. The name "Torcida" is the Brazilian Portuguese word for "supporters". Club fans operate from Zrinsko Frankopanska-17, Split...
, while RNK Split
RNK Split
RNK Split is a Croatian football club based in the city of Split.-History:Radnički nogometni klub means "Workers' football club".The club was known as workers' club. The club had a strong fanbase in the Split's shipyard...
is the city's second club. The largest football stadium is the Poljud Stadium (HNK Hajduk's ground), with 35,000 capacity (55,000 prior to the renovation to an all-seater). Slaven Bilić
Slaven Bilic
Slaven Bilić is a former Croatian footballer and current head coach of the Croatia national team. His playing tenure predominantly comprised extended vocations in his hometown with Hajduk Split and a combination of foreign spells in Germany and England...
, Aljoša Asanović
Aljoša Asanovic
Aljoša Asanović is a retired Croatian soccer player best known from his performances in the mid-to-late 90's when he played for Derby County and for Croatia during Euro 96 and World Cup 98...
, Igor Tudor
Igor Tudor
Igor Tudor is a Croatian former football defender. He was considered one of Croatia's best defenders in the period between the late 1990s and mid-2000s....
, and Stipe Pletikosa
Stipe Pletikosa
Stipe Pletikosa is a Croatian football goalkeeper who plays for the Russian Premier League club FC Rostov and the Croatian national team, for which he has made 86 appearances.-Hajduk Split:...
are some of the famous Split natives who started their careers at Hajduk. Basketball
Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
is also popular, and the city basketball club, KK Split
KK Split
KK Split , KK Split CO for sponsorship relations is a basketball club from Split, Croatia. Currently, KK Split competes in the A-1 Liga and Krešimir Ćosić Cup.-History:...
(Jugoplastika Split), holds the record of winning the Euroleague
Euroleague
Euroleague Basketball, commonly known as the Euroleague, is the highest level tier and most important professional club basketball competition in Europe, with teams from up to 18 different countries, members of FIBA Europe. For sponsorship reasons, for five seasons starting with 2010–2011, it is...
three consecutive times (1989–1991), with notable players like Toni Kukoč
Toni Kukoc
Toni Kukoč is a retired Croatian professional basketball player. He was renowned for his versatility and passing ability; although his natural position was small forward, he played all five positions on the court with prowess and demonstrated court vision and an outside shooting touch that were...
and Dino Rađa both of whom are Split natives.
Split's most famous tennis
Tennis
Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...
stars are the retired Wimbledon
The Championships, Wimbledon
The Championships, Wimbledon, or simply Wimbledon , is the oldest tennis tournament in the world, considered by many to be the most prestigious. It has been held at the All England Club in Wimbledon, London since 1877. It is one of the four Grand Slam tennis tournaments, the other three Majors...
champion Goran Ivanišević
Goran Ivaniševic
Goran Ivanišević is a retired Croatian professional tennis player. He is best remembered for being the only person to win the men's singles title at Wimbledon as a wildcard. He achieved this in 2001, having previously been runner-up at the championships in 1992, 1994 and 1998. Ivanišević is famous...
, and Mario Ančić
Mario Ancic
Mario Ančić is a retired Croatian professional tennis player. He won three singles titles and five doubles titles. His highest international ranking came during the 2006 ATP Tour, when he reached no. 7 in singles...
("Super Mario").
Members of the local rowing
Rowing (sport)
Rowing is a sport in which athletes race against each other on rivers, on lakes or on the ocean, depending upon the type of race and the discipline. The boats are propelled by the reaction forces on the oar blades as they are pushed against the water...
club HVK Gusar won numerous Olympic
Olympic Games
The Olympic Games is a major international event featuring summer and winter sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The Olympic Games have come to be regarded as the world’s foremost sports competition where more than 200 nations participate...
and World Championship
World Rowing Championships
The World Rowing Championships is an international rowing regatta organized by FISA . It is a week long event held at the end of the northern hemisphere summer and in non-Olympic years is the highlight of the international rowing calendar.The first event was held in Lucerne, Switzerland in 1962...
medals.
Swimming also has a long tradition in Split, with Đurđica Bjedov (1968 Olympic Gold Medal and Olympic record in the 100 m breaststroke), Duje Draganja
Duje Draganja
Duje Draganja |Split]]) is a swimmer from Croatia who won the silver medal in the men's 50 meter freestyle at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece....
and Vanja Rogulj
Vanja Rogulj
Vanja Rogulj is a 3-time Olympics breaststroke swimmer from Croatia. He swam for Croatia at the 2000, 2004 and 2008 Olympics....
as the most famous swimmers from the city. As a member of the ASK Split athletics club, the champion Blanka Vlašić
Blanka Vlašic
Blanka Vlašić is a Croatian athlete who specialises in the high jump. She is the current Croatian record holder in the event, and also the current indoorWorld Champion. The daughter of Croatian decathlon record holder Joško Vlašić, she was a talented junior athlete and attended her first Olympic...
also originates from the city. The biggest sports events to be held in Split were the 1979 Mediterranean Games
Mediterranean Games
The Mediterranean Games are a multi-sport games held every four years, mainly for nations bordering the Mediterranean Sea, where Europe, Africa and Asia meet. The idea was proposed at the 1948 Summer Olympics by Muhammed Taher Pasha, chairman of the Egyptian Olympic Committee, and they were first...
, and the 1990 European Athletics Championships.
Split is one of the host cities of the 2009 World Men's Handball Championship
2009 World Men's Handball Championship
The 2009 World Men's Handball Championship took place in Croatia from 16 January–1 February, in the cities of Split, Zadar, Osijek, Varaždin, Poreč, Zagreb and Pula. Croatia was selected from a group of four potential hosts which included the Czech Republic, Greece and Romania.The opening game and...
. The city constructed a new sporting arena for the event, the Spaladium Arena. Its capacity is 12,000 spectators (in basketball
Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
events). The cost of the arena was evenly divided between the city and the government. Ivano Balić, two time IHF World Player of the Year
IHF World Player of the Year
-Men:-Women:-External links:* *...
is the most famous handball player to come from Split.
Picigin
Picigin
Picigin is an amateur sport game, created on "Bačvice" beach in Split,Croatia and played on some beaches in Croatia and Montenegro, but also widely popular in Novi Sad, Serbia where it is being played on a Danube river beach. It is played with a ball. In Croatia, it is very popular, especially in...
is a traditional local sport (originating in 1908), played on the famous sandy beach Bačvice. It is played in very shallow water (just ankle deep) with a small ball. Picigin is played by five players. The ball is the peeled tennis ball. There is a tradition of playing picigin in Split on New Year's Day, regardless of the weather conditions, in spite of the sea temperature rarely exceeding 10 °C.
RK Nada
RK Nada
RK Nada is a rugby union club from Split, Croatia. It participates in the Croatian Rugby Championship, the Croatian Rugby Cup and the Regional Rugby Championship...
are the most successful rugby union
Rugby union
Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...
club in the Balkan region, with 11 titles in the Yugoslav championship and 14 in Croatia since independence.
Split SeaWolves is the only team of American Football
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
in Dalmatia
Dalmatia
Dalmatia is a historical region on the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea. It stretches from the island of Rab in the northwest to the Bay of Kotor in the southeast. The hinterland, the Dalmatian Zagora, ranges from fifty kilometers in width in the north to just a few kilometers in the south....
. Active from 2008. currently still developing and main focus is on flag football team.
Transportation
Split is an important transport center for DalmatiaDalmatia
Dalmatia is a historical region on the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea. It stretches from the island of Rab in the northwest to the Bay of Kotor in the southeast. The hinterland, the Dalmatian Zagora, ranges from fifty kilometers in width in the north to just a few kilometers in the south....
and the wider region. In addition to the Zagreb
Zagreb
Zagreb is the capital and the largest city of the Republic of Croatia. It is in the northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the Medvednica mountain. Zagreb lies at an elevation of approximately above sea level. According to the last official census, Zagreb's city...
-Split freeway (A1
A1 (Croatia)
The A1 motorway is the longest motorway in Croatia spanning . As it connects Zagreb, the nation's capital, to Split, the second largest city in the country and the largest city in Dalmatia, the motorway represents a major north–south transportation corridor in Croatia and a significant part of the...
), all the road traffic along the Adriatic coast on the route Rijeka
Rijeka
Rijeka is the principal seaport and the third largest city in Croatia . It is located on Kvarner Bay, an inlet of the Adriatic Sea and has a population of 128,735 inhabitants...
–Dubrovnik
Dubrovnik
Dubrovnik is a Croatian city on the Adriatic Sea coast, positioned at the terminal end of the Isthmus of Dubrovnik. It is one of the most prominent tourist destinations on the Adriatic, a seaport and the centre of Dubrovnik-Neretva county. Its total population is 42,641...
(Adriatic Highway) flows through the city. The city also has a series of expressways and avenues, enabling efficient, fast transit by car around the city and its suburbs.
The most important mean of transport in Split is bus
Bus
A bus is a road vehicle designed to carry passengers. Buses can have a capacity as high as 300 passengers. The most common type of bus is the single-decker bus, with larger loads carried by double-decker buses and articulated buses, and smaller loads carried by midibuses and minibuses; coaches are...
, the city being inadequate for trams due to its hilly geography. The local public transport company Promet Split renovated its fleet in 2008 with the latest MAN and Mercedes-Benz
Mercedes-Benz buses
Mercedes-Benz has been making buses since 1895 in Mannheim in Germany. Since 1995, the brand of Mercedes-Benz buses and coaches is under the umbrella of EvoBus GmbH, belonging 100 % to the Daimler AG.-Heritage:...
models.
Split is also the southernmost integrated point of the Croatian Railway
Croatian Railways
Croatian Railways is the national railway company of Croatia. It was formed after the dissolution of Yugoslavia and Yugoslav Railways.Croatia is a member of the International Union of Railways . The UIC Country Code for Croatia is 78.-Railway network:...
network. Within Split's city centre, railway traffic passes two tunnels before reaching the Central Station. The line to Split is unremarkable; a journey from Split to Zagreb or Rijeka takes around 5 hours, as the line is unelectrified and consists of only one track. Currently, there are no definite plans to upgrade the line, but with the start of work on the new Zagreb-Rijeka railway line in October 2007. The Split Suburban Railway network opened in early December 2006. It currently has one line, running from the Split city harbour to Kaštel Stari
Kaštela
Kaštela is a series of seven towns in central Dalmatia, located northwest of Split, west of Solin and east of Trogir, in Croatia. They are part of the Split-Dalmatia county and are treated as a single city with a population of 38,474 , although they are individually between 3,000 and 7,000...
. The line is expected to get a second track and be fully electrified in the near future. New, low-floor trains are expected to be implemented as well. This line will also be lengthened, to encompass the aforementioned Split International Airport, and continue on to the towns of Trogir
Trogir
Trogir is a historic town and harbour on the Adriatic coast in Split-Dalmatia County, Croatia, with a population of 12,995 and a total municipality population of 13,322 . The historic city of Trogir is situated on a small island between the Croatian mainland and the island of Čiovo...
and Seget Donji. Split also plans to construct a mini-metro that is to be operational by 2012.
The Split Airport
Split Airport
Split Kaštela/Resnik Airport is the airport serving Split and Kaštela in Split-Dalmatia County, Croatia. It is close to the town of Trogir....
in Kaštela
Kaštela
Kaštela is a series of seven towns in central Dalmatia, located northwest of Split, west of Solin and east of Trogir, in Croatia. They are part of the Split-Dalmatia county and are treated as a single city with a population of 38,474 , although they are individually between 3,000 and 7,000...
is the second largest in Croatia in terms of passenger numbers (1,203,778 in 2008), with year-round services to Zagreb, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, Frankfurt
Frankfurt
Frankfurt am Main , commonly known simply as Frankfurt, is the largest city in the German state of Hesse and the fifth-largest city in Germany, with a 2010 population of 688,249. The urban area had an estimated population of 2,300,000 in 2010...
and the Cologne Bonn Airport
Cologne Bonn Airport
Cologne/Bonn Airport is an international airport located in the district of Porz in the city of Cologne, Germany, and is surrounded by the Wahner Heide nature reserve. The airport is centrally located in the Cologne/Bonn Region southeast of Cologne city centre and northeast of Bonn...
in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, as well as heavy tourist traffic in the summer. The expansion of the terminal is scheduled to commence in 2012.
Port of Split
Port of Split
The Port of Split is a seaport in Split, Croatia, located in the Central Dalmatia. A trading post at the site was originally established by Greek settlers from the island of Vis and subsequently taken over by the Romans...
, with its annual traffic of 4 million passengers, is the third busiest port in the Mediterranean, with daily coastal routes to Rijeka
Rijeka
Rijeka is the principal seaport and the third largest city in Croatia . It is located on Kvarner Bay, an inlet of the Adriatic Sea and has a population of 128,735 inhabitants...
, Dubrovnik
Dubrovnik
Dubrovnik is a Croatian city on the Adriatic Sea coast, positioned at the terminal end of the Isthmus of Dubrovnik. It is one of the most prominent tourist destinations on the Adriatic, a seaport and the centre of Dubrovnik-Neretva county. Its total population is 42,641...
and Ancona
Ancona
Ancona is a city and a seaport in the Marche region, in central Italy, with a population of 101,909 . Ancona is the capital of the province of Ancona and of the region....
in Italy. During the summer season Split is connected with other Italian cities as well, such as Pescara
Pescara
Pescara is the capital city of the Province of Pescara, in the Abruzzo region of Italy. As of January 1, 2007 it was the most populated city within Abruzzo at 123,059 residents, 400,000 with the surrounding metropolitan area...
. Most of the central Dalmatian islands are only reachable via the Split harbor (with Jadrolinija
Jadrolinija
Jadrolinija is a Croatian sea shipping company. It is a state-owned company and its main mission is connecting Croatian islands to the mainland by operating regular passenger and cargo transport services...
and Split Tours ferries
Ferry
A ferry is a form of transportation, usually a boat, but sometimes a ship, used to carry primarily passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo as well, across a body of water. Most ferries operate on regular, frequent, return services...
). This includes the islands of Brač
Brac
Brač is an island in the Adriatic Sea within Croatia, with an area of 396 km², making it the largest island in Dalmatia, and the third largest in the Adriatic. Its tallest peak, Vidova Gora, or Mount St. Vid, stands at 778 m, making it the highest island point in the Adriatic...
, Hvar
Hvar
- Climate :The climate of Hvar is characterized by mild winters and warm summers. The yearly average air temperature is , 686 mm of precipitation fall on the town of Hvar on average every year and the town has a total of 2800 sunshine hours per year. For comparison Hvar has an average of 7.7...
and Šolta
Šolta
Šolta is an island in Croatia. It is situated in the Adriatic Sea in the central Dalmatian archipelago, west of the island of Brač, south of Split and east of the Drvenik islands . Its area is 58.98 km2 and it has a population of 1,675 .The highest peak of Šolta is the summit Vela Straža...
, as well as the more distant Vis
Vis (island)
Vis is the most outerly lying larger Croatian island in the Adriatic Sea, and is part of the Central Dalmatian group of islands, with an area of 90.26 km² and a population of 3,617 . Of all the inhabited Croatian islands, it is the farthest from the coast...
, Korčula
Korcula
Korčula is an island in the Adriatic Sea, in the Dubrovnik-Neretva County of Croatia. The island has an area of ; long and on average wide — and lies just off the Dalmatian coast. Its 16,182 inhabitants make it the second most populous Adriatic island after Krk...
and Lastovo
Lastovo
Lastovo is an island municipality in the Dubrovnik-Neretva County in Croatia. The municipality consists of 46 islands with a total population of 792 people, of which 93% are ethnic Croats, and a land area of approximately . The biggest island in the municipality is also named Lastovo, as is the...
. Split is also becoming a major cruise ship
Cruise ship
A cruise ship or cruise liner is a passenger ship used for pleasure voyages, where the voyage itself and the ship's amenities are part of the experience, as well as the different destinations along the way...
destination, with over 260 ship visits, carrying 130,000 passengers. The largest ship scheduled to dock is the 315m long Celebrity Eclipse
Celebrity Eclipse
Celebrity Eclipse is a , operated by Celebrity Cruises. She is the sister ship of Celebrity Solstice and Celebrity Equinox, which entered service in November 2008 and July 2009, respectively. A fourth ship in the class, Celebrity Silhouette, she entered service in Fall 2011. She is the third...
.
International relations
Twin towns — Sister cities
Split is twinnedTown twinning
Twin towns and sister cities are two of many terms used to describe the cooperative agreements between towns, cities, and even counties in geographically and politically distinct areas to promote cultural and commercial ties.- Terminology :...
with:
| Los Angeles Los Angeles, California Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California... , USA Ancona Ancona Ancona is a city and a seaport in the Marche region, in central Italy, with a population of 101,909 . Ancona is the capital of the province of Ancona and of the region.... , Italy Italy Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and... Patras Patras Patras , ) is Greece's third largest urban area and the regional capital of West Greece, located in northern Peloponnese, 215 kilometers west of Athens... , Greece Greece Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe.... Antofagasta Antofagasta Antofagasta is a port city in northern Chile, about north of Santiago. It is the capital of Antofagasta Province and Antofagasta Region. According to the 2002 census, the city has a population of 296,905... , Chile Chile Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far... Punta Arenas, Chile Chile Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far... Bet Shemesh Bet Shemesh Beit Shemesh is a city in Israel's Jerusalem District, with a population of 80,000. The history of Beit Shemesh goes back to pre-biblical times... , Israel Israel The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea... Cockburn Cockburn, Western Australia The City of Cockburn is a Local Government Area with City status, located in the southern suburbs of the Western Australian capital city of Perth. It is situated about south of Fremantle and about south of Perth's central business district... , Australia Australia Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area... Dover Dover Dover is a town and major ferry port in the home county of Kent, in South East England. It faces France across the narrowest part of the English Channel, and lies south-east of Canterbury; east of Kent's administrative capital Maidstone; and north-east along the coastline from Dungeness and Hastings... , United Kingdom United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages... Gladsaxe Gladsaxe Gladsaxe Kommune is a municipality near Copenhagen in Region Hovedstaden on the island of Zealand in eastern Denmark. The municipality covers an area of 25 km², and has a total population of 62,562... , Denmark Denmark Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark... Mostar Mostar Mostar is a city and municipality in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the largest and one of the most important cities in the Herzegovina region and the center of the Herzegovina-Neretva Canton of the Federation. Mostar is situated on the Neretva river and is the fifth-largest city in the country... , Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina , sometimes called Bosnia-Herzegovina or simply Bosnia, is a country in Southern Europe, on the Balkan Peninsula. Bordered by Croatia to the north, west and south, Serbia to the east, and Montenegro to the southeast, Bosnia and Herzegovina is almost landlocked, except for the... Odessa Odessa Odessa or Odesa is the administrative center of the Odessa Oblast located in southern Ukraine. The city is a major seaport located on the northwest shore of the Black Sea and the fourth largest city in Ukraine with a population of 1,029,000 .The predecessor of Odessa, a small Tatar settlement,... , Ukraine Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia... Kermanshah Kermanshah Kermanshah is a city in and the capital of Kermanshah Province, Iran. At the 2006 census, its population was 784,602, in 198,117 families.The overwhelming majority of Kermanshahi people are Shi'a Muslims... , Iran Iran Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia... |
Ostrava Ostrava Ostrava is the third largest city in the Czech Republic and the second largest urban agglomeration after Prague. Located close to the Polish border, it is also the administrative center of the Moravian-Silesian Region and of the Municipality with Extended Competence. Ostrava was candidate for the... , Czech Republic Czech Republic The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest.... Pescara Pescara Pescara is the capital city of the Province of Pescara, in the Abruzzo region of Italy. As of January 1, 2007 it was the most populated city within Abruzzo at 123,059 residents, 400,000 with the surrounding metropolitan area... , Italy Italy Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and... Cagli Cagli Cagli is a town and comune in the province of Pesaro e Urbino, Marche, central Italy. It c. 30 km south of Urbino.-History:Cagli occupies the site of an ancient village on the Via Flaminia, which seems to have borne the name Cale, 24 miles north of Helvillum and 18 miles southwest of Forum... , Italy Italy Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and... Beirut Beirut Beirut is the capital and largest city of Lebanon, with a population ranging from 1 million to more than 2 million . Located on a peninsula at the midpoint of Lebanon's Mediterranean coastline, it serves as the country's largest and main seaport, and also forms the Beirut Metropolitan... , Lebanon Lebanon Lebanon , officially the Republic of LebanonRepublic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies. The term Lebanese Republic, a literal translation of the official Arabic and French names that is not used in today's world. Arabic is the most common language spoken among... Štip Štip Štip is the largest urban agglomeration in the eastern part of the Republic of Macedonia, serving as the economic, industrial, entertainment and educational focal point for the surrounding municipalities. As of the 2002 census, the Štip municipality alone had a population of about 47,796... , Republic of Macedonia Republic of Macedonia Macedonia , officially the Republic of Macedonia , is a country located in the central Balkan peninsula in Southeast Europe. It is one of the successor states of the former Yugoslavia, from which it declared independence in 1991... Bandar Lampung Bandar Lampung - External links :*... , Indonesia Izmir Izmir Izmir is a large metropolis in the western extremity of Anatolia. The metropolitan area in the entire Izmir Province had a population of 3.35 million as of 2010, making the city third most populous in Turkey... , Turkey Turkey Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe... Trondheim Trondheim Trondheim , historically, Nidaros and Trondhjem, is a city and municipality in Sør-Trøndelag county, Norway. With a population of 173,486, it is the third most populous municipality and city in the country, although the fourth largest metropolitan area. 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Cetinje Cetinje Cetinje , Цетиње / Cetinje , Italian: Cettigne, Greek: Κετίγνη, Ketígni) is a town and Old Royal Capital of Montenegro. It is also a historical and the secondary capital of Montenegro , with the official residence of the President of Montenegro... , Montenegro Montenegro Montenegro Montenegrin: Crna Gora Црна Гора , meaning "Black Mountain") is a country located in Southeastern Europe. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea to the south-west and is bordered by Croatia to the west, Bosnia and Herzegovina to the northwest, Serbia to the northeast and Albania to the... Rosario, Argentina Argentina Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires... |
Images
See also
- DalmatiaDalmatiaDalmatia is a historical region on the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea. It stretches from the island of Rab in the northwest to the Bay of Kotor in the southeast. The hinterland, the Dalmatian Zagora, ranges from fifty kilometers in width in the north to just a few kilometers in the south....
- Diocletian's PalaceDiocletian's PalaceDiocletian's Palace is a building in Split, Croatia, that was built by the Roman emperor Diocletian at the turn of the fourth century AD.Diocletian built the massive palace in preparation for his retirement on 1 May 305 AD. It lies in a bay on the south side of a short peninsula running out from...
- List of ancient cities in Illyria
- Marjan
- Split-Dalmatia countySplit-Dalmatia CountySplit-Dalmatia County is the central-southern Dalmatian county in Croatia. The administrative center is Split. The population of the county is 455,242...
External links
- Visit Split - The Diocletian's city Photo Gallery and tourist information.
- Official Split web page