Split – A Living Museum.
Split, Croatia
Why is it that when I mention to anyone about the “Fall of the Roman Empire” most people snigger!
About 2000 years ago when the Roman Empire was well up and running, covering all of Europe as we know it, there was an Emperor by the name of Diocletian. He was responsible for the whole empire that ran from what is now know as Turkey right through to the UK, including the north of Africa. This was a territory bigger than anything anyone can imagine today. Nicolas Sarkozy, Angela Merkle and Barack Obama control territories which are minor compared to what this guy had to look after.
Diocletian was actually a Dalmatian by birth, but worked his way through the ranks until he ended up being the boss of this enormous stretch of land – he was the most important man on the earth at the time towards the end of the 3rd century.
As he came from Dalmatia, which is now known as Croatia, he built an impressive palace among the city walls of the town of Split. This town consisted of a fortified wall within which you could find a temple at which to worship, a bath house, and homes for all his staff as well as some impressive lodgings for himself, when he wasn’t elsewhere in Europe keeping an eye on his vast territory.
But 100 years later we have learnt that the Roman Empire collapsed and Rome and all the other cities of Europe were over-run by outsiders claiming these towns as their own. His palace in Split was one such place that was over-run.
Who said the Empire collapsed? I’ve just been in Split, escorting a tour party there, and it’s still running just like before. From my hotel in the centre of the Palace confines I walked out late one night, walking across pavements polished by 2000 years of busy living, past intricate Roman floor tiles, past the Roman mausoleum built in 300AD for Diocletian. I walked past the roman arches and steps that were crowded with hundreds of young people drinking evening cocktails while listening to James Blunt blaring across the piazza in front of the Roman Chambers. There was a young tourist sitting on a fallen Roman column on his laptop communicating to a distant friend in another land and time. Walking down the narrow alleyways of this well defended Roman town there was an incessant hum of happy people enjoying their summer evening. There were no visits to Roman bath houses tonight, nor gladiator fights in the arena, but really nothing much else had changed – just two millennium separating us. The buildings were still intact, the people were still getting about their life. But there were a few changes. Now you can find within these buildings a Hugo Boss shop, a Kodak store, and a Dolce and Gabbana store, and I assume these were not around 2000 years ago, but perhaps only the names have changed. Our technologies we may think of as clever and advanced, but the abilities, constructions techniques and systems devised by the Roman still embarrass us today.
So when you next hear that the Roman Empire has fallen, take a visit to the Croatian port town of Split, go walking and make your own mind up!
Travel Advice:
From Venice by car it is a 7 hour drive or you can get international flights via Zagreb. When here take the fast ferry out to the island of Hvar for lunch and a swim for the day.
Accommodation: Stay at Hotel Peristil within the walls of the Diocletian Palace in Split.
Check out my tour in Croatia.