Even the place where the Split City Museum is should be a good cause in itself to add this famous landmark of the old Croatian city to your tourist itinerary. After all, the museum is located not in some historical building, but on the premises of the ancient palace of the Roman emperor Diocletian. Besides, this landmark of early architecture, like the entire emperor’s palace and the Temple of Jupiter, is listed in the UNESCO World Heritage and is one of the most visited museums in Croatia.

Split City Museum was founded in 1946. It is located in a magnificent antique Gothic building with a lovely courtyard, immersed in the greenery of age-old trees and fragrant bougainvillea flowers. The broad central entrance, decorated with stone semi-columns with oddly shaped capitals, a black wrought iron gate, and massive wooden doors—everything here will remind you of the times when the ancient Romans ruled the city and the emperor walked up and down the steep staircase. In the building exterior, pay particular attention to stone balconies. Large windows pour southern sun rays into the museum halls, presenting ancient artifacts in an even more agreeable light.

The permanent exhibition shows visitors the history of Split since the early Middle Ages. Within the city museum walls, you can see city charters, seals, coins, and rare, valuable books, manuscripts, and maps of different years and centuries. There are also old rifles of the 15th-18th centuries, which the citizens once used to protect their hometown from the regular attacks of the Ottoman Empire. The museum also houses a warehouse of medieval weapons, which the male members of the tour group will surely appreciate. Notwithstanding an impressive collection of exhibits from different historical periods, the museum’s main treasure is a statue in the Romanesque style. Previously, it adorned the bell tower of Split’s primary shrine, the Cathedral of Saint Domnius.