The Split Archaeological Museum is the oldest museum in Croatia, established in 1820 by a decree of the Dalmatian government in

Zadar Zadar ( , ), historically known as Zara (from Venetian and Italian, ; see also other names), is the oldest continuously inhabited city in Croatia. It is situated on the Adriatic Sea, at the northwestern part of Ravni Kotari region. Zadar ...

. Some 150,000 artifacts cover

prehistoric Prehistory, also called pre-literary history, is the period of human history between the first known use of stone tools by hominins million years ago and the beginning of recorded history with the invention of writing systems. The use o ...

times, the period of

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

colonization of the

Adriatic The Adriatic Sea () is a body of water separating the Italian Peninsula from the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula. The Adriatic is the northernmost arm of the Mediterranean Sea, extending from the Strait of Otranto (where it connects to the Ionian Se ...

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

Provincial and Early

Christian era The terms (AD) and before Christ (BC) are used when designating years in the Gregorian and Julian calendars. The term is Medieval Latin and means "in the year of the Lord" but is often presented using "our Lord" instead of "the Lord", tak ...

to the early

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

and the period of Croatian popular rulers. There is a collection of stone inscriptions from

Salona Salona (, ) was an ancient city and the capital of the Roman province of Dalmatia and near to Split, in Croatia. It was one of the largest cities of the late Roman empire with 60,000 inhabitants. It was the last residence of the final western ...

and the collections of Graeco-Hellenistic ceramic objects, Roman glass, ancient clay lamps, bone, and metal articles, gems and coins. The museum is housed at Zrinsko-Frankopanska 25 in

Split Split(s) or The Split may refer to: Places * Split, Croatia, the largest coastal city in Croatia * Split Island, Canada, an island in the Hudson Bay * Split Island, Falkland Islands * Split Island, Fiji, better known as Hạfliua Arts, enter ...

. There is also a branch building in

Solin Solin is a town and a suburb of Split, in Split-Dalmatia county, Croatia. It is situated right northeast of Split, on the Adriatic Sea and the river Jadro. Solin developed on the location of ancient city of ''Salona'', which was the capital o ...

(Salona and

Tusculum Tusculum is a ruined Classical Rome, Roman city in the Alban Hills, in the Latium region of Italy. Tusculum was most famous in Roman times for the many great and luxurious patrician country villas sited close to the city, yet a comfortable dist ...

) and two regional centres at Vid near

Metković Metković () is a town in the Dubrovnik-Neretva County of Croatia, located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the river Neretva and on the border with Bosnia and Herzegovina. Climate Since records began in 1997, the highest temper ...

(

Narona Narona () was an Ancient Greek trading post on the Illyrian coast and later Roman city and bishopric, located in the Neretva valley in present-day Vid, Croatia, which remains a Latin Catholic titular see. History It was founded as a Greek em ...

Collection), and on the island of Vis. The museum complex consists of a two-story main building, with the exhibition halls on the ground floor and the museum library and study rooms on the 1st floor. A row of arcades surrounding the main building house the

lapidarium A lapidarium is a place where stone (Latin: ) monuments and fragments of archaeological interest are exhibited. They can include stone epigraphy, epigraphs; statues; architectural elements such as columns, cornices, and acroterions; bas relief ...

, and there is an attached garden.

History

At the beginning of the 16th century, the Split humanist Dominik Papalic brought together a collection of ancient writing and picture tablets in his house, which he and poet

Marko Marulić Marko Marulić Splićanin (; ; 18 August 1450 – 5 January 1524), was a Croatian poet, lawyer, judge, and Renaissance humanist. He is the national poet of Croatia. According to George J. Gutsche, Marulić's epic poem '' Judita'' "is the first ...

had found in the ruins of ancient Solin (''Salona''). In 1750 Papalic founded a museum. The Split Archaeological Museum was founded in 1820 by the decree of the Dalmatian government in

after a visit of Emperor Francis I to

Dalmatia Dalmatia (; ; ) is a historical region located in modern-day Croatia and Montenegro, on the eastern shore of the Adriatic Sea. Through time it formed part of several historical states, most notably the Roman Empire, the Kingdom of Croatia (925 ...

in 1818. The original museum building was erected in 1821 next to the eastern walls of

Diocletian's Palace Diocletian's Palace (, ; ) is an ancient Roman palace and fortress complex built at the end of the third century AD by the Roman Emperor Diocletian as his retirement residence. About half of the complex was for Diocletian's personal use, with th ...

but this soon became too small to house the growing number of artifacts. The Catholic priest, archaeologist, and historical researcher

Frane Bulić Frane Bulić (October 4, 1846 - July 29, 1934) was a Croats, Croatian priest, archaeologist, and historian. Biography Bulić was born in Vranjic (now part of Solin), and studied theology in Zadar and then classical philology and archeology in ...

was the museum director starting from 1884 for more than fifty years. He founded the first Croatian archaeological society in 1894 and developed the building of the second museum building from 1912 to 1914. The new building was built according to the plans of the Viennese architects, August Kirstein and

Friedrich Ohmann Friedrich Ohmann (21 December 1858, Lemberg - 6 April 1927, Vienna) was an Austrian architect in the Historicism (art), Historicist style. Life and work His father was a building official. In 1877, he began his studies in architecture at the ...

in the

neo-Romanesque Romanesque Revival (or Neo-Romanesque) is a style of building employed beginning in the mid-19th century inspired by the 11th- and 12th-century Romanesque architecture. Unlike the historic Romanesque style, Romanesque Revival buildings tended t ...

style. The

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

delayed the opening of the new museum building, and the government only opened it to the public in early 1922.

Exhibits

The exhibits are mainly based on Split and

finds. A central part of the museum is a collection of stone inscriptions from Salona and Graeco-Hellenistic ceramic objects, Roman glass, ancient clay lamps, bone and metal articles, gems, medieval coins and an underwater archaeological collection.

Research

The museum does archaeological research in Salona, Issa, and

. The museum has two other collections in Vid near

and on the island of Vis. Since 1878, the Museum has published the first archaeological journal, entitled ''Bullettino di archeologia e storia dalmata'' ( ''Journal of Dalmatian Archeology and History'' ).

Collections

The collections cover the entire history of Dalmatia from prehistory to the early Middle Ages. The museum also has an extensive collection of over 70,000 ancient and medieval coins and significant library and archive holdings. The museum has eight collections: *

Early Christian Early Christianity, otherwise called the Early Church or Paleo-Christianity, describes the historical era of the Christian religion up to the First Council of Nicaea in 325. Christianity spread from the Levant, across the Roman Empire, and be ...

Collection on the Christian Archeology of Dalmatia * Old Croatian Collection on the Conquest of the Croats in the Balkans *

epigraphic Epigraphy () is the study of inscriptions, or epigraphs, as writing; it is the science of identifying graphemes, clarifying their meanings, classifying their uses according to dates and cultural contexts, and drawing conclusions about the wr ...

collection * Greek-

Hellenistic In classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Greek history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the death of Cleopatra VII in 30 BC, which was followed by the ascendancy of the R ...

collection on the Greek colonization of Dalmatia *

Underwater archeology Underwater archaeology is archaeology practiced underwater. As with all other branches of archaeology, it evolved from its roots in pre-history and in the classical era to include sites from the historical and industrial eras. Its acceptance h ...

in the

Adriatic Sea The Adriatic Sea () is a body of water separating the Italian Peninsula from the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula. The Adriatic is the northernmost arm of the Mediterranean Sea, extending from the Strait of Otranto (where it connects to the Ionian Se ...

Numismatic Numismatics is the study or collection of currency, including coins, tokens, paper money, medals, and related objects. Specialists, known as numismatists, are often characterized as students or collectors of coins, but the discipline also inclu ...

Collection * Roman Provincial Collection on the History of the Roman Province of Dalmatia * Prehistoric Collection on the history of the

Illyrians The Illyrians (, ; ) were a group of Indo-European languages, Indo-European-speaking people who inhabited the western Balkan Peninsula in ancient times. They constituted one of the three main Paleo-Balkan languages, Paleo-Balkan populations, alon ...

External links

Museum
(Official site)
Virtual tour of Museum

Kroatische Archäologische Gesellschaft

References

{{Reflist

Museums established in 1820 Museums in Split, Croatia Recipients of the Charter of the Republic of Croatia