Split has an excellent record of collecting and caring for monuments. This interest appeared as early as the Renaissance.
At the start of the XVIth century, a collection of Antique stone epitaphs was stored in the home of the split nobleman Dmino Papalic (today’s Town Museum) and they were described in one of his friend’s, Marko Marulic’s, tracts.
The Archbishop’s Museum was set up by mid-XVIIIth century, and in 1820 the Archeological Museum, the oldest Croatian Museum.
These were followed by the other museums and galleries in Split which keep and exhibit numerous kinds of human feats in this area where life, pulsating here since prehistoric times, has made a recognizable of autochtonous creativeness and different outside influences.
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The Archeological Museum
Set up in 1820, the Archaeological Museum in Split is the oldest Museum in Croatia.
It has got a large stock of archaeological objects from prehistoric times, from the period of the Greek colonisation of the Adriatic and from the Roman, Early Christian and early Medieval ages.
The majority of the monuments come from the region of central Dalmatia, to be more and especially from Salona (Solin). Very important are collections of stone epitaphs from Salona (about 6.000 of them), of Greek Hellenistic ceramics, of Roman glass, of clay lamps, of objects made out of bone and metal, and of gems.
The Museum has a big collection of Antique and Medieval coins. The Museum also has an enormous library with roughly 30.000 books on archaeology and history as well as on Dalmatica (books, books dealing with themes from the history of Dalmatia).
Since 1878 the Museum has issued its own journal “Bulletin for Dalmatian Archaeology and History”. The start of archeology in Croatia is connected with the Archaeological Museum. Its long-time director Frane Bulic, especially afterthe First lnternational Congress of Early Christian Archaeology was held in solin and Split in 1894, won it world renown.
The building housing the Museum was built according to the project of the Viennese designers A. Kirstein and F. Ohmann from 1912 to 1914. The Museum exhibition was replenished in 1970 on the occasion of the 150 anniversary of its existence. Stone monuments (sculptures, epitaphs) are exibited in the portico of the lapidarium ; the chronological succession of cultures from prehistory to the Early Middle Ages is displayed in the hall of exhibitions. There’s a guide-book to the Museum in Croatian and English.
The Museum Of Croatian Archaeological Monuments
The Museum of Croatian Archaeological Monuments was set up in Knin in 1893. After WW II it was moved to Split and since 1976 it has been in the present building. The Museum has a rich collection of Early Medieval stone monuments and collections of weapons, tools, jewellery, coins and objects of everyday use. Of special significance are the epigraphic monuments from the IXth to the XIIth century where we find etched the names of Croatian kings and other renowned dignitaries. These represent a unusually rich “archives in stone”, rare in the Europe of the time. The preserved stone monuments are in often segments of altar partitions and of other furniture of the pre-Romanesque churches in Croatia.
Numerous findings from old Croatian graves offer abounding material for research of the industrial, cultural and political life of the Croatian people in the Early Middle Ages. Sabres, spears, knives, arrows, axes and spurs have been discovered in graves of warriors, all of which, according to their make, belong to the Carolingian cultural circle. The most numerous grave observations are different froms of jewelry : earings, rings, necklaces, diadems, buttons and such-like. These can be sorted into numerous types including a long period from the VIIth to the XVth century and are, essentially, products made in local workshops and by local experts. Discoveries of gold Byzantine and other Medieval coins are also valuable. In the area round the Museum foundations of three base sorts of pre-Romanesque churches from old Croatian times and a bunch of standing tomb-stones from the XIVth and XVth centuries are displayed recalling the appearance of a necropolis of that time.
The Town Museum Of Split
The Town Museum of Split was set up in 1946. It is located in the northeastern part of Diocletian’s palace, in the complex of Medieval buildinqs at whose center is the Gothic palace of the Papalic family designed and built by the local master Juraj of Dalmatia and his stonecarvers and builders circle. Beautifully excuted are the courtyard with its sumptuously decorated portal and loggia, the first floor hall with its lavish four-light, two-light and one-light windows and with the well preserved wooden ceiling. The Renaissance building with a fine window decoration completes the ensemble of the yard.
Inside, the permanent museum exhibition relates a slice from the history of the city, the period when Split was an autonomous city commune (XIIth-XlVth centuries).
The city statute, seal and coins and the Romanesque sculpture from the belfry of the cathedral stand proud amongst the items. In the period of Venetian rule (XVth- XVlth centuries), a central place is given to the Marulic’s literary circle. Mention should additionally be made of Libro d’Oro, Gothic-Renaissance coffers. In the armory are exhibited the weapons from the XVth to the XVIIIth centuries, utilised for the defence of Split.
The Ethnographic Museum
It was founded in 1910. The ethnography of the whole of Dalmatia is on show. The most common get ups of the region, some of which excel with their embroidery, are exhibited (the pieces from Ravni Kotari, Knin, Vrlika, Imotski, Poljica ). Some feature a characteristic white embroidery ( from Sinj, the Dalmatian hinterland) or lacework (from Primosten, Novigrad and Pag).
Diverse trades are on view in the museum : pottery, knitting, efforts (woodcarving, basketry, the making of footwear). The museum presents the basic froms of industrial life. One can also see Assorted instruments, silver jewellery and sorts of weapons.
Treasury Of Split Cathedral
The treasury contains an exceptionally valuable and dear collection of sacral artworks.
On display are ob jects from the qoldsmith trade from the XIIIth to the XIXth century, paintings on panel from the XIIIth century, mass vestments from the XIVth to the XIXth centuries and famous books from the period between the VIIth and XIth centuries.
Of the latter, mention should be made from the Book of gospels (VIth century), the Supetar charater (XIth century) and the Hishria Salonitana by Thomas the Archdeacon from Split (XIIIth century), writes tagza.