engleski

Marble revetments of Diocletians palace in Split

During archaeological excavations inside Diocletian’s Palace, a big number of marble revetment fragments were found mostly in the southern part of the Palace (Emperor’s apartments), and in the bath complexes. A detailed analysis determined more than 20 different marble materials, from all over the Empire. Some 30% are white marbles, a somewhat lesser percentage are of porfido rosso 27%, and the remaining 43% account for 18 different types of colored marbles. The diversity of material and colors shows us the splendor of the Palace interiors. Only two bigger surfaces of original marble revetments were found in situ. One is the multicolored opus sectile floor of Diocletian’s mausoleum, and the other is the white marble revetment of the eastern bath little fountain. Among the marble revetment fragments, which are stored in the City Museum of Split, different shapes of opus sectile decoration can be recognized. The thickness of the marble fragments varies from 0, 5 to 4 cm. We can distinguish triangles, squares, rhombs, trapezes and some circular shapes. Comparing them to similar samples of other Roman palaces and villas, we can hypothesize that some opus sectile patterns of Diocletian’s Palace disappeared a long time ago.

Diocletian's palace ; marble ; opus sectile

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