Diocletian’s Palace Cellars, Split, Croatia

Diocletian’s Palace Cellars reveal the darker and more mysterious side of Split’s ancient Roman heart. Massive stone pillars, arches and deep passages disappear into the shadows, while a narrow line of light draws the eye through a succession of rooms that have survived beneath the city for more than seventeen centuries.

I actually visited the cellars twice during my stay. The first time was during a busy afternoon, when intense sunlight poured through the entrance together with a seemingly endless stream of visitors. Before my trip, I came across a photography guide to Split, showing the cellars and asking, “Where are all the tourists?” By the time I arrived, they had clearly discovered the magic of Split’s underground world. I waited for long stretches for the entrance to clear, but never quite managed to get the scene I wanted.

On the final day of my Croatian trip, I returned to Split early in the morning and tried again. This time the halls were genuinely empty. Without crowds passing through the arches, the scale and atmosphere felt considerably more mysterious.

The substructures originally supported Emperor Diocletian’s residential quarters above them and largely mirrored their layout. Their exceptional state of preservation has allowed historians to reconstruct the arrangement of parts of the imperial apartments that disappeared centuries ago. Over time, these underground halls served many other purposes, including storage and even refuse disposal, before extensive excavation and restoration brought them back to light.

Fans of Game of Thrones may recognise another identity hidden within these Roman walls. Diocletian’s Palace and its cellars became part of Meereen, the city ruled by Daenerys Targaryen. Scenes connected with the freed slaves were filmed within the ancient basements, and the underground chambers are also strongly associated with the place where Daenerys kept her increasingly troublesome dragons. Suddenly, the heavy pillars, dark arches and maze-like passages seem perfectly suited to the world of Essos.

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