Golden Gate - Diocletian's Palace

The Golden Gate, or "the Northern Gate", is one of the four principal Roman gates into the stari grad of Split [1]. Built as the main gate of Diocletian's Palace, it was elaborately decorated to mark its status [1]. Over the course of the Middle Ages, the gate was sealed off and lost its columns and statuary [1]. The gate stood at a terminal point of the road which led north towards Salona, Diocletian's birthplace and the capital of the Roman province of Dalmatia [1]. It was probably used by Diocletian to enter the palace after his abdication from the imperial throne on 1 May 305 [1]. The Romans of late antiquity called the structure Porta Septemtrionalis [1]. The Porta Septemtrionalis was the "main landward gate" of Diocletian's palace, located in the middle of the northern wall [1]. Its exterior opening measures 4.17 by 4.36 meters; above the lintel is a 3.02-meter-high arch composed of 19 stone blocks [1].