Archaeological Museum in Split — Attraction in Grad Split

Split and Dalmatia, home to thousands of years of history - surely home to an unforgettable Archaeological museum? Not quite.

First and foremost, location; The museum is set outside of the historic core of Split (ie: the area around Diocletian's Palace), although the Ethnographic and Town museum have prime locations within this. Even if we allow that there may be a political reasoning for the Ethnographic museum being given such a prime position, it seems a nonsense that there is no "Roman" collection within the Palace walls (the town museum is void of this period also). I would therefore propose that the town of Split "repurpose" the basements of Diocletian's palace as home for this archaeological collection, there by also securing and supporting the basements future (or find another suitable home within the Palace walls). This would require funding, but would be balanced by much greater footfall.

Secondly, whilst the museum holds a number of fantastic Stelae and sarcophagi, these are held outside. When I visited, I witnessed a number of visitors browsing these exhibits without paying, this lost revenue must hurt the museum.

Finally, almost none of the exhibits inside or out are translated. Meaning not only that the label is not in English (or any other international language), but also that the original Latin text is not translated. Therefore, much of the personal nature of the exhibits is lost, unless of course, you speak Latin...

With all this said, if you are in Split for any length of time, please do visit this museum, but then write your own review to hopefully secure it the funding it...

Wonderful place for anyone interested in the Roman archaeological finds in this area. An impressive but randomly organised collection of stone carvings displayed around the sides of a quadrangle. Sarcophagi, Headstones etc some as old as first century. A small indoor collection of artifacts in the main building is less interesting with French but no English descriptions. I understand this is because it's sponsored by the French government. In the interior of the quadrangle are reproduced Roman stoneworks; less interesting than the original pieces around the sides. I was amazed to be the only person there during my visit. There are labels on many of the items in English, but for more detailed information you can scan the QR...

Interesting place, but some of the exhibitions lack some kind of direction and explanation. Especially the one about the tombstones, an explanation about its content (if they only talk about the person or how they died, why there are no dates, etc.), or the shortcuts like HMHNS or DM. The Medusa exhibition corrected this mistake, but it seemed like it lacked funding. The exhibitions would be nice if they had more depictions, simply showing broken pieces of amphorae and vessels seems lazy. But I believe this is due to the lack of funding. I wish that such important subject that Archeology is ok gets better funding and people have more space to execute finer ideas in the discipline of...