the
general level. To the left is the cathedral, an octagonal building which
was the mausoleum of Diocletian, with the campanile standing between it
and the peristyle, through which a flight of steps leads; these will
again form the entrance when the restorations are completed. Towards the
sea steps give entrance to the "atrio rotondo," a circular ante-room,
once decorated with precious statues, paintings, and other costly
ornaments, while the lantern of the roof was covered with purple
hangings. The decoration has vanished, leaving mere construction except
for the fine door of entry. To the right, at the end of a narrow alley,
is the baptistery, formerly probably the emperor's private temple or
chapel, as one may say, which now contains a very interesting font made
up of fragments of ninth-century carving, and the beautiful doors of the
cathedral, stored there temporarily. The base blocks of the cathedral
are nearly 20 ft. high, and there are twenty-two steps in the flight of
approach. The portico which surrounds it has columns of marble and
granite 21 ft. high. Only nineteen remain of the original twenty-four.
The caps are Corinthian, and they sustain the usual architrave, frieze,
and cornice. The octagon within has alternate semicircular and
rectangular niches, except on the side which opens into the late
Renaissance choir; at each angle stands a column of Egyptian granite
with Corinthian cap, and a highly decorated but rather heavy order runs
round the interior. Above this is a second smaller row of columns of
porphyry with a shallower order, reaching to the springing of the dome,
which is built of Dalmatian tiles, arranged in imbrications. Round the
upper frieze are _putti_ hunting, bearing garlands, &c. The height to
the dome is 68 ft., and the internal diameter 42 ft. A couple of niches
in the upper order are so arranged that a word spoken low in one is well
heard in that opposite, an arrangement supposed to have been connected
with oracular responses. Before the restoration there were galleries
on the columns, both below and above.

[Illustration: PLAN OF CATHEDRAL AND CAMPANILE, SPALATO ]

The high-altar stands under the niche which has been opened to give
access to the choir. At each side of it are the altars of S. Ranier and
S. Anastasius, the latter made by George of Sebenico in 1448 to match
the former, made in 1427 by the Milanese Gasparo Bonino, and both
Gothic. To the left is the very beautiful pulpit s