PLAN OF CATHEDRAL AND CAMPANILE, SPALATO
The colonnade of the peristyle, which is 114 ft. by 50 ft., consists of six free-standing columns of red granite on each side and four at the end. Those at the sides support arches beneath an architrave continued across the end and rising into an arched form over the central space beneath the pediment. This portion is raised several steps above 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.
INTERIOR OF THE CATHEDRAL, 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 shown in the illustration. It bears considerable resemblance to that at Traù, but is superior to it both in design and execution. The lower capitals are worked as if in wood, which makes the tradition all the more probable that Guvina (who made the beautiful doors in 1214) had to do with the making of it. The very original stalls in the choir, with their curious combination of Eastern and Western motifs, have also been ascribed to him; brought hither, as is thought, from S. Stefano de Pinis when it was destroyed.
RELIQUARIES AND CHALICE, TREASURY, SPALATO CATHEDRAL