Archaeologists have discovered ancient Roman baths under a city museum in Croatia.

Scientists are dismayed by the unexpected discovery

Archaeologists who assisted in the restoration work of the Split City Museum, one of the most important and visited museums in Croatia, located inside the Dominik Papalic Palace, made a sensational discovery. Large Roman baths and mosaics were discovered under the building during the renovation of the ground floor and installation of an elevator at the Split City Museum.

The city of Split, with a history dating back more than 2000 years, located in the middle of the Adriatic Sea, at the foot of the gentle slopes of Kozjak and Biokovo, has a rich history, reminiscent Arkeonews.

The ongoing work, which is part of a European project called “Palace of Life, City of Change,” has uncovered a valuable archaeological site containing never-before-seen ancient remains from the construction of Diocletian’s Palace.

At the planning stage of work in the former Renaissance palace of the Papalich family (16th century), minor archaeological finds and, as such, research were expected, but then a sensational discovery occurred.

Total Croatia News reports that “in the former museum reception area, an ancient floor structure, heated floors, a warm air opening connected to a furnace, a praetorium, an opening inside the heated floor and a furnace structure were discovered.”

Deeper excavations revealed an ancient mosaic in the southern room, followed by a continuation of the ancient wall in the central room with a pool and a press for oil and grapes. According to Nebojsa Cingeli, head of archaeological research at Neir, a pool with a white mosaic floor was discovered in the northern room, next to the stairs.

Nebojša Čingeli explains that the finds under the Papalić Palace are associated with water, since these are pools and cisterns, so it is easy to conclude “that there were once thermal baths in the northern part of Diocletian’s Palace.”

This came as something of a surprise to both historians and archaeologists, since for many years it was assumed that the northern part of Diocletian’s palace contained barracks and training grounds for Diocletian’s personal guard and staff. These discoveries are expected to provide more information about the original floor plan of Diocletian’s palace.

“The fact that all these layers of earlier buildings that once made up the city are visible inside the Split City Museum gives this museum an added value that is exceptionally rare. Multi-level construction began with the ancient layer and continued until late antiquity, Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance… all the way up to the nineteenth and twentieth centuries is itself a paradigm,” says the director of the Split City Museum Vesna Bulić Baketić.

The plan is to keep the excavated rooms open to the public. Before inviting visitors, it is necessary to strengthen the walls and secure the structure. The architects will design a system of pedestrian paths over the open archaeological site to facilitate movement above it.