Three days at HiveFest in Split 🇭🇷

Hello, dear Hivers! 🌸

Time passes by quickly and the best example is my time at Hivefest, three days away. I'm so happy though, I fell in love with this beautiful city that hosted us and met amazing people in real life: @livinguktaiwan, @m31, @lemony-cricket, @zirochka, @engrave, @xara, @bugavi, @darine.darine, @basilmarples, @yabapmatt, @elmirabear, @forkyishere, @thebeedevs, @starkerz, @logic and many, many other wonderful Hivers.
Although I don’t particularly feel best around large groups of people, I love to see and experience how communities share certain similar goals and support each other. I think that is the essence of Hive in general. It is my first HiveFest and to experience that is so incredible. I love the meeting we held in Cracow, in @krolestwo with @hallmann, but that one is completely out of the scale.

Anyway, to load social batteries I also wandered around the city, discovering its stunning beauty.

The second day at Hive Fest took place at the Meštrović Gallery, dedicated and designed by one of the Croatian artists - Ivan Meštrović, I couldn't lose a chance to come in and discover his works. Here are some pieces from the gallery.
As an art historian and artist, I found his pieces extremely inspiring, especially the ones created around Art Deco time - the form is unified, clear, and simple, and they are one of the best sculptures of his career. His works are around the Old City, too, e.g. at the Jupiter Temple or the famous Hand Fountain. Also, one of the statues is in Chicago, as the artist emigrated there.

These is his Art Deco era, personally my favourite one.

The terrace with a view of the sea.

Also, three pieces of his expressionism era, the most famous period in his career.

On Thursday, I took the opportunity to visit the famous cathedral, bell tower, and Jupiter Temple from the Diocletian time, it's great to be rather early, as the city is flooded with tourists. The entrance is not so cheap (thanks to my job at the museum I visited it for free as an ICOM member), but it is a better option to buy a combined ticket. They also grant some discounts, too.

The Baptistery, or Jupiter Temple was built around the 3 century as a part of Diocletian palace. Inside the Temple, you can spot beautiful decorations, including Roman gods, starting from the obvious ones - Jupiter, Apollo, Victoria, Helios, and half-god, half-human - Hercules.
The large bronze sculpture is Saint John Baptist created by Mestrović.
Outside of the building there is a statue of a sphinx, a headless one, as the Christians around some early 6th century decapitated it, as they considered it pagan.

Cathedral of Saint Domnius

The cathedral is located in the heart of the old city - at night, people sit on the stairs to listen to live music from the nearest pub. During the day there are queues at the entrance. By the cathedral, there is also a tunnel to the Silver Gate of the city.
The cathedral was one of the main parts of the Diocletian palace, it was his mausoleum. In the 7th century, it was rebuilt and changed to a Roman Christian church. The oldest part from Diocletian time was built in limestone (like most of the city, too) tuff, and marble - this one is extremely special - the beautiful mosaic that survives till modern times.

One of the oldest, Roman parts of the cathedral are also the pillars and beautiful stalls dated around the early 13th century, the oldest one in all Dalmatia.
The altar was built in the 17th century, as a highly decorated, gilded baroque piece.

Just outside the cathedral, there's another treasure - the bell tower from the 12th century. The entrance is just across, and it is a beautiful place to discover the panorama of the city. Climbing is quite tricky, and slippery, and the steps are not so comfortable to walk in, but the view completely wins it out.

Well, tomorrow is another day to find some new gems in this amazing city, so soon I'll share my experiences as well. 💕