Sustjepan Peninsula, Split

Sustjepan is a green peninsula on the eastern side of Split, known for its pine trees, quiet paths and the church of St Stephen. It is interesting to visitors because in a small space it combines a park, archaeological remains and memories of the former city cemetery. It belongs to the city of Split in Split-Dalmatia County.

The oldest layer consists of the remains of an early Christian basilica with three aisles and a semicircular apse. In the 11th century the building was reshaped, and a distinguished Benedictine monastery grew up beside it. The present church of St Stephen was built in 1814, and early Romanesque and Gothic fragments of the older church were built into its outer walls. In 1826 the first Split cemetery outside the city walls was laid out here; in 1958 it was relocated to Lovrinac. Today the centre of the park, among pines and cypresses, is marked by a neoclassical gloriette from 1851 designed by Vicko Andrić.

The whole area is a protected cultural-historical entity, entered in the Register of Cultural Goods of the Republic of Croatia under the code Z-5524.

Photo: Zvone00, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons.
Data: Register of Cultural Goods of the Republic of Croatia (Ministry of Culture and Media), Open Licence; coordinates: Wikidata (CC0).