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RIJEČ UREDNIŠTVAKada je krajem ožujka ove godine Thomas Waitz, zastupnik Europskog parlamenta, član Kluba zastupnika Zelenih/Europskog slobodnog saveza, objavio na svojoj službenoj stranici "Novo izvješće o krčenju šuma u Hrvatskoj" dostavljeno od braniteljske udruge ViDrA – "veterani i društvena akcija", vijest o tome proširila se na hrvatskim mrežnim stranicama. Povodom toga objavljen je na portalu Telegram.hr i razgovor s predsjednicom udruge Vesnom Grgić. Forum udruge pod nazivom Zeleni odred za cilj ima, kako su sami naveli, "borbu protiv devastacije šuma i šumskih površina u Republici Hrvatskoj".Pohvalna je briga za opće dobro, što šume u Republici Hrvatskoj i jesu. Samo čitajući optužbe, koje se većinom odnose na djelovanje trgovačkog društva Hrvatske šume, ne može se oteti dojmu da tu ima puno neshvaćanja zakonskih postavki i operativnih radnji koje se odvijaju u gospodarenju šumama.U razgovoru se kao mogućnost "jezive devastacije šuma" navodi zabrana sječe svih šuma u razdoblju od 10 godina, uspoređujući to s primjerom Albanije. Toj zemlji to nitko izvan nje nije naredio, već je to bila odluka albanskog parlamenta da se uvede moratorij na sječu šuma za trgovačke namjene od 2016. do 2025. godine. Zabrana je uvedena kao posljedica nekontroliranih prevelikih sječa, što je stvorilo erozivna područja koja su jako vidljiva diljem države. Uspoređujući to s Republikom Hrvatskom u kojoj postoji organizirano šumarstvo 256 godina, potpuno je deplasirano. Osnovno nerazumijevanje, koje se i inače ponavlja u javnosti, je održivo gospodarenje putem oplodnih sječa, gdje se na kraju životnog ciklusa jednodobnih sastojina (sam naziv jednodobno označava da su stabla približno jednake starosti) stara šuma, naravno sa starim i debelim stablima, zamjenjuje mladom šumom, koja se izvan vegetacijskog razdoblja svugdje dobro i ne uočava. Bitno je to da na šumskom zemljištu i dalje ostaje šuma, znači nema devastacije, odnosno degradacijskih stadija šuma (kao što laici obično mlade šume u razvoju – u progresiji smatraju šikarom koja je primjer obrnutog procesa – regresije). Oplodno razdoblje koje traje i 20 godina, a u fazi dovršne sječe godinu ili više godina ako se sječe na manjim površinama, u stvari je porođaj mlade šume. Svima je poznato da rođenje djeteta u ljudskom svijetu nastaje nakon porođajnih muka, a odrastanje i osamostaljivanje traje godinama. Isto možemo usporediti s nastankom mlade šume i brigom oko njenog razvoja. Rađaonica u šumi traje i njeno uređenje traži vremena. Osim što je šumska površina u obnovi rađaonica, ona je i radilište na kojemu vladaju posebni propisi, posebice oni vezani za zaštitu na radu. Ljubitelji prirode koji se prolazeći kroz šumu u obnovi ljute zbog oštećenih šumskih puteva, trebaju znati da se oni nalaze usred radilišta i da se ne bi mogli slobodno kretati po radilištu nekakve zgrade ili mosta. Povlačeći paralelu, šumsko radilište bi se moglo ograditi kao i neko građevinsko, a onda ne bi bilo pristupa u to područje.Nerealno je očekivati da se stanje šuma, kao uostalom i drugih dijelova prirode, može konzervirati. Prirodni ekosustavi su dinamične cjeline i kroz vrijeme se stalno mijenjaju. U Republici Hrvatskoj prirodne gospodarene šume doživjele su bar dva kompletna, a neke i po tri životna ciklusa od nastanka do dovršnog sjeka. Znači da su kroz taj ciklus prošle sve faze, od mlade šuma visine nekoliko centimetara, do stare šume s visokim stablima 30-40 m. Prosječni ljudski vijek u današnje doba u našoj domovini od 78 godina tek je nešto iznad polovice životnog vijeka propisanog za šume hrasta lužnjaka od 140 godina, a oko tri četvrtine vijeka bukovih šuma od 100 godina. Normalno je da stanovniku i posjetitelju nekog šumskog područja promiču promjene u starim šumama koje nisu tako drastične, kao što se dogodi kada se stara šuma zamijeni mladom šumom. Zanimljivo je kako se ljudi raduju rađanju novih ljudi i njihovom odrastanju, a ne raduju se, za razliku od šumara, rađanju novih šuma koje šumari nastoje stvoriti kvalitetnijim od prethodnih. Stara poslovica kaže "Na mladima svijet ostaje". Logično je da isto vrijedi i za šume. Nove šume će omogućiti blagodati novim generacijama. Zamislimo da su danas sve šume stare po dvjesto i više godina (kao što za primjer imamo potpuno zaštićenu šumu Prašnik, gdje je ostalo malo starih stabala hrasta lužnjaka, a ispod njih prevladavaju mlađa stabla graba čime se u biti gubi glavna vrsta drveća). Imali bi šume pune bolesnih stabala, od kojih ne bi bilo previše koristi. Drvna industrija ostala bi skoro bez ikakve sirovine za svoj rad, a onda i stanovništvo bez mogućnosti zaposlenja i brojnih proizvoda od drveta. Još jedna bitna činjenica u svjetlu klimatskih promjena je to da se najveći ponor (upijanje) ugljika stvara u šumama mlađim od 140 godina, nakon čega se unos ugljika smanjuje.Postavlja se i pitanje zašto se u općoj brizi za naše šume prati samo stanje u državnim šumama, dok se u privatnim šumama malih posjednika, koje čine jednu četvrtinu ukupnoga šumskog kompleksa, događaju radnje koje, za razliku od državnih šuma, otprilike odgovaraju stanju koje navode gore navedene Udruge. Dobna struktura vlasnika, neriješeni imovinsko pravni odnosi i zapušteno i neažurirano stanje našeg katastra i gruntovnice, usitnjeni posjed, kao i neadekvatna zakonska rješenja i nepostojanje organizirane čuvarske službe razlog su takvom stanju. Razvoj tehnologija donio je brojne olakšice i koristi u današnjem življenju, ali nažalost i nedostatke. Mogućnost brzog prijenosa informacija omogućila je svima upoznavanje sa svim djelatnostima i strukama, što je pak stvorilo lažnu predodžbu o razumijevanju svih sfera života i njihovom funkcioniranju. Tako su danas brojni posjetitelji šume postali znalci o šumarstvu, ali i dobili mogućnost lakog iskazivanja svog viđenja o tome u medijima. Čak su nastali takvi uvjeti da im se više vjeruje nego struci koja se za to školovala i stjecala iskustvo kroz praksu. Paušalno i olako iznesene optužbe zauzimaju naslovnice i postaju istina, dok se demanti teško probijaju i prolaze nezapaženo. Tko je u svemu tome odgovoran za točno i istinito informiranje javnosti? U svakoj struci postoje pojedinci koji ne rade dobro ili se čine pogrešne radnje, ali ne može se generalizirati i na temelju toga donositi zaključke. Nažalost današnjim prevladavajućim negativističkim novinarstvom stvaraju se uvjeti nepovjerenja u bilo kakvu djelatnost i struku što nije dobro, a u budućnosti može biti i gore.Mlada šuma koja će uskoro stasati, i postati vidljiva i nešumarskom oku, na tako često prozivanim sljemenskim sječinama, ali i diljem Lijepe Naše, dokazat će da šumarska struka postoji i uspješno obavlja svoj posao, što je u cijeloj priči najvažnije. Takvih mladih i njegovanih šuma ima i sada na značajnim površinama, samo ih laici ne prepoznaju.Uredništvo ; EDITORIALWhen Thomas Waitz, representative of the European Parliament and member of the Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance, published in his official page "a new report on deforestation in Croatia", a report passed on by ViDrA– "Association of Veterans and Social Action", this piece of news spread across the Croatian network media. On this occasion the portal Telegram.hr published an interview with Vesna Grgić, chairperson of Vidra Association. The Association's Forum, called The Green Squad, was established, in their own words, "with the purpose of fighting against devastation of forests and forest land in the Republic of Croatia".The concern for common goods, which forests in the Republic of Croatia certainly are, is highly commendable. However, if we read accusations that refer mostly to the activities of the company Croatian Forests, one cannot but feel that there is a lot of misunderstanding of legal provisions and operational actions that take place in forest management. One of the examples of "disastrous forest devastation" mentioned in the interview was the possibility of a ban on logging in all forests for the period of 10 years and a comparison with Albania was given. There was no request from abroad for Albania to do so – it was a decision of the Albanian Parliament to impose a moratorium on cutting down forests for industrial purposes for the period from 2016 to 2025. The ban was implemented as a reaction to uncontrolled excessive logging, resulting in erosive areas clearly visible across the country. To compare this with the Republic of Croatia, which enjoys 256 years of organized forestry, is completely misplaced. The basic misunderstanding generally displayed by the public refers to sustainable management using the shelterwood system, where at the end of the life cycle of an even-aged stand (the name itself denotes that the trees are of relatively even age), the mature forest, naturally with all trees, including thick ones, is replaced with a young forest, which is not always clearly visible outside the vegetation period. What is important is that the forest remains on the forested land: there is no devastation and no degraded forest stages (just as non-experts consider a young forest in progression a scrub; however, a scrub is an example of a reverse process – regression). The rejuvenation period, which lasts for up to 20 years and in the final cutting stage it may last for one or more years if smaller forested areas are treated, is in fact the birth of a young forest. We all know that in the human world a child is born after labour pains and growing up and turning an adult takes years. This can be compared with the emergence of a young forest and care for its development. The labour pains bringing forth a forest and its management take time. Not only can the forested area being regenerated be compared to a maternity ward, it is also a work site where special regulations apply, particularly those related to safety at work. Nature lovers who are angry about the damaged forest roads when passing through the forest being regenerated, should know that they are in a construction site and that they would not be able to move freely on the construction site of a building or a bridge. To draw a parallel, a forest construction site could be fenced off like any other construction site, banning access to the area. It is unrealistic to expect that the condition of a forest, and indeed any other part of nature, can be conserved. Natural ecosystems are dynamic units that change constantly throughout time. In the Republic of Croatia, forests managed on a close-to-nature principle have undergone at least two, and some even three, complete lifecycles from their emergence to the final cut. This means that all stages have gone through this cycle, from a young forest only several centimetres tall, to an old forest with trees up to 30-40 metres tall. The average human lifespan today in our homeland of 78 years is just over half the lifespan of 140 years prescribed for pedunculate oak forests, and about three-quarters of the lifespan of 100 years prescribed for beech forests. It is normal that a resident or a visitor to a forest area overlooks the changes taking place in old forests which are not as drastic as those taking place when an old forest is replaced by a young forest. It is interesting that people rejoice when a new baby is born and is growing up, but are not happy when a new forest is born which foresters endeavour to make even better than the old one. An old proverb says "the world belongs to the young". It is only logical that the same applies to forests. New forests will provide multiple benefits for new generations. Just imagine what it would be like of all present-day forests were two or more hundred years old (as is the completely protected forest of Prašnik, where very few old pedunculate oak trees are left, while younger hornbeam trees predominate below them, which in fact leads to the disappearance of the principal tree species). We would have forests full of diseased, useless trees. The wood industry would remain without the raw material for their work, and people would consequently be left without employment in the wood industry or without numerous wood products. Another essential fact in the light of climate change is that the largest carbon sinks are created in forests younger than 140 years, after which carbon input decreases. Another question to ask is why general concern about Croatian forests focuses only on state forests, while private forest owned by small forest owners, who make up one fourth of the overall forest complex, are the scene of all those actions that mimic the condition deplored by the Associations mentioned earlier. The age structure of the owners, unsolved property and legal relations, neglected and out-of-date cadastres and land registers, fragmented property, as well as inadequate legal solutions and the lack of organized guard service largely contribute to such a state. The development of technology has provided various benefits and advantages to modern-day life, but also a number of disadvantages. Fast transfer of information has made it possible to gain an insight into different activities and professions, which has in turn created a false idea among people that they understand how all spheres of life function. Thus, many visitors to forests have become forestry experts and have been given an opportunity to express their views on the matter in the media. What is worse, such "experts" are believed more than the professionals who have been educated in the profession and have acquired experience through practice. Off-the-cuff and easily made accusations take the headlines and become the accepted truth, do denials are completely ignored and go unnoticed. Who is responsible for giving the public accurate and truthful information? There are individuals in every profession who do not work well or who make wrong moves, but this does not mean that generalisations can be made and conclusions passed on the basis of those few. Regrettably, today's prevailing negativist journalism creates the conditions of distrust in any activity or profession, which is certainly not good and may become even worse in the future. A young forest that will soon mature and become visible even to a non-forester's eye, both on the frequently criticized Sljeme felling sites and all over Our Beautiful Homeland, will prove that the forestry profession exists and does its job thoroughly and successfully. In essence, this is the most important thing in the whole story. Such young and tended forests take up large areas, but are not recognized by a non-expert eye.Editorial Board

U studiji se, nasuprot uvriježenim mišljenjima, dokazuje da su blokovi sjevernog dijela Dioklecijanove palače bili izvorno projektirani i izvedeni za potrebe gineceja kojemu se u Notitia Dignitatum spominje nadstojnik (Procurator gynaecii lovensis Dalmatiae -Aspalato). Opskrbljivao ga je akvedukt kapaciteta 1500 1/sec. = 129.600 m3 na dan. Problem obilnog ispiranja riješen je odgovarajucim kanalizacijskim sistemom koji je postojao samo duž ulica sjevernog dijela Palače u kojem su se nalazili pogoni carskih tkaonica. Tehnologija je (uz sustav bazena arheološki uočenih u prizemlju Papalićeve palače) ukljucivala sumporavanje, za što su bili na raspolaganju brojni izvori sumporne vode uz samu Palaču. Čitava građevina savršeno se uklapa u dugački niz tetrarhijskih javnih radova. Bila bi to izvorna, osnovna funkcija građevine u koju se Dioklecijan povukao nakon što je 305. g. bio prisiljen na abdikaciju. ; In scholarly literature, the term "city" was first mentioned by Lj. Karaman, talking of the beginnings of medieval Split in Diocletian's Palace, and then by Andre Grabar in his Martyrium (I: 232-233).2 Noel Duval, in a series of studies he wrote, asks whether Diocletian's residence should be classified as palatium, villa, castrum, urban settlement or some special type of architecture, considering that in comparison with genuine imperial palaces like those in Constantinople, Antioch, Philippopolis and Ravenna, it was wanting a number of "attributes": proposed the term "chateau".3 -5 The term was thoroughly investigated by Slobodan Čurčić, discussing late antique palatine architecture, showing convincingly that the urban character of these residences was undoubted (of Antioch , Nicomedia, Salona, Constantinople, Split) - although the miniature municipal quarters in them had an only slightly more than symbolic significance.6 Diocletian's building in Split really does not have the external look of a Roman imperial villa. In Split, in particular with respect to the two architectural masses in the northern part of the building, we note, its innate anti-landscape character, both the internal and the external disposition of the architectural elements, which is almost inorganically formalised. Not even in the narrow residential area, within which the halls are interconnected only via the "cryptoportico" having no direct contacts with the surrounding landscape, we do not find any of the characteristics that in the nature of things we would expect in a residence in which, it was always considered, the emperor intended to while away his final years. The Split edifice is really primarily an example of fortification. But here too we can be surprised. The sentry patrol corridor should be on the top of the walls and should be protected with a parapet, while here it is on the first floor, perforated with hardly defensible apertures (3 x 2m). The building was clearly primarily motivated by the desire to impress the surroundings, with its emphatic delineation of military presence and power. The Golden and Silver Gates and the great apertures of the sentry corridor on the three sides of the walls onto the mainland must have been walled up before the Byzantine-Gothic wars of the 530s.7 But it would seem that we can understand its form - so very particular that it evades the usual, in some sense fossilized, terminology – only through some new reading of the original meaning and purpose of the building itself. In author's opinion, this is proffered by a very simple question. The aqueduct that brought water into the palace from the source of the river Jadro was, in the design and execution of the imperial architects, undoubtedly related to the construction of his final dwelling place. Although it is a rare specimen of a Roman monument of this kind that is still being used today (reconstructed in 1878), in the literature and in research it has been almost entirely neglected, and has certainly never been interpreted in the original context. The aqueduct provided 1500 l/ sec. (129.600 m3 a day), which in terms of our standards would be enough for a population of 173,000. 8,9 The sheer amount of water inevitably leads to the question of what it was meant for, because it far exceeded the needs of the relatively modest bath complexes in the Palace. The answer might be hidden in an almost neglected item of information from Notitia Dignitatum OC XI 48 (ed. 0 . Seeck, 150) where there is a mention of the Procurator genaecii Iovensis Dalmatiae - Aspalato- warden of the imperial weaving shop for the production of woollen clothing for the army that worked in Split, under the title of Jupiter. So far it has always been thought, on the rare occasions when this fact has been mentioned at all (and then only by-the-bye) that this gynaeceum was only after Diocletian's death "inscribed" into the Palace, which was for the whole of the 5th century a kind of pensiopolis of dethroned emperors or pretenders to the throne. It has been considered that the northern part of the Palace was reserved for the Imperial Guard, for stables and the like. 10,11 Notitia Dignitatum, a long list of all the senior offices in the Empire, civilian and military, is certainly of a composite character. The basic text was created probably in about 408 (in partibus Occidentis changes were recorded up to 420), but it conceals a lot of information about the periods before the revision of the basic copy, mirroring the order that Diocletian had brought into the state, which certainly relates to the Split gynaeceum, which alone of the 14 such complexes located in the most important cities of the empire bears the characteristic predicate Iovense: it must in itself constitute a terminus post quem non to do with the origin of the factory of military uniforms of wool in the building in Split. 12,13,15 Although the gynaecea were never mentioned in the context of Diocletian's reforms, it is generally accepted that they were created at the time of the first Tetrarchy. The concentration of the labour force, the range of specialised jobs, the degree of organisation and their connection with urban centres makes them, in the judgement of historians, the closest to the modern industrial factory. State factories (fabricae) were set up in the late Empire to eliminate or at least to alleviate the difficulties concerning the supply of the state and the army with certain products. It was necessary to clothe the approximately half a million soldiers that Diocletian 's army reforms had raised, as well as no small number of clerks. Archaeology, however, has never made any direct contribution to the understanding of their internal organisation, except in the case of the otherwise well documented gynaeceum in Carthage, which lay in the heart of the city, on the edge of the celebrated Circular Harbour. 16,17 The state operated, through the comes sacrarum largitionum, a number of weaving mills, both for woolen and linen fabrics, and dyeworks 18 The Split gynaeceum should have probably been in some kind of complementary relationship with the gynaeceum moved to Salona, perhaps for security reasons, from Bassiana (Donji Petrovci, Pannonia Inferior) also noted by Notitia Dignitatum, XI, 46 (Procurator gynaecii Bassanensis Pannoniae Secundae translati Salonis). In Salona, thus, there was a large cloth dyeworks (In Not. dign. the Procurator bafii Salonitani Dalmatiae was also mentioned) and weaving mill. At Five Bridges in Salona artisan workshops were actually found, probably a dyer's workshop, and fulling mills for cloth and the dyeing of cloth. Also to be seen is the reservoir from which the water to drive the mills ran, and a building for the habitation of the workers. 19 In one inscription in Salona, a magister conquilarius is mentioned (CIL III 2115 + 8572), clearly the head of the state workshops in which purple was extracted from shellfish, perhaps for the gynaeceum in Aspalathos. 22 Another inscription found in Salona mentions a certain Hilarus, who was the purpurarius, dyer of red garments or, perhaps, negotiator artis purpurae. 23 That the Salona baffeum and the Split gynaeceum were mentioned only in the Notitia Dignitatum, says that their production was a strictly channelled state monopoly, and that the products from them did not make their way to the general market as other goods did. The army was supplied directly, without the agency of merchants. Although not all the technological details of the gynaeceum, the fullonica and the baffeum have been revealed, we can conjure up in the northern half of the Palace an image of the whole system of pools in which the fabrics were washed, softened and finished by being trampled on with bare feet in a solution of potash , fuller's earth, human and animal urine. Here then there was a very large demand for water.28 Garments were rubbed with chalk, and fumigated with sulphur. It is particularly important to remember that the technology included, among other things, sulphur treatment (sulfure sulfire ), for which there were the many springs of sulphurous water alongside the Palace itself, which were used for the washing and bleaching of cloth right up to the first half of the 20th century, by St Francis church on the Shore.29 The problem of copious rinsing was solved by the extraordinarily handled sewage system that existed only along the the cardo and decumanus and the perimeter streets of the northern part of the Palace , in which the mentioned plant was located. Among other things, the extreme western part of the sewer under the decumanus, at the exit from the Palace, has been explored. It passed under the western gate (Porta ferrea), and moved in a gentle arc towards the south-west, finishing some forty metres further in a stone portal (below the kitchen of today's Hotel Central). Thence in an open channel all this water flowed into the bay of the sea, in the immediate vicinity of the grandest corner of the Palace.30 The monumental cross-section of this sewage system corresponds perfectly to the cross-section of the aqueduct. We should underscore the fact that the sewage system was located only along the streets of the northern part of the Palace, while we might expect it to be primarily in the residential southern part, which also shows that it was constructed for the purpose of the production inside the gynaeceum. Unfortunately, there are practically no archaeological records of the small finds from investigations of the northern part of the Split building. But, during excavations of the crossing place of the cardo and decumanus (in order to establish the original level of the street and the Peristyle) M. Suić in 1974 did observe, "a very thick layer of fine sediment of a markedly red colour of non-organic origin", which had been deposited in the cloaca, and which had retained its intensity for centuries. This must prove the existence of fullonica, which must have been located within the gynaeceum.31, 32, 55, 56 Gynaeciarii, like other craftsmen, were associated into corporations or collegia, but were not able to leave their work, being nexu sanguinis ad divinas largitiones perlinenles, which makes the construction of the northern part of the Palace, in which they lived alongside their workshops even more logical. 36 - 4 0 Their patron saint in 5th c. might have been, as I have already speculated, St Martin - patron of soldiers and weavers -to whom the little church in the sentries' walk over the Golden Gate, walled-in very early on, was dedicated. 41 All this also suggests that Christianity was alive in the Palace from day one. Along with the bishop and the praetorians, the weavers were probably that industrial revolutionary guard of the time. It is not at all surprising that a martyr like St. Anastasius - a fullo, the co-patron of Split, should have come precisely from the milieu of the fullers, probably working in the baffeum in Salona. In Split, Diocletian's gynaeceum was probably reliant upon a manufacture that already existed, one linked with the sulphurous water and perhaps on the broom, genisla acanlhoclada, from which a colouring agent for dying the cloth was obtained, and according to which, it is believed, Aspalathos actually obtained its name.43 There was raw material in Dalmatia within reach. Immediately following the Second World War there were about one million sheep in the central hinterland of the Adriatic coast. Delm or Dalm in Old Illyrian means shepherd, herder, flock, and hence Delminium means the place of pasture, and delme- dalme still today in Albanian means sheep.44 - 49 Evidence of the organised weaving industry in Roman Dalmatia can be seen in the form of the weaving industry around Split, which all the way through the Middle Ages and until quite recently was different from that in the other regions. 51 The Gynaeceum iovense might have been special precisely in the fact that this was not a remodelled and expanded production area already in existence, the expropriation of some extant minor complexes (as is assumed to have happened in Carthage), but a green field project, an exemplarily constructed industrial unit. And for this reason, of all such establishments, it was the only one to have such a flowery dedication and name. At the end one should also draw attention to an almost neglected reference concerning the palace, that is, the first description of it, uttered by the most authoritative mouth of all. In the Oralio ad Sanclorum coelum which he delivered in Antioch in 325, Emperor Constantine said that the colossal pile of the palace was a "loathed dwelling" in which the Emperor Diocletian shut himself up after this abdication: "After the massacre in the persecutions, after he had condemned himself by depriving himself of power, as a man of no utility, acknowledging the damage he had done with his imprudence, he remained hidden in his really contemptible dwelling place". 61 This surprising statement of Constantine might be an allusion to the fact that Diocletian had to spend his last days in a building that in spite of all the sumptuousness of its centre and the residential quarters looking onto the sea- must also have had the features of a military factory, to which the form of the castrum must have been in all respects much more suitable than to a charming imperial residence. The whole of the building fits perfectly in with the long series of tetrarchic public works. It is important to stress the autonomy of the cardo and the decumanus (12 metres broad) with their own lastricatus and their own porticatus, independent of the blocks that they hid. I would even say that the form of the castrum is more logical for a gynaeceum than it is for a palace. What should be actually highlighted is the surprising pragmatism, as well as the great social focus of the lllyrian emperors, who really did want to renew the "fervent patriotism and iron duty in the evil days" (Syme). Probus in Egypt worked on an important improvement of the navigation of the Nile; temples, bridges, porticoes, palaces, all were put up by the army. Galerius himself was a devotee of public works, and undertook an operation worth of a monarch, says Gibbon, diverting the excess of water from Lake Pelso (Balaton) to the Danube, at the border with Noricum. He had the endless woods all around cleared, and gave the whole reclaimed area between the Drava and the Danube to his Panonian subjects to be cultivated, naming it Valeria after his wife. 65, 66 Most of the buildings that Diocletian put up were of a utilitarian purpose, such as mints and the factories that Lactantius mentions, or border forts, roads and bridges. Dozens of extant inscriptions tell us of the dedications of new and restored temples, aqueducts, nymphea and public buildings - "vetustatu con lapsum" or "Ionge incuria neglectum"- dilapidated from age and long neglect. 67 According to Lactantius's writing, Diocletian had an infinitam cupiditatem aedificandi, an infinite desire to build. 68 Today we are apt to count mostly the imperial palaces in connection with this statement, and to forget the whole framework of comprehensive public works that were undertaken during the first tetrarchy. Twenty years of relaxation from civil wars and barbarian invasions, and the gradual suppression of local unrest, led to the renovation of the prosperity in cities all round the Empire, hence the major number of public dedications, the revival of overall construction activity. The Tetrarchan New Deal - with Diocletian as the Roosevelt of the ancient world - is often understood in a formalist way, as a series of legislative and political attempts to halt inflation, overlooking exploits like Galerius's round Balaton, or this one in Split. The construction of the Split Palace, then, no kind of imperial Xanadu, as it is often held to be, justified its investment. More than that: its existence enabled antiquity in Dalmatia, even after the 7th century catastrophe, not to be extinguished with a sudden death, but over long centuries to be merged into the modern age, remaining until this day a lesson in and criterion for every creative architectural operation into the tissue of the city, which developed organically within the precise, almost dry geometry of the Emperor's palace-cumfactory. * The article was published in English, in: Das Imperium zwischen Zentralisierung und Regionalisierung: Palaste- Regionen- Volker (ed. A. Demand, A. Goltz und H. Schlange-Schoningen), Berlin - New York 2004: 141-162.