The temple of Jupiter or Baptistery of John the Baptist is one of the original buildings inside the Roman Palace built by the emperor Diocletian between the 3rd and the 4th century AD. The emperor was infatuated with eastern beliefs, and he proclaimed himself the living son of Jupiter so he built a temple for his ''father'' inside his palace. Originally there were two other temples standing in front of the temple of Jupiter, one dedicated to Venus and the other dedicated to Cybelle, two goddesses that the emperor worshiped as well.

Our dear tourists, you should definitely visit the temple of Jupiter during your vacations in Split, at least from the outside where you can see a headless sphinx standing in front of the entrance and the entrance itself which is nicely decorated with original roman decorations influenced by eastern antique decorations. Next to the temple you can find the tightest ally in the world, the so called 'Let me pass trough' ally. You should definitely pass trough it!
For a small fee you can enter the temple. After Diocletian, it became a christian religious baptistery so inside you will see the stone baptistery inscripted with images of Croatian kings and other symbols representing Croatian historical symbols and religious motives. There is also a piece of artwork of Ivan Meštrović, our great worldwide known sculptor, a wooden sculpture of John the Baptist to whom the baptistery/ex temple is dedicated to.