In this guide
💡 The Short Version: The Archaeological Museum at Zrinsko-Frankopanska 25 holds finds from Salona, the Roman capital of Dalmatia. It is closed to visitors from 9 November to 11 December 2026 while a new exhibition is installed, and the new exhibition opens on 11 December 2026 (museum notice). After that an adult ticket is €8, and a combined ticket with Salona is €10 for seven days (museum price list). The museum is open Monday to Friday 09:00 to 14:00 and 15:00 to 20:00, and Saturday mornings, from October to May, and closed on Sundays (hours). Salona itself stays open during the closure, and is covered on the Klis Fortress and Salona page. Or book a tour: Split: Diocletian’s Palace, Salona, and Klis Fortress - 6had (from €60, 4.8 stars from 32 reviews) puts a guide and transport at Salona, which is the site most of the museum’s stone came from.
⚠️ Closed from 9 November to 11 December 2026. The museum’s own notice gives these dates for the closure while the new exhibition is installed. Salona, the site the finds came from, remains open on its regular hours. When the museum reopens it is closed on Sundays and holidays, and it shuts for an hour at 14:00.
Tickets
These prices apply from 7 January 2026 (museum price list).
| Ticket | Price |
|---|---|
| Adult | €8 |
| Children, pupils, students, pensioners | €4 |
| Family (parents with minor children, up to 2 adults) | €15 |
| Salona and museum combined, adult (valid 7 days) | €10 |
| Salona and museum combined, child (valid 7 days) | €5 |
Children up to 6 go in free, and people with disabilities enter free. The student and pensioner rate needs a document issued in Croatia. Split Card holders get 50% off single tickets, and the discounts do not stack. The museum adds 50% to the price for a visit outside opening hours and 100% on public holidays.
Guided visits are charged per group of up to 30 people: €50 for an “informer” guide or €90 for a curator at the museum, and €70 or €120 at Salona.
Opening hours
| Period | Days | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| 1 October to 31 May | Monday to Friday | 09:00 to 14:00 and 15:00 to 20:00 |
| 1 October to 31 May | Saturday | 09:00 to 14:00 |
| 1 June to 30 September | Monday to Saturday | 09:00 to 14:00 and 15:00 to 20:00 |
The museum is closed on Sundays and holidays (armus.hr). Salona, at Manastirine in Solin, is open daily from 09:00 to 20:00 between 1 June and 30 September and from 09:00 to 18:00 between 1 October and 31 May, and is closed on holidays.
Getting there
The museum says it is a few minutes’ walk from the Park Emanuela Vidovića stop on bus line 8 and from the Stadion Poljud stop on line 17. For Salona it names the Hotel Salona Palace stop on line 1, also a few minutes’ walk (how to get there). The getting around Split guide has the bus fares.
The Archaeological Museum. Photo: Bernard Gagnon, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Tours and Salona
A tour is useful at Salona and the palace, where the finds make sense in place, and when you want the transport arranged. Salona is in Solin, outside the city.
Palace, Salona and Klis in one trip
From €60 · 4.8 stars from 32 reviews · 4 to 6 hours · pickup available · free cancellation
Split: Diocletian’s Palace, Salona, and Klis Fortress - 6had: a half-day trip with a private option and pickup, bookable 90 minutes ahead. It puts the palace, the Roman city that supplied it and the fortress on one itinerary.
Salona and Klis day trip with lunch
From €75 · 5 stars from 8 reviews · 7 hours · small group · pickup available · free cancellation
Salona and Klis Fortress Day Trip with Lunchad: a small-group day trip with pickup, booked at least 10 hours ahead.
Palace and Old Town walk
From €15 · 4.9 stars from 5,865 reviews · 1.5 to 5 hours · private option available
Diocletian’s Palace - Split Old Town Guided SMALL GROUP Tourad: a guided walk of the palace above ground. The sphinxes that match the museum’s are on the Peristyle, at the Temple of Jupiter and in the palace.
Official ticket or tour: the prices side by side
A GetYourGuide “from” price is the cheapest option in the product.
| What you want | Official | On GetYourGuide |
|---|---|---|
| The museum alone | €8 (armus.hr) | Buy at the museum |
| Museum and Salona over 7 days | €10 combined | Not offered |
| A guide for Salona and the palace with transport | Group guide at Salona €70 per group | Palace, Salona and Klis tour from €60 per person |
What is inside
The museum was founded on 22 August 1820, after Emperor Francis I visited Split on 12 May 1818, admired the remains of Diocletian’s Palace and toured the Roman monuments at Solin. The present building went up from March 1912 to June 1914, and the stone monuments stand in its garden and portico (museum history). The museum began excavating Salona in October 1821, and its collections run from prehistory and the Greek colonies to the early Middle Ages.
- The Good Shepherd sarcophagus: from Salona and dated to the start of the 4th century, with Christ in the central panel as the Good Shepherd.
- The sarcophagus of the Israelites crossing the Red Sea: from the second half of the 4th century. It stood in the Monastery of St Francis in Split from the 14th to the early 20th century and held the relics of St Felix.
- The relief of Tyche of Salona: the personification of the city, set in the arch of the city gate as a symbol of prosperity.
- The inscriptions: the epigraphic collection holds more than 6,000, which the museum says makes it one of the largest of its kind in Europe. Most are in Latin and most come from Salona.
- A sphinx: one of the sphinxes Diocletian had brought to the palace belonged to the pharaoh Amenhotep III and was made around 1400 BC, according to the cartouches on it. It is shown in the museum, and others are on the Peristyle and at the Temple of Jupiter (Late Antique collection).
The relief of Tyche of Salona. Photo: Bernard Gagnon, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.
The Good Shepherd sarcophagus. Photo: Giovanni Dall’Orto, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.5 it.
The Red Sea sarcophagus. Photo: Giovanni Dall’Orto, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.5 it.
The oldest collection
The epigraphic collection is the oldest in the museum, and it begins with inscriptions gathered before the museum existed. The Split nobleman Dmine Papalić and his friend Marko Marulić, whom the museum calls the father of Croatian literature, found the first of them among the ruins of Salona around 1500 and built them into the courtyard of Papalić’s palace. Marulić listed them in the first catalogue of the Salona inscriptions (Epigraphic collection). The Papalić Palace is now the home of the Split City Museum, and the cellars ticket page lists its prices.
Salona
Salona was the capital of the Roman province of Dalmatia. The road from the Golden Gate of the palace led to it (Split Tourist Board). The combined ticket covers the museum and the site for seven days. Salona’s Tusculum, the villa Don Frane Bulić built in 1898 for fieldwork, is now an annexe of the museum (museum history).
What to see next
- Klis Fortress and Salona day trip: the ruins the museum’s finds came from.
- Diocletian’s Palace guide: the palace the Roman road from Salona led to.
- Temple of Jupiter and baptistery: the sphinx at the temple door.
- Split cathedral and bell tower: St Domnius, who was executed at Solin.
- Ivan Meštrović Gallery: the other main museum, closed on Mondays.
- Free things to do in Split: what costs nothing in the old town.
Common questions
Is the Archaeological Museum in Split open?
The museum's visitor notice says it is closed to visitors from 9 November to 11 December 2026 while a new exhibition is installed, and that the new exhibition opens on 11 December 2026. The Salona site stays open during its regular hours.
How much are tickets to the Archaeological Museum?
€8 for adults and €4 for children, pupils, students and pensioners (the discounted rate for students and pensioners needs a document issued in Croatia). A family ticket is €15, and a combined ticket with Salona is €10 for adults and €5 for children, valid for 7 days. Children up to 6 go in free. These prices apply from 7 January 2026 (armus.hr).
What are the opening hours?
From 1 October to 31 May, Monday to Friday 09:00 to 14:00 and 15:00 to 20:00, and Saturday 09:00 to 14:00. From 1 June to 30 September, Monday to Saturday 09:00 to 14:00 and 15:00 to 20:00. It is closed on Sundays and holidays.
Where is the museum and how do I get there?
At Zrinsko-Frankopanska 25. The museum says it is a few minutes' walk from the Park Emanuela Vidovića stop on bus line 8 and the Stadion Poljud stop on bus line 17.
How old is the museum?
It was founded on 22 August 1820, after Emperor Francis I visited Split in 1818. Until the Ethnographic Museum opened in 1910 it was the only museum or gallery in Split, and the present building was built between 1912 and 1914.
What is the lapidarium?
The museum's garden and portico of stone monuments, where Roman gravestones, altars, inscriptions and sarcophagi from Salona are shown.
