.City of Split, within its rich artistic heritage preserves the artistic wood-carvings, as one of the outstanding and most representative segments of fine arts, which has attained its culmination at the very beginning of its appearance.Therefore the development of the wood-carving in Split has to be perceived inversely, within the development of the society in the respective historical context.From the period of the autonomous commune and from the economic and demographic development that have reached their heights in the 13th and 14th centuries onwards, all until the interruption of "the natural growth of the City" which prevailed from the 15th to 18th century, the achievements and strivings in the artistic wood-carving have managed to survive, like the powerful offsprings of the old tradition.The carved wooden doors of the cathedral of Split, the masterpiece of the first Croatian sculptor and painter, have become, as noticed by Maks Dvoržak, the Viennese art historian "not only the unique example as the object and the art, but also one of the most important documents, witnessing the history of the medieval sculpture".
Really, such an artist and his magnificent work of art, could have emerged only from the richness of the local surrounding and from the strong individuality in the beginning of the 13th century in Split, before the new impulses, originating from the new geo strategic relationships, have managed to find their way and exert their influence.
The doors of the cathedral of Split, carved in twenty-eight panels presenting the themes from the life of Christ, initially golden plated, structured in conformity with the rules of the iconographic topography of the time and placed on the facade of the entrance of the former emperor Diocletian's mausoleum, have become the synonym for the magnificent entrance into the cathedral of Split, which was inhabited by the metropolitan of Split and the primus of the whole Croatia.
The cathedral choir stalls belong to the golden age of the wood-carving in Split, in the midst of the 13th century. Seven long horizontal layers multiply the wood-carving and turning skills of the unknown, local master, who conforming to the requests of the time and the new liturgy, models the choir stalls, particularly positioning on them the images of Split patrons, St Domnio and St Anastasius , and the co-patrons St Kuzma and Damien, martyrs from the emperor Diocletian's time.
Their placement in the cathedral of Split has satisfied the iconographic pattern as the factor of modelling and communication of the devout Split populace.

The duality of taste and expression has been the typical feature of the late middle-aged wood-carving in Split. These modifications are resulting from the strong, conquering feudal conflicts, crusades and gnostic-manichaeustic conflicts. The appreciation is to be given to the new religious orders of the Franciscan and Dominican friars, whose founders developed the cult of Christ's wounds, rich with the powerful communication impact, prevailing particularly the theme of Christ's passion and the state of dying and suffering on the cross.
The outstanding masterpieces of the wood-carving originating from the subject period are related to the images of the crucifix, that are going to determine the further development of this theme and its message in Split. The end of the 14th century and the beginning of the 15th century is not merely the termination of the middle-aged period, it's in the same time the search and accumulation of new experiences for the new achievements.The works of Juraj Petrović present the new individualised masterpieces of the wood-carving, that emerged within the Split area in the midst of the 15th century.
His rich and fruitful works covered the South Croatian coast. The features of the Renaissance style of the crosses and the Saints' images, created by Petrović, have become close and real in the life of new contemporary people.The wars that were led for the interests of others have economically and demographically ruined the City, so that it faced difficulties in fighting with the demanding time of the 17th and 18th century. The high achievements of the baroque expression reached from the very core of the Venetian Republic, but the self-denying friar, wood-carver Fulgencije Bakotić was that last, local offspring of the strong medieval tradition in the artistic wood-carving in Split. The pathetic was emphasised by his partly rustic crosses, which are the best indication of the inner strivings and the possibilities that such an enslaved community could have offered.
These offsprings of the wood-carving tradition in Split belong to the series of the outstanding individuals who have with their work accumulated, expressed and radiated all the characteristics of the time, so that those numerous unknown masters, whose moderate work was not appreciated in the realm of the Split area, became equally valuable in their contribution to the creation of the wood-carving patrimony, indeed more in an ethical than in an esthetical sense.The foreign share of the artistic wood-carving in Split has no less value.
With the attribution of the secular furniture to the particularities of that heritage, considering its unique style features it somehow belongs to the modern culture of living in one provincial City, which is equal with the one in the cities of the "Queen of the Adriatic".
Vjekoslava Sokol