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St. Martin's Church was built into a small space (an early guardhouse) within the ancient Golden Gate of Diocletian's northern wall. One of the oldest churchs in the city, Today St. Martin's Church is one of Split's tourist attractions and known for its fine 11th centery chancel screen. It is currently in the care of the Dominican sisters, who have a monastery next door. The church itself is open to the public to visit.
Church central area divided into two parts altar screen, made of marble and covered in vines, grape vines and griffon; on the space with an altar that was intended for the clergy and boat that was intended for laymen. On the altar wall of the altar, the only preserved in situ in Dalmatia, there is an inscription with the dedication of the Virgin Mary, St. Gregory the Pope and Blessed Martin.
The pre-Romanesque stage, probably built in the 9th century, belongs to the barrel vault, an altar in the apse with a carved cross of early Christian denominations and a small trance, set in the middle of large, buried antique openings on the southern wall. The later pre-Romanesque stage of the 11th century belongs to the altarpiece and the bell tower, which was later destroyed.
References:Dating from the 15th century, Kisimul is the only significant surviving medieval castle in the Outer Hebrides. It was the residence of the chief of the Macneils of Barra, who claimed descent from the legendary Niall of the Nine Hostages. Tradition tells of the Macneils settling in Barra in the 11th century, but it was only in 1427 that Gilleonan Macneil comes on record as the first lord. He probably built the castle that dominates the rocky islet, and in its shadow a crew house for his personal galley and crew. The sea coursed through Macneil veins, and a descendant, Ruari ‘the Turbulent’, was arrested for piracy of an English ship during King James VI’s reign in the later 16th century.
Heavy debts eventually forced the Macneil chiefs to sell Barra in 1838. However, a descendant, Robert Lister Macneil, the 45th Chief, repurchased the estate in 1937, and set about restoring his ancestral seat. It passed into Historic Scotland’s care in 2000.
The castle dates essentially from the 15th century. It takes the form of a three-storey tower house. This formed the residence of the clan chief. An associated curtain wall fringed the small rock on which the castle stood, and enclosed a small courtyard in which there are ancillary buildings. These comprised a feasting hall, a chapel, a tanist’s house and a watchman’s house. Most were restored in the 20th century, the tanist’s house serving as the family home of the Macneils. A well near the postern gate is fed with fresh water from an underground seam. Outside the curtain wall, beside the original landing-place, are the foundations of the crew house, where the sailors manning their chief’s galley had their quarters.