When one speaks about architecture in Split, first and second thought is always city's Roman and medieval heritage. Visitors concentrate on the historical core, amazed with continuity of life 17 centuries long. But there is more. New York Museum of Modern Art recently exhibited some of the highlights of post-WW2 architecture in former Yugoslavia, and Split has its place in it, with some of its finest modern age structures. Among hundreds of exhibits on "Toward a Concrete Utopia" exhibition, visitors can see two modernism jewels, HNK Hajduk stadium at Poljud built in 1979, and 1970's residential project Split 3. These two highly appreciated and awarded projects should be visited by any modern architecture aficionado. They witness that Split, no matter how spectacular its heritage is, is a city which lives on. Therefore, don't miss to tour Split beyond ancient history, and see why MoMA's curators were so thrilled with these works.

Poljud Stadium, home of HNK Hajduk football club, was superbly designed by architect Boris Magaš in 1979, and at the time of its construction it was a miracle of modern engineering with its shell-like floating construction. Along with the nearby water sports complex it was the central object built for 1979 Mediterranean Games, when Split experienced one of its biggest investment waves ever. Ever since, it's one of the most visible symbols of Split, not only because of its sport dimension, but also as a place where many other events take place, among others Ultra Europe. But beyond everything else, it's a genuine architectural masterpiece. If you didn't know, there are guided tours of the stadium.

Even more visible, for all those coming to Split from direction of Dubrovnik, is Split 3. This vast, planned residential complex, combined of high rises, lower buildings, pedestrians zones and all needed facilities, was meant to accommodate 50,000 people. This settlement, more than a neighbourhood, is a kind of monument to times of explosive growth of Split, when communist government needed living space for people coming to Split for work. After late-1960's tender, project made by team from Slovenia was chosen, and in large parts built. Some of the most prominent Croatian architects participated with their projects of streets and buildings, which were meant to imitate life in some old town neighbourhoods, with large traffic free zones, squares as meeting points, etc. Recently, University of Split campus was built there, as even more modern extension of the original project. In some cases new streets followed ancient land division, and if you look at the city map, it's easy to see that one of central streets, Rudjera Boskovica street, follows direction of Roman Cardo, north-south street in the Diocletian's Palace. To visit Split 3, take a walk from the city centre, it takes about 20-30 minutes to reach it, and you will be able to see some other communist era modernist neighbourhoods. Or, take any bus going eastbound and get off it close to the city hospital.