Early middle ages in Europe is characterised by the apperance of the pre-romanique. Pre-romanique is a name for a type of art, and the best examples for its characteristics are found in Church architecture. Pre-romanesque period in Croatia is a time when the Kingdom of Croatia started to form, so it is not unusual to use the name Croatian early middle ages art. Preromanique occurs in from the end of the 7th century, and lasts until the 11th century, when it is replaced by romanesque period. Some of the characteristics of the pre-romanesque art continues in the 12th century. Plenty of different influences occurs in that period and the traces of them can be seen in architecture and numerous archaeological findings. Strongest influences came from Byzantine empire and Carolingian empire. Elements of Roman and Early Christian architecture can also be found in this period. Authenticity, which incluedes local artisans and architects, alos played an important part in forming pre-romanesque art. The area of Split and whole Dalmatia is rich in architectonical remains of preromanesque period. Special typology was made for organizing these buildings in appropriate groups. Buildings from the Roman and Early Crhistian period, which were continued to be used in pre-romanesque period, can be assigned to the first group. Contrary to them, there are plenty churches which were newly builded in pre-romaneske period. Considering their layout, they can be divided in two grups, churches of the longitudinal type and churches of the central type. Churches of the central type can have circural or rectangular layout. They also have a dome above central area of the chruch and they can have different number of conchas and apses. Churches of the longitudinal type have rectangular layout, with one, two or three naves and one or three apses. Pre-romanesque churches can be grouped according to the period in which they were build. In this group there are three types of churches, churches of pre-carolingian, carolingian and post-carolingian period. In pre-romanesque period of Dalmatia the occurance of westwerk has a great importance, but its function and attribution to some churches of Dalmatia is not completely clear yet.