Story
The story of Praetorian Palace
A town hall stood on this spot as early as 1254, even before the square itself was laid out. Its successors had a turbulent start: a new building begun after the great revolt of 1348 was destroyed, still unfinished, in 1380, when a Genoese raid sacked and burned the city. The palace you see now was begun in 1452-1453, built over two older houses.
In 1481 Giovanni Vitturi replaced its pointed Gothic windows with rounded Renaissance ones. Look for the statue of Justice at the centre of the crenellated facade, surrounded by coats of arms and inscriptions. Here sat the podestà, who held both civil and military power, the captains and the Great Council of Koper's nobility.
When the Venetian Republic fell to Napoleon in 1797, the palace lost its importance and slowly decayed. After a thorough renovation between 1991 and 2001, it became the town hall once again: the mayor and the municipal council moved in, in May 2001.
This story is compiled from Wikipedia and other open sources; dates and numbers are checked against the source. The text is shared under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence. Source ↗
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More highlights in Koper
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