Page 140 - Studia Universitatis Hereditati, vol 11(2) (2023)

the end of World War I, on 26 December 1918, dentist hero. During the event, the destroyer’s
when a committee was set up under the leader- crew received a battle flag as a tribute from the
ship of Captain Biagio Cobolo. On 7 January town. On the fifteenth anniversary, 10 August
1919, a call for tenders was issued for the erection 1931, Minister Siriani gave a solemn speech . It
4
of a monument to Nazario Sauro (Derin 2002). was not until 1932 that Mussolini approved the
Seven years later, on 10 August 1926, a ceremony formation of a special Committee for the erec-
was held in Koper to mark the symbolic laying of tion of a monument to Nazario Sauro in Kop-
the foundation stone, with a speech by Giovan- er, within the framework of the Commission for
ni Giuriati, then Minister of Public Works of the National Monuments in Honour of Cesare Bat-
Kingdom of Italy and formerly President of the tisti and Nazario Sauro. The Committee con-
Free State of Fiume. In the same year, a competi- sisted of General Vittorio Zupelli as chairman,
tion was held for Italian artists to come up with Senator Francesco Salata, lawyer Nino de Petris
140 a design for the monument. The members of the (Commisario prefettizio) for the municipality of
jury included Leonardo Bistolfi, Cipriano Efisio Koper as member (Cherini 1990), Command-
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Oppo, Francesco Salata and a few prominent lo- er Daponte from the Government Cabinet (Ga- ti
studia universitatis hereditati, letnik 11 (2023), številka 2 / volume 11 (2023), number 2
cal political figures. Out of 34 sculptors and ar- binetto Presidenza del Consiglio dei Ministri) as
chitects, the first prize was awarded to the archi- member, and the sculptor Selva and the archi-
tect Enrico Del Debbio and the sculptor Attilio tect Del Debbio as competition winners. At its
Selvi from Trieste. The second prize went to the second meeting on 16 January 1933, the Com- ta
architect Umberto Piazzo and the sculptor Rob- mittee discussed the final terms of the contract
erto Terracini from Turin, and the third prize for the construction of the memorial in Koper .
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was given to the sculptor Adolare Plimieri from Following a request from the Ministry of Pub-
Trieste. The winning project was based on tri- lic Works, Article 4 of the contract authorised
angular geometric shapes that allowed the pris- civil engineers from Pula to manage the tech- di
matic volumes to support a column on which the nical aspects of the works. The latter were also
symbolic figure of Istria was placed. The work, authorised to settle the financial accounts for
which the jury judged to be ‘particularly origi- the works, including payment for the artwork,
nal’, underwent a few more changes before it was which had a fixed price. Just how much impor-
7
realised. The modifications were mainly the re- tance was ascribed to the monument’s final ap-
sult of new construction concepts connected pearance is evident in Article 10 of the contract,
with a change of location. It was envisaged that which stipulated that the approval of the high- here
the monument would stand closer to the sea and est authority in the country, the Prime Minis-
would be oriented towards the peninsula Debeli ter, was required for artistic corrections during
Rtič (Punta Grossa) to the north and so towards the construction phase. Any request was to be
Trieste (Neri 2006, 352). Although the founda- addressed to the Monuments Committee. Re-
tion stone was laid in 1926, followed by the com- garding the suitability of artistic creations, the
petition, the actual beginning of construction
was postponed for almost a decade, presuma- 4 PAK, 7, 510, Fond Mestne občine Koper.
bly due to the economic crisis at the end of the 5 On 13 October 1934, Nino Derin was appointed the new
Podestà of Koper.
1920s and the beginning of the 1930s (Faveri 6 The engineers from Pula were also obliged to comply with
2010). Commemorative ceremonies were nev- Article 12 of the contract, which provided for the super-
ertheless regularly held on an annual basis. For vision of both the amount and quality of the materials
and the execution of the works, and the engineers were re-
example, on Saturday 7 July 1928 the ceremo- quired to supervise the completion of the individual works studiauniversitatis
ny in commemoration of Nazario Sauro took and to make payments to the subcontractors accordingly.
place in the presence of a destroyer of the Roy- 7 Interestingly, Francesco Salata used the foreign term ‘for-
fait’ to emphasise the unchanging cost of an artwork.
al Italian Navy, which was named after the irre- (PAK, 7, 510, Fond Mestne občine Koper).