Page 144 - Studia Universitatis Hereditati, vol 11(2) (2023)

17
and the aforementioned Monument Conser- day’s Ukmarjev trg). At the beginning of April
vation Department also organised the restora- 1935, the architect Forlati also inspected the so-
tion of the Carpaccio House. Some sacral build- called ‘Venetian House’, then owned by Arturo
ings were also renovated – in the Romanesque Steffè. The conservation department spent 2,500
rotunda of St. John the Baptist, now the Chap- lire restoring the windows on the house. Steffè
el of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, the munici- received a letter from the government indicat-
pality financed the demolition of the old sac- ing that the typical 14th-century Venetian-style
risty and the erection of a new altar. The chapel building was the subject of a sale between him
known as the Santissima del Duomo was also re- and the son of Nazario Sauro for a price of 4,000
stored. The idea of asphalting the nearby main lire. Ultimately, the sale did not go through be-
square (today’s Tito Square) was quickly aban- cause the future owner wanted to use the ground
floor for a mechanic’s workshop. The building
144 doned so as not to destroy the ‘typical Italian was unsuitable and most of it would have had
square’, as the architect Ferdinando Forlati, head
of the Royal Monument Conservation Depart- to be demolished. This did not make sense due
studia universitatis hereditati, letnik 11 (2023), številka 2 / volume 11 (2023), number 2
to its historical value and the cost of demolition.
ment in Trieste, described it at the time. Some Forlati also ruled out the possibility of the build- ti
minor works were also carried out in the Log- ing being bought by the Monument Conser-
gia Café (removal of the glazing on the Gothic vation Department from Trieste. However, he
vaults and restoration of the ceiling in the interi- wanted to emphasise the ‘Venetianness’ of Kop- ta
or). In addition, the façades of important build- er in a different way. At the end of April 1935, he
ings that were most visible at the inauguration proposed that the statue of the Venetian winged
of the Nazario Sauro monument were repaint- lion be moved from the Libertas Rowing Club
ed. Forlati also issued clear instructions that the to the façade of the salt warehouse because he
Isola Codex of Dante’s Divine Comedy should thought it did not serve the right ‘purpose’ on di
be presented in the Museum of History and Art the sports club building. He justified his pro-
ahead of the ceremony and had the ‘less relevant posal on the grounds that the statue had recent-
16
literary works’ removed from the shelves . ly been placed on the external wall of the Kop-
However, things began to get complicated er sports club and that relocating it again would
two months before the ceremony. Forlati wrote not cause any major inconvenience. Nino Derin,
a letter directly asking the Prefecture of Koper the new podestà of Koper, was of the same mind here
whether they preferred to discuss things rath- and wanted to emphasise Koper’s ‘Venetian as-
er than working. The available documentation pect’ with a Venetian flag measuring 2 x 3.5 m,
shows that the municipality’s ownership of the which the municipality of Koper had ordered
salt warehouse, and consequently the planned from the Venetian section of the National Veter-
ans’ Association of Military Volunteers 1915-1918
construction works, would not be resolved by (Azzurri di Dalmazia) .
18
the date of the monument’s inauguration. Nei- From a broader perspective, the ‘urban re-
ther was there any progress in the renovation of newal’ of Italian cities at the time coincided
Carpaccio House and the Loggia. The surviv-
ing sources also show that despite delays in the 17 Forlati referred to Planning Law No 778 of June 1922 and
demanded that the ‘unsuitable buildings’ be removed be-
main construction works, minor ‘aesthetic’ im- fore the monument’s inauguration. In his view, this would
provements in the town continued to be made, restore the square’s ancient beauty and make the whole
area ‘worthy’ of a monument to a fallen hero of Koper. For-
such as the removal of the modest wooden build- lati should be credited with evaluating and protecting the studiauniversitatis
ings in the square named after Vittor Pisani (to- town’s anonymous architecture (Čebron Lipovec 2020,
249–158).
16 PAK, 7, 510 Spomenik Nazario Sauro, Fond Mestne 18 PAK, 7, 510 Spomenik Nazario Sauro, Fond Mestne
občine Koper. občine Koper.