Praetorian Palace
Venetian Gothic town hall on Tito Square, Koper's civic seat since the Venetian period.
The Praetorian Palace closes the southern side of Tito Square, the main square of Koper's old town. A building stood here in the thirteenth century, and the palace took its present shape in the middle of the fifteenth, when two earlier tower houses were joined behind a single crenellated front. It served as the residence and offices of the podestà, the Venetian governor of Capodistria, and it has remained the seat of the town government ever since.
The facade is among the most complete pieces of Venetian Gothic on the eastern Adriatic, with pointed windows, an open outside staircase, a balcony used for proclamations, a figure of Justice and dozens of carved coats of arms and reliefs recording the governors who served here. Restored around 2001, the building again holds the town council chamber and a ceremonial hall used for weddings, while the ground floor contains the tourist information centre and a reconstructed old pharmacy.
Highlights
- Crenellated Venetian Gothic facade with outside staircase and balcony
- Carved coats of arms recording Koper's Venetian governors
- Council chamber and ceremonial hall seen on guided tours
- Reconstructed historic pharmacy on the ground floor
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