Occupants
The Gravisi family of Koper (Capodistria) has held the title of Marquis of Pietrapelosa since 1440, when Nicolò Gravisi was given the title and the estate of Pietrapelosa as a reward for services rendered to the Republic of Venice. The palace site was originally occupied by a modest house of the Tacco family. According to an inscription on the first floor triple lancet windows, the house was incorporated in the south wing of the palace in 1710 in a renovation initiated by Janeza Nikolaja Gravisija. The Marquis Girolamo Gravisi married Countess Chiara Barbabianco on 12 September 1745. She brought a rich dowry, and from then the family assumed the surname of Gravisi-Barbabianca. With the upheavals of World War I (1914-1918) and World War II (1939-1945) followed by incorporation of Istria into the Republic of Yugoslavia under Josip Broz Tito the family lost possession of the palace.
For a while the building was used as a tax office, and is therefore sometimes called "“the cameral". The palace today is used as a school of music. Concerts are held in the main hall, attracting lovers of both music and fine art. The Koper Music School (Glasbena šola Koper) was established in Portorož in 1948, moved to Koper in 1951 and moved into the Gravisi Barbabianca in 1955. In 1984 the building had a major restoration. In 2003 the Centre for Music Education, Koper was renamed Koper Music School, incorporating three coastal music schools of Izola, Koper and Piran. The concert hall is too small and the building does not have enough space, so the music school has been forced to hold classes in various other locations in Koper.
On 25 November 2010 a ceremony was held in the concert hall to mark the 300th anniversary of the building. The Slovenian Minister of Education, Dr. Igor Luksic, was the keynote speaker. The historian Salvator Žitko attended the ceremony. He presented three of four major equestrian portraits that had been removed from the palace in 1968 for restoration and were now finally being returned to their original site. Two of the portraits were briefly hung in their original locations, but were then returned to the Praetorian Palace and Koper Regional Museum. The other two are still waiting for restoration work.
Read more about this topic: Gravisi-Barbabianca Palace
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“I weathered some merry snow-storms, and spent some cheerful winter evenings by my fireside, while the snow whirled wildly without, and even the hooting of the owl was hushed. For many weeks I met no one in my walks but those who came occasionally to cut wood and sled it to the village.... For human society I was obliged to conjure up the former occupants of these woods.”
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