Gopcevich Palace (1847 - 1850)
Ponterosso canal
Arch. Arduino Berlam

The sumptuous Gopcevich palace was built between 1847 and 1850 on the project of Giovanni Berlam, a very fashionable architect in those years.
The commission was given to him by Spiridione Gopcevich, a wealthy merchant belonging to the Serbian Orthodox community.
The owner lived in it, together with the family, for twenty years; then, the nostalgia of his hometown won him: he sold it and left Trieste forever.
For the new owners, however, the palace was too large and they divided the surface: what we know today as Palazzo Gopcevich is actually only the part in front of the Ponterosso Canal.
This part, in 1921, became the seat of the Adriatic Maritime Fund, one of the most sought-after "mutual societies" of the pre-National Health Service, which as its last act, in 1990, oversaw its restoration.
In 1999, therefore, the Municipality buys a restored palace with the intention of making it a museum institution dedicated to the theater.
Spiridione Gopcevich was a wealthy Serbian-born merchant who made his fortune in our city in the 19th century. He wanted to honor and immolrtalare four heroes (and martyrs) of the Serbian cause by placing their images in the niches on the first floor on the facade of his palace. According to some historians, they represent Count Zrinnski and consort (on the left looking at the palace) and Count Kristofer Frankopan (aka Cristoforo Frangipane - a Roman exile) and consort.
But according to other experts, the four characters are the heroes of the battle of Kosovo Poljo (Campo dei Merli) fought between Serbs and Turks on June 15, 1389: Prince Lazzar Grabljanovich, his wife Milica, the leader Milos Obilic and an anonymous " crocerossina "who took care of the wounded on the battlefield.