02 PRAETORIAN PALACE

Texts by Rodolfo Huber

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We are standing in front of Palazzo del Pretorio (Preatorian Palace). Turning our gaze toward the facade we can admire an eclectic building formed with a wide central body, characterized in the middle by a grand staircase. The building was designed in 1908 by architect Ferdinando Bernasconi, one of the leading Ticino architects of that period. In the upper part of the central body we glimpse bas-reliefs depicting "Justice," perhaps somewhat hidden by palm trees. On the left the figures carry scales and a trumpet. On the right a figure of a woman, representing the "Law," addresses two unfortunates who cover their faces: it looks like a secular version of the punishment of Adam and Eve.

Architect Bernasconi designed many public buildings in Locarno, including the municipal schools, now renovated into the Palazzo del Cinema, and the Theater. The Praetorian Palace was opened in 1910 and is the most impressive architectural monument in Locarno's New Quarter. During the Peace Conference in 1925, the Praetorian Palace was the venue for diplomatic negotiations. It was in fact the largest and most modern public building in the city. It was here that delegations from Germany, France, Belgium, the United Kingdom, Italy, Poland and Czechoslovakia met between October 5 and 16 to discuss the Locarno Treaties.

Since then the building has been transformed respecting the original facades, but nothing exists of the original furnishings of the 1925 Conference hall. A marble plaque on the second floor commemorates the historic moment with these words:

"In this short hall erected by a small peaceful people the ministers of the nations recently emerged from the most atrocious war that history remembers convened in serene conference from October 5 to 16, 1925 to Europe still quivering with hatred they gave more certain peace."