Lloyd Palace

The Regional Government's headquarters is located here today. The imposing Palazzo del Lloyd Triestino (then the Austro-Hungarian Lloyd Shipping Company) was erected between 1881 and 1883 based on a design by architect Heinrich von Ferstel in the Renaissance style, as a symbol of Trieste's dominion over the sea. The building occupied the space left free by the infilling of the old shipyard of San Nicolò. The façade of the building facing the square houses two fountains at its ends: one with the statue of Tethys (the one on the left looking at the building), a work by the sculptor Giuseppe Pokorny, the other with the statue of Venus, a work by the sculptor Ugo Haedti, respectively mythological guardians of fresh water and seawater. Originally, in fact, fresh water flowed from the Tethys fountain while seawater gushed from the Venus fountain, through a pumping mechanism.