Mazarović Palace

Mazarović Palace stands in the south-eastern part of Perast called “Luka” above the old road. The palace was built in the mid-18th century and is a typical example of Baroque palace with a belvedere. Its façade is partly obscured by a line of houses that have been built in front of it, directly by the side of the old road. It is a four-storey building, with a belvedere decorated with volutes, carrying the coat-of-arms of the Mazarović family. On the ground level is a portal built in the ”bugnato” style, flanked by two elliptic Baroque windows. The second storey is enhanced by a balcony resting on six brackets. In the back part of the palace, a two-storey annex was added which was used as a kitchen. Next to the palace stands the old house of the Mazarović family which has Renaissance features. The palace has preserved the original layout of the rooms, with a central salon and its authentic interior with decorations in mortar on the walls, traces of which have been preserved despite long exposure to the elements. The palace has been in a ruined state for more than a century.

The Mazarovic’s were one of the most influential families of Perast. They belonged to the “casada” Smilojević. In the archives of Kotor, the family has been mentioned in 1334, while in Perast it appeared in the 15th century. The family coat-of-arms depicts the immortelle (xeranthemum flower), symbolising immortality. Among the notable members of the family are Luka Mazarović (1618-1705), a judge and mayor of Perast, who participated in the Battle of Perast in 1654 and offered hospitality to Duke Petar Zrinski during his visit to Perast; Vicko Mazarović (1613-1683), elected four times as mayor of Perast, and an eminent seaman who commanded the Venetian sailing ship “Giove Fulminante”; Krsto Mazarović (1680-1725), a seaman and writer of the Baroque period, compiler of traditional folk literature and author of the biography of the Mazarović family (there is one preserved drawing of his from 1711 which shows the plan for the reconstruction of St. Nicolas church in Perast and the financial estimate for the work); Antun Mazarović (1658-1705) who was proclaimed a knight of Emperor Leopold. After Tripo Kokolja he was the most famous painter of Perast. He studied painting in Venice and worked in Vienna, where he painted portraits of many member of the Habsburg family, including those of Emperor Joseph I and Empress Maria Teresa; Dr Šimun Mazarović, a surgeon and diplomat, served as a Russian diplomat in Persia where he received the Order of the Persian Shah as the emissary and minister of the Russian Emperor Alexander I; and Karlo Mazarović, the first air-navigator from the southern Slavs. In 1789, only six years after the first ever air-balloon flight, he made an air-balloon flight over Zagreb. The last descendant of the Mazarović family in Perast was Teodolina Mazarović who died in 1919. Her death signalled the end of the Mazarović family in Perast.