The Statuto

“The historic and artistic heritage that my Family has build over the centuries – and that I have completed and maintained – must not be lost. It must be open to the public and serve as an educational and cultural tool for the community at large”.
This is the opening of Guglielmo Coronini’s will, dated 8 December 1967. “Coronini Cronberg Palace with its aristocratic Chapel (…) with its furniture, paintings, sculptures, archives, library and my private collections (…) together with its Park (…) will be used as a museum, in an intangible and unchangeable form. It will be open to the public as a permanent tribute to my Family and as an ornament and attraction for my city”.

Count Coronini’s will, published in the local press on 17th October 1990, has had a fundamental role. In its 10 hand-written pages, including 10 articles under Roman numbers, the author express his intent – also shared by his sister, Nicoletta – to set up a private foundation for the management of family assets as an heritage for the city.

This will has been incorporated into the Coronini Foundation “Statuto” (Constitution) and it covers the administration, the accounting and the museum. This shows the clear intent to preserve the current character of aristocratic “House in its lively architecture, decorations and Park, preserving the building as it is”.

The will covers every aspects. The use of the Palace and the Park was described in detail as well as the preservation and the exhibition of the art collections. The library must have a free access, while coins, medals and picture collections as well as “archive material, manuscripts and rare books will be exhibited under vigilance to renowned scholars only (…). Temporary loans to national and foreign exhibitions must be limited to major events, ensuring that works are returned in perfect conditions”.

The financial management and the management of the real estate must aim at preserving the Palace and its assets, managing the museums efficiently, preserving and integrating collections on a regular basis “with priority to the completion and update of bibliographic, archive and coin collections of local and regional interest”.
The Statuto have been approved by the Friuli Venezia Giulia Region, which has granted private legal status to the Foundation. These articles were later amended with Decree no. 0246/Pres. On 27th July 2005, and the Foundation became a nonprofit organization with social purposes, and again with Decree no. 0172/Pres. On 22nd July 2010. These latter amendments, adopted by the Curatorio, were introduced to remedy some minor mistakes and omissions in the original text of the Statuto and to enable the Foundation to perform a more effective administration.