MONFORT EXHIBITION GROUND
The Monfort Warehouse is, together with the Grando Warehouse, a rare example of a preserved salt warehouse of the former well branched out and economically important salt-making branch of industry. The warehouse was built in the second half of the 19th century, i.e. between 1858 and 1859, of stone and wooden roof structure. The Monfort is divided into five campats – compartments. At a height of 5 metres it has, apart from main entrance door, a high and wide door called »la porta del primo piano«, which was used when the warehouse was filled with salt to this particular height. The Monfort Warehouse was able to store 20,000 tons of salt.
In the period of the Venetian Republic, our littoral towns boasted public and private warehouses, where the entire annual (if not even of several years) produce of salt could be stored, when the yield was higher or could not be exported or sold in its entirety. Public warehouses were important, as the salt stored there was under the constant supervision of officials , safe from smugglers and weather conditions. The commune was responsible for their maintenance and maintenance of the coast, whereas the Venetian magistrat for salt was accountable for orderliness, safety and cleanliness of the warehouses; if necessary, various repairs and new buildings was also financed by it. The largest warehouses were built in the period of the Austrian rule: these were the Fizine Warehouse (today's Grando), Monfort, Antenal and a set of warehouses on the Seča peninsula. Among these, only the Monfort and Grando in Portorož are still standing.
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