VALPARAISO
In the Chilean city of Valparaiso, one of the most significant ports on the Pacific, which is home to almost 300,000 people, is the Palacio Baburizza. The palace was commissioned by Italian Ottorino Zanelli for his family in 1916, in a style that combined art deco and art nouveau. After Zanelli’s death, his widow sold the palace to Pascual Baburizza in 1925. He had the building redecorated, and the architect behind the design was Vicente Colovic, who also redid the surrounding area later on. Today, the Palacio Baburizza is a house-museum which houses a valuable collection of paintings, some of which were donated by the owner.
Paško Baburica (Koločep, 1857 - Los Andes, 1941) came to the north of Chile when he was seventeen, where he worked in saltpeter production, and went on to become the owner of a saltpeter export chain for Europe. When the crisis of 1928 set in, he began investing in Agriculture across Los Andes, and worked in banking. He never married, he helped out the old country, and left a part of his estate to the Chilean state, and a part of his lands to the National Botanical Garden.
Pascual Baburizza (1875 – 1941)
Ivan Lupis Vukić, writer and journalist, met Baburizza, and had mentioned him in a letter sent to Živko Vekarić in Split, in 1930:
On the first day I arrived here, April 10th, I had lunch with Baburica. His home is a royal palace, in the most beautiful part of Valparaiso. Coincidentally, I’ve still not spoken with him about the Bureau. I couldn’t, he is just that busy. He is quite a wonder. And he manages a dozen large companies. They [in Croatia] have no idea what Baburica is.[1]
Baburizza palace in Valparaiso
Baburizza had his own agricultural estates in Los Andes, an area of the Valparaiso region. This is where the Instituto Agricola Pascual Baburizza agricultural high school is located, in the Avenida Pascual Baburizza.
The school is run by the Andronico Luksic Foundation, and the foundation by his daughter Paola. One of the school’s scholarships is also named after Andronico Luksic.
Los Andes in 1930, Hacienda Koločep Paško Baburica, where the agricultural school is located today[2]
The area where the agricultural school is located, and its entrance.
