What does v-た+であろう mean? For example:

> ほんの一、ニ分のやりとりで **あったであろう** が、いかに屈託のない若い人たちの闊達さがさわやかであった。

Does it mean something is likely to be that way? But what then if it appears
that this thing has already happened?
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2014-07-05T06:20:04.023
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2014-07-05T13:36:08.553
2014-07-05T07:44:43.733
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question
grammar
The meaning of v-ta+であろう
By adding 「であろう」, the narrator turned the statement before it, i.e.
「ほんの一、二分のやりとりであった」, into a supposition, which sounds softer:

> (I think / feel / Probably) the exchange lasted for just one minute or two(,
> well, it might in fact be longer than that). (Although the duration was
> short, ~~it is enough to show~~ ) ~~clearly~~ [1]...

[1]: Sorry that I confused 「さわやか」 with 「あざやか」, credit to Tim
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2014-07-05T08:24:09.523
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2014-07-05T09:33:24.940
2014-07-05T09:33:24.940
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answer
It should be clear from a direct translation of the whole sentence:

> ほんの一、ニ分のやりとりであったであろうが、いかに屈託のない若い人たちの闊達さがさわやかであった。  
>  The exchange was probably _no more than_ * one or two minutes but the
> generosity of _those_ ** carefree young people was so refreshing.

_Notes_  
*ほんの really means "just" but "no more than" feels more natural so I've taken a little literary license. 

** We don't really have a word like その to represent "those" and you have not
given any more context so I've added it to make the sentence more complete as
a stand alone statement.

であった is past/perfect copula similar to だった or でした equivalent to "was"

であろう is similar to だろう & でしょう and equivalent to "probably".

_Comment_ : The grammar is fairly straight forward but this sentence contains
some quite difficult words. Did you read and understand the rest of the
sentence before asking the question?
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2014-07-05T08:59:58.940
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answer