Things to do in Rijeka, Primorje-Gorski Kotar County: The Best Museums

From November 1st till May 1st you can visit us only by previous announcement on our mobile phone or email. From may till november we are open every day from 10AM - 6PM, saturday 11AM-4PM. Sunday, holidays, please be free to contact us on our e-mail or mobile phone. Welcome

At the very heart of the Astronomical Centre, which is comprised of an observatory, a small and a large hall and additional facilities, is a digital planetarium. In order to explain it better, we will compare it to the observatory - whereas in the observatory the visitors can observe a real image of the space via telescope, the planetarium uses digital technology in order to display a simulated picture of the universe. The digital planetarium in Rijeka is the only one of its kind in Croatia and the wider region. It is a hall in form of an amphitheatre, providing 50 seats and 2 additional seats for persons with limited mobility. Once comfortably seated, visitors can enjoy projections (live presentations) of the skyline and celestial objects or watch films on astrology and underwater world, which are displayed on an 8 m diameter dome above their heads.

THE MARITIME AND HISTORY MUSEUM OF THE CROATIAN LITTORAL has been one of the most important meeting-places of culture in the city of Rijeka for the last four decades. With its permanent display and many valuable exhibitions from its own holdings or of other Croatian museums it takes part in tracing the important events connected with the history and culture of Rijeka, Primorje-Gorski Kotar County and Croatia, and so it reveals small parts of the insufficiently known past. With its research into the complex materials (of archaeological, ethnographical, artistic, cultural-historical and maritime-historical characteristics), in a time span from prehistory to the Modern Age, with expert and scientific methods it processes, systemises and presents the role and development of the whole of the social organism in the region of Primorje-Gorski Kotar County, the Croatian Littoral and the city of Rijeka and points out its specific and interactive relationship with other European centres over a thousand year period, with the aim of becoming a dynamic, open and educative institution. With its headquarters in the building of the former Governor’s Palace, a protected cultural monument, as exhibit number 1, the museum with an interdisciplinary approach offers the consideration–identification, familiarisation and understanding of the character of the people and places, memories and myths, uncovering the identity, which represents an unbreakable link of the past and present.

Construction of the Governor’s Palace began in 1892 during the period of Governor Lajos Batthyány's rule and based on the design of one of the leading Hungarian architects of the time, Alajos Hauszmann who had already proved himself on the project of the King's Palace and the Parliament building in Budapest. On a surface area of 12 000 m² a simple and monumental corpus of the detached neo-Renaissance palace was built based on models of the famous Palladi's works, a French park with two fountains and balustrades made of wrought iron and two-leaf doors with sentry boxes.Today, the Maritime and Historical Museum of the Croatian Littoral can be found at the palace founded in 1961 which contains a maritime, cultural and historical, ethnographical and archaeological department. Part of the exhibits of original pieces from the Governor’s palace are presented in lounges, including the furniture and objects of the art crafts belonging to the periods from the Renaissance to Historicism as well as a collection of portraits of the most notable Rijeka citizens.

Rijeka’s St. Vitus Cathedral is the only Baroque rotunda of monumental dimensions built on Croatian land. The construction of this church began in 1638 based on the design of the Jesuit architect G. Brian. The eminent Venetian church, Santa Maria della Salute, served as s model. An elevated spot was chosen for the construction of St. Vitus church at the heart of the then medieval urban tissue. Initially there was a small church of the same name located on the same site, dedicated to the city’s patron saint. The Jesuit order, as creator of the project, immediately decided to use the cult of the wooden Magic crucifix from the original church, which popular legend says began to bleed when a certain Petar Lončarić, threw a stone on it in fear after losing at gambling.

Besides the botanical garden, the museum is a multimedia centre with an aquarium containing species from the Adriatic Sea. Besides fish, sharks and sea rays, the museum also conserves species of insects, reptiles, birds and amphibians. Ideal entertainment for both children and adults.

The museum Includes eleven collections: fine arts, arts & crafts, numismatics, valuable objects, medals, arms from the Second World War and from the Croatian War of Independence, a collection of theatre and film material, philately, photography, press and technical collections.

Titanic-Carpathia ... 100 years later – with this exhibition Rijeka Faculty of Maritime Studies marked the hundredth anniversary of the Titanic sinking, and soon after opening the exhibition received a permanent place in the hall on the first floor. Special emphasis is placed on the ship Carpathia, whose crew rescued survivors from the Titanic and its connection to Rijeka.Maritime Military Academy, 1866-1914 - an exhibition dedicated to the long and rich history of the faculty which raised some of the highest officers, as well as some of the well-known Admirals and naval commanders from several Central Europe countries. It is set on the first floor in front of the Dean's office.Giants of the Sea - Faculty is honored to have in its possession original copies of series of paintings by the famous painter from Rijeka Nevenko Zunic named Giants of the Sea.