What to do and see in Rijeka, Croatia: The Best Places and Tips

Trsat Castle represents a strategically embossed gazebo on a hill 138 meters above sea level that dominates Rijeka. As a parochial centre it was mentioned for the first time in 1288. Trsat Castle is one of the oldest fortifications on the Croatian Coast, where the characteristics of the early medieval town construction have been preserved. Today Trsat Castle, beside the Bazilisk souvenir shop and the Gradina coffee bar, is enriched with new facilities – gallery space where art Exhibitions are held as well as open-air summer Concerts and theatre Performances as well as fashion shows and Literary evenings. Within Trsat Castle, at the Petra Zrinskog b.b. Address, is the Trsat Castle Info Point where any information about this building and the town of Rijeka can be found.

During the November 1st till May 1st you can visit us only by previous announcement on our mobile phone or email

At the beginning of the 20th century, Korzo started to assume its modern-day outlines. The main Promenade and meeting-point for Rijeka citizens as well as the construction area used in building the symbolic palaces demonstrate various styles including Classical, Historical, Secessional, and Modernist. Urban regulations appeared in the latter half of the 19th century, but these meant only an intensification of the rate of raising the seabed (with sand), and grand public constructions which appear to have very developed the seabed. Even then, at the turn of the century, the picture is of a littoral town straitened by its walls. Today, is hard to believe that until the sea-trench was filled-in and the town walls pulled down, this was only a gravel sea coast with a few wooden embankments and storehouses, a shipyard and a city log house which traded in cereals, fish and salt.

Gradski Toranj (City Tower), a symbol of Rijeka, is a good example of a typical round tower access-point, which lead into the fortified town. Today it dominates the central part of Korzo, although it was, during its time, overtopped by more recently constructed buildings. It was built in the Middle Ages, probably on the foundations of the Late Ancient, littoral town doors. Some baroque phases of its construction can be seen on the lower part of the front of the Tower, which are characterised by a richly decorated portal, an imperial coat of arms carved out of stone and a relief of the Austrian emperors Leopold and Charles VI. Rijeka paid them special respect due to the maritime orientation they introduced into the state policies of the Austrian court.

Built in 1885 as a city theatre according to the design of the specialized Vienna Helmer and Fellner workshop, which designed similar buildings throughout the Austro-Hungary of the time. Matsch, Kauffungen and Fritsch, and the Klimt brothers, permanent associates of the workshop, were charged with equipping the theatre, contributing to the pronounced central European atmosphere of the town. The exterior is adorned by figurative compositions of Music and Drama by Venetian sculptor Benvenutti. The opening of the theatre was marked by a performance of Verdi's Aida.

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.

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.

The Our Lady of Trsat Sanctuary, the oldest sanctuary dedicated to the Virgin Mary in Croatia, which is daily visited by numerous pilgrims both from Croatia and abroad. It is famous for its numerous concessions and for the pilgrimages by numerous believers throughout the year, and especially on the Assumption of Mary holiday. The Sanctuary includes the Church of Our Lady of Trsat, the Franciscan monastery, the thesaurus, the Chapel of oath gifts, Mary’s park and Pope John Paul II’s pastoral centre.