Prirodoslovni muzej Rijeka

About the museum

The Prirodoslovni muzej Rijeka is the first regional museum of the Rijeka area. Its founding date is taken as 16 May 1876, when the doctor and naturalist Josef Roman Lorenz sent the mayor a programme for developing such a museum. The museum opened to the public on 1 May 1946 in the family palace of Count Negroni in the Park Nikole Hosta, where it is still located today. The same year a small aquarium opened, and a year later a zoo.

From 1961 the museum was organised as a regional museum with professional museum work and field research, including research into the fossil fauna of the island of Krk, the Bay of Rijeka and underwater caves. The collections comprise about 90,000 objects in 26 collections; the collections of minerals, sponges and algae are particularly significant. Since 2007 they have also been available through a searchable online portal.

Since 1998 the permanent exhibition has been arranged in modules with multimedia. It includes displays on sharks and rays, the geological past of the Adriatic, the aquarium as a multimedia centre with a workshop and play area, displays on birds and mammals, reptiles and amphibians of the Rijeka area, and a display on insects. A botanical garden has been laid out around the museum. The museum also manages the Zrinski fortress in Brod na Kupi in the Gorski kotar region, with the permanent display “Divljina s pogledom na more”.

Highlights

• Aquarium as a multimedia centre with a workshop and play area
• Display on sharks and rays
• Geological past of the Adriatic
• Birds, mammals, reptiles, amphibians and insects of the Rijeka area
• Botanical garden around the building
• Collections with about 90,000 objects

Permanent exhibition

• Stalni postav u Rijeci – Displays on sharks and rays, the geological past of the Adriatic, the aquarium, birds and mammals, reptiles and amphibians, and insects of the Rijeka area.

Founded

1876

Admission & discounts

Free admission: On the first Tuesday of every month admission is free for all visitors (not valid for group visits). Admission is also free at museum events, at Museum Night and on International Museum Day.

Free admission is also granted to members of the Croatian Museum Society, ICOM and the Croatian Association for Heritage Interpretation, to accompanying persons, guides and drivers of groups, and to journalists.

Accessibility

The museum hasn’t published any information on this.

Kids & families

Great for kids & families

• Family tours & workshops
• Hands-on stations
• Kids’ birthday parties

The museum offers a family ticket, a play workshop next to the aquarium and birthday workshops for children aged 5 to 14 (price €110).

Getting there & parking

The museum is located in the Park Nikole Hosta, near the Governor’s Palace.

Amenities & dining

• Museum shop

The museum has a shop with publications and promotional material.

Events & venue rental

The museum hasn’t published any information on this.

Plan your visit