With a grand ceremony in the renovated baroque palace of the former sugar factory administrative building, the permanent display opens of the City Museum of Rijeka which covers the economic and social history of Rijeka from the 18th to the 21st centuries.
In the renovated baroque palace of the former sugar factory administrative building which was built in the mid-18thcentury, the permanent display opens of the City Museum of Rijeka which has been created by Ervin Dubrović (HR) and designer Nikolina Jelavić Mitrović (HR).
The largest baroque business palace in the Habsburg Empire opens its doors again after many decades and shows off all of its grandeur. The museum display in the palace shows the history of the city from when it became a free port to this day, from 1719 to 2020. Part of the display is dedicated to the largest company of that period in the Monarchy, with European and overseas business affairs and the routes of Rijeka sugar.
The exhibition describes the economic and social history of Rijeka in the European context, in close connection with Vienna and Antwerp as well as with Budapest and other European and overseas cities and ports.
The Rijeka Trading Company (Riječko trgovačko društvo), which was directed by merchants from Antwerp, and which was overseen by the Chamber of Commerce from Vienna, has a special place in the exhibition. The story of sugar is reminiscent of the colonial trade of that time and of the importance that the Company held for communication with Europe and the world.
In the set-up of the Sugar Palace the production of sugar, the paper factory, the invention and production of the torpedo, the verification of the breaking of the sound barrier are all presented by original items, replicas and multimedia projections as the main points of the scientific, economic and social development of Rijeka. Also shown are the development of Rijeka’s port and the mass emigrations to America.