We talked to the organisers of the Rijeka Industrial Olympics, which is expanding to include an increasing number of disciplines every year. Industrial heritage combined with simple and catchy games guarantee fun for the entire family.
The concept of the Rijeka Industrial Olympics (RIO) logically emanated from the idea of organising an informal world championship in battleship (Battleship Fiume), which was for the first time held in 2014 next to the decrepit torpedo launch station with the aim of raising awareness on the value and importance of this unique site, as well as on the value and importance of Rijeka’s industrial heritage in its entirety and the necessity of restoring such facilities and making better use of them.
The reason for organising the first battleship championship emanated from frustration regarding the local population’s general lack of knowledge of the history of their own city. The organisers of Battleship, grouped under the aegis of the Primorje Sports and Recreation Association, concluded that, in addition to sports, they should also engage themselves in cultural recreation with all due haste. Therefore, already after the first competition had been organised, RIO imposed itself as the logical course of action for the further development of this project.
Learning, Fun and Socialisation
The Rijeka Industrial Olympics is an informal competition that networks between people, facilities related to Rijeka’s industrial heritage and children’s games that were popular in this region in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. The aim of the competition is to motivate people to spend one day out in the open in the company of their family and friends, while learning or revising the history of Rijeka and, at the same time, playing the games that their grandparents, parents, or they themselves used to play when they were children.
The Rijeka Industrial Olympics (RIO) encompasses five disciplines: paper plane throwing, knot tying, spitball target shooting, scattegories and battleship. Each of these disciplines is played at an authentic location that is closely related to the ?discipline? itself.
The RIO project is too complex for us to execute it ourselves, while the aim of the project is to involve the largest number of citizens as possible. In order to organise it properly and relay our message in the best possible manner, we sought (and received) help from several institutions and associations from Rijeka that are connected with this topic.
Multi-Sector Collaboration
The Maritime and History Museum of the Croatian Littoral in Rijeka was the first to react positively to our project and participates in it as an equal partner, organising the professional accompanying programmes of the competition such as exhibitions, lectures and projections. Divers from the INA Underwater Club from Kostrena organised a visually appealing underwater sinking of ships, which was transmitted live on land. Rijeka City Library, Stribor department organised a workshop on the 3D printing of paper planes, which was held on the site of the launch station. The City of Rijeka Museum, the Peek & Poke museum, the Primorje – Gorski Kotar County, Port of Rijeka Authority, Rijeka Tourist Board also joined the project, and the Žmergo association will also participate this year. As part of the competition in throwing paper planes that will be held in the power plant of Rijeka’s paper factory, Žmergo will organise a workshop on recycling paper.
The biggest problem with organising a project of this kind is the condition of Rijeka’s industrial heritage itself. This is why, for example, we will not be able to organise a battleship competition at the torpedo launch station itself, as access to the station is prohibited due to its decrepit condition.
The other problems are more or less the same as those that appear with other projects, such as finances and a scarcity of time, considering that all the members of the Primorje Sports and Recreation Association, the main organisers of this project, engage in the organisation of the Rijeka Industrial Olympics in their free time, on a completely voluntary basis.
In addition to the battleship competition that will be held on 17 September on the site of the launch station in Bara?eva street, a new discipline will also be added this year. On 21 May, the Bandiera Russa, i.e. paper plane throwing championship, will be held in the power plant of Rijeka’s paper factory. This discipline is closely connected with the story of Rijeka’s paper factory, and also to the story of one of Rijeka’s ?forgotten sons? – the great aviator Roberto Bartini.
In addition to the competition in paper plane throwing, a small exhibition on the Rijeka Industrial Olympics, where visitors will be able to view all relevant information related to the project, is also being prepared. For the youngest visitors, a paper recycling workshop will be organised, and the cult animated film ?Porco Rosso? by the celebrated Japanese director Hayao Miyazaki, which bears a striking similarity to the story of Robert Bartini, will also be screened. All of this will be rounded off with a good soundtrack, and the organisers will also make sure that nobody ends up hungry or thirsty.
As we have already stated, the Rijeka Industrial Olympics connects facilities related to Rijeka’s industrial heritage with the games that we, our parents or grandparents played when we were kids. However, RIO never eschews telling a tale or two about the greats of Rijeka, the people who made Rijeka visible on the industrial and economic map of Europe and whom the city has (not) paid its respects to.
One of the people who will finally receive some acknowledgement this year is Giovanni Lupis, the inventor of the torpedo. As the City of Rijeka has declared the current year the Year of the Torpedo and is planning a variety of programmes on this topic, Lupis will assume centre stage.
We shall, naturally, as the organisers of the battleship competition, also tackle the topic of Lupis’s life and work as part of the Battleship Fiume competition.
Roberto Bartini, also known as Barone Rosso, is not as famous as Lupis – if we can even talk about fame. This aviation genius, who fully affirmed himself with his work in the Soviet Union, achieved particular prominence as the mentor of Sergei Korolev, the leading man of the Soviet space programme who is credited with sending the first man – the world-famous Yuri Gagarin – into space. A small exhibition on Robert Bartini will be set up as part of the paper plane throwing competition.
After the Bandiera Russa discipline is held, a smaller, permanent exhibition on the topic of the Rijeka Industrial Olympics will be set up on the premises of the Primorje Sports and Recreation Association (Željezni?ki prolaz 2d, Rijeka), within which a tournament in the card game chifamenno will be held in order to connect between the story on the Modiano card factory in Rijeka and the history of games of chance in the city.
Roberto Bartini, also known as Barone Rosso, is not as famous as Lupis – if we can even talk about fame. This aviation genius, who fully affirmed himself with his work in the Soviet Union, achieved particular prominence as the mentor of Sergei Korolev, the leading man of the Soviet space programme who is credited with sending the first man – the world-famous Yuri Gagarin – into space. A small exhibition on Robert Bartini will be set up as part of the paper plane throwing competition.