There is plenty to be surprised by on the streets of Rijeka
This is a pizzeria in a World War II bomb shelter, a youth club in a former railway tunnel, and gun-carriage foundations in the halls of the Museum of Modern Art (they once held heavy machine tools: this was a foundry).
The factories, plants, and warehouses of Rijeka abandoned after the breakup of Yugoslavia are a sad legacy of the socialist era, as are the concrete box-houses of the residential districts typical of any socialist city, towering over the city. In 2020, when Rijeka becomes the European Capital of Culture (alongside the Irish city of Galway), flower beds and vegetable gardens will be laid out on the flat roofs of these houses, exhibitions will open, and so on. This was told to journalists by the curator of the organizing committee, Morana Matković.
"Port of Diversity" is the motto of the European Capital of Culture. Rijeka's history is as diverse and colorful as its modern appearance. In fact, this history defines it. Celts lived here, then they were conquered by the ancient Romans. After the fall of the Roman Empire, the city was captured by the Goths and Lombards; from the 15th century until World War I, Fiume (as Rijeka was then called) was part of the Habsburg Empire.
After the defeat of Austria-Hungary, the young Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes (later the Kingdom of Yugoslavia) and Italy laid claim to the city. Eventually, it went to Italy, and after World War II, to Yugoslavia. Now it is a city in independent Croatia.
Accordingly, in Rijeka today one can see the remains of an ancient Roman gate, the ruins of a medieval fortress, imposing palaces from the Austro-Hungarian monarchy, monumental buildings typical of Italian fascists, a Baroque cathedral, an Orthodox church, and, of course, the aforementioned abandoned factory complexes.
These will primarily be used as venues for various cultural events. About 450 exhibitions, concerts, and performances are planned. No new concert or exhibition halls will be built for them in Rijeka: abandoned warehouses and factories will be restored and repaired, as has already been done here for the Museum of Modern Art.
The old ship "Galeb" (meaning "Seagull"), rusting in the port of Rijeka, will also be turned into a museum. It once carried bananas, was converted into an auxiliary cruiser during the war, and in 1952 became the personal yacht of Yugoslav President Josip Broz Tito, a great lover of sea voyages. The city authorities of Rijeka bought the former presidential yacht at auction for $150,000 back in the 2000s.