This slide show is enhanced content for the Fall 2013 Forum Journal (Study Abroad: Global Perspectives). Read the blog post here: http://wp.me/p2KJpV-Xf. To learn more about Preservation Leadership Forum and how you can become a member visit: http://www.preservationleadershipforum.org

1. “The Industrial
Heritage of
Rijeka” by Melita
Jureša-McDonald
Slideshow

2. Situated in Kvarner Bay, a deep inlet of the Adriatic Sea, Rijeka has for centuries served as an important
link to the middle European hinterland. Its name, which was recorded for the first time in the thirteenth
century, hails from the river of Rječina (also known through history as Fiumara, or Fiume, in Italian) that
flows through the city. Rijeka’s first port was developed along the Rječina estuary.
PHOTO: IVICA JUREŠA

3. Along with Italy’s Trieste, its big rival, Rijeka
was granted the status of “free port” in 1719
from the Hapsburg emperor, Charles VI.
This signaled the end of the Venetian
domination of the Adriatic and the
Mediterranean, and heralded rapid
development of commerce and industry in
both cities. The competitiveness of the cities
grew stronger after 1867, when the dual
monarchy of Austro-Hungary was
established. Rijeka became the Hungary’s
de facto seaport, while Trieste carried that
role for Austria.
PHOTO: IVICA JUREŠA

4. Plans for the expansion of the port outside the Rječina riverbed and into the open sea were developed
and implemented from 1872 through 1914. Some of those expansion projects, pictured here in a 1910s
postcard, were presented as model ports at the world exhibitions in Vienna in 1873 and in Paris in 1878.
PHOTO: LOKALPATRIOTI RIJEKA

5. Antal Hajnal, a Hungarian engineer, was put in charge of executing a plan proposed by Hilarion
Pascal, who was a well-known French engineer of the ports of Marseilles, La Specia, and – after Rijeka –
Istanbul. A major breakwater - Molo Longo – more than a mile long (1,780 meters) was built to protect the
newly-constructed port, followed by four major piers. The Molo Longo, shown here, opened to the public in
2009.
PHOTO: IVICA JUREŠA

6. Following a 1750 decree by Maria Theresa granting Dutch merchants the right to establish a sugar company in
Rijeka, the Trieste-Rijeka Privileged Company completed the Sugar Refinery Main Administrative Building in
1752, beginning the industrialization of the city. The building was located on the then-existing waterfront just east
of the Holy Emperor Charles VI Quarantine, built in 1726 and is pictured here in an 1832 engraving by C. Von
Mayr.
PHOTO: “LOKALPATRIOTI RIJEKA”

7. The Main Administrative Building, also known as the Palace of the Sugar Refinery, also served as the
residence of a succession of the company’s directors. The building's interior is lavishly decorated with
stuccos, frescos and ceramic stoves.
PHOTO: IVICA JUREŠA

8. A detail of the 19th century sculptural decoration of the Palace of the
Sugar Refinery, keystone heads with “sugar cubes” in their hair.
PHOTO: IVICA JUREŠA

9. In 1824 the production of sugar at the refinery ceased. From 1835-1851 the buildings were used as
military barracks. In 1851 the complex became the largest Austro-Hungarian tobacco factory (eventually
manufacturing Virginia cigarettes). The palace received minor additions to the back and a few additional
production buildings were added within the complex.
PHOTO: IVICA JUREŠA

10. During World War II, the complex sustained some damage during Allied bombardments. In 1949, a boat engine manufacturer named after a
Yugoslavian World War II hero, Rikard Benčić, opened and operated on the premises until 1998, when the company declared bankruptcy. It has
been abandoned since that time. Currently, the Croatian Conservation Institute is conducting a multiyear comprehensive conservation and
restoration of the Palace. Also, plans to bring in the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art and the Rijeka Central Library in into the four
buildings are currently underway. Pictured here is an Allied airplane over the Rijeka port during one of the bombardments in 1944.
PHOTO: WIKIPEDIA,

11. Torpedo Launching Ramp (1933/35) was added to the Croatian
Register of Cultural Properties in 2002
PHOTO: ROBERT ZORIĆ PHOTOGRAPHY

12. Torpedo factory circa 1910. Though the production of torpedoes stopped in the 1960s, the factory
remained operational, making tractors until 1994, when the company declared bankruptcy.
PHOTO: WIKIPEDIA, CITY MUSEUM RIJEKA

13. The warehouse complex Metropolis (Numbers 18 through 22) was constructed between 1909 and 1914.The
complex is rich in details of Hungarian Art Nouveau and consists of five warehouses connected with seven
reinforced concrete bridges, added in 1914. The whole complex was added to the Croatian Register of Cultural
Properties in 2005.
PHOTO: “LOKALPATRIOTI RIJEKA,” GORGOROTH

14. The ceilings in the Number 12 and 13 warehouses (1893) were built using the Joseph Monier system
of reinforced concrete construction and are among the last remaining examples of this construction in
the former Austro-Hungarian Empire. Behind them is the 1962-completed silo.
PHOTO: IVICA JUREŠA

15. Historic warehouses dominate the Rijeka port.
PHOTO: IVICA JUREŠA

16. Mlin Žakalj, built in 1840, was the largest
flour mill on river Rječina. Heirs of the mill’s
last owner, Robert Whitehead of the Rijeka
Torpedo factory, were not interested in
it, and since the early 20th century this
property was left to deteriorate. In this
postcard a bridge, destroyed in World War
II, is visible spanning the river Rječina.
PHOTO: LOKALPATRIOTI RIJEKA

17. The remains of the flour mill Žakalj.
PHOTO: DIJANA JUREŠA

18. The Paper Mill complex circa 1910. Opened in 1821 along the river Rječina in a beautiful ravine north
of downtown Rijeka, the factory steadily grew and exported paper worldwide. As of the 1890s, it
specialized in the production of cigarette paper.
PHOTO: WIKIPEDIA, CITY MUSEUM RIJEKA

19. A hydroelectric power plant was put in use in 1930 to provide power to the paper mill and the city. In 1991, just before the
start of the war that led to the breakup of Yugoslavia, it was the second largest cigarette paper factory in Europe. In
1996, production began to decline after the plant was privatized, and its owners declared bankruptcy in 2005. The City of
Rijeka bought several buildings in upper part of the complex, known as Marganovo, which is now leased to a network of
cultural organizations.
PHOTO: IVICA JUREŠA

20. The post World War II warehouse zone located in the Delta and Port Baross area slated for revitalization
is currently the focus of an international architectural competition. Greening this part of the port is a key
component of the Rijeka’s Master Urban Development Plan. The purpose of this plan is to enhance and
expand public open space and is calling for a community’s planning vision for their waterfront.
PHOTO: MELITA JUREŠA-MCDONALD

21. Built as a merchant vessel in 1938 to transport bananas from Somalia to Italy, then refitted as an Italian Royal Navy auxiliary cruiser and later as a minelayer for the Germans
during the World War II, sunk and salvaged twice, the “Galeb” became famous as the presidential yacht of Yugoslavian President Tito. Tito used it on his numerous foreign
trips, especially to countries of the Non-Aligned Movement. After the fall of Yugoslavia, it was sold to a company in Liberia, which left it for over a decade to deteriorate in a
Rijeka shipyard. The Galeb was added to the Croatian Register of Cultural Properties in 2006, and as of 2009 is owned by the City of Rijeka. The City is currently viewing several
different options for its proper restoration and reuse and, as funds permit, is contributing toward its maintenance in order to keep it afloat.
PHOTO: DEREK MCDONALD

22. A sign of many rulers throughout the port’s
history, a late 1890s bollard, made by the
Budapest iron foundry “Schlick-Vasontode-
Gepgyar.”
PHOTO: MELITA JUREŠA-MCDONALD

23. The 1924 demarcation line visible on the
wharf near Port Baross. After World War
I, Rijeka was divided along this line between
Italy and the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and
Slovenes.
PHOTO: MELITA JUREŠA-MCDONALD

24. PHOTO: IVICA JUREŠA

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