(Redirected from Fiume)
'Rijeka' (
Croatian dialects ''Rika'' and ''Reka'',
Slovenian: ''Reka'',
German: ''St. Veit am Flaum'',
Italian and
Hungarian: ''Fiume'',
Serbian: ''Reka'' (Река). Rijeka and Fiume both mean "river') is the principal seaport of
Croatia, located on
Kvarner Bay, an inlet of the
Adriatic Sea. It has 144,043 inhabitants (270,000 for greater area in 2001) and is Croatia's third largest city. The majority of its citizens are Croats with 80.39% (2001 census).
Rijeka is the center of
Primorje-Gorski Kotar County in
Croatia. The city's economy largely depends on sea transport, shipbuilding (
shipyards "
3. Maj" and "
Viktor Lenac") and tourism.
Rijeka hosts the
Croatian National Theatre "
Ivan pl. Zajc", first built in
1765, as well as the
University of Rijeka, founded in
1632. The local
football clubs are
NK Rijeka and
NK Orijent.
History
Ancient and medieval times
Though traces of Neolithic settlements can be found in the region, the earliest settlements on the site were
Celtic ''Tarsatica'' (modern Trsat, now part of Rijeka) on a hill and the tribe of mariners, the
Liburni in the natural harbor below. The city long retained this double character.
In the time of
Augustus, the Romans rebuilt Tarsatica as a ''
municipium'' (MacMullen 2000) on the right bank of the small river
Rječina (whose name simply means "river") as ''Flumen''. Pliny mentioned Tarsatica (''Natural History'' iii.140). After the 4th century the city was rededicated as ''
Flumen Sancti Viti'', the city's
patron saint. From the 5th century onwards, the town came under successive
Frankish,
Croatian and
Magyar rule before coming under the control of the
Austrian
Habsburgs in 1466
[2].
Under Habsburg suzerainty
thumb
The
Baroque city clock tower above the arched gateway linking the ''Korzo'' to the inner city, designed by
Filbert Bazarig in 1876
Created a
free port in
1723, Fiume was passed during the 18th and 19th centuries among the Habsburgs' Austrian, Croatian, and Hungarian possessions until its attachment to the latter kingdom for the third and last time in
1870. Although Croatia had a constitutional autonomy within Hungary, the City of Fiume was independent, governed directly from Budapest by an appointed governor, as Hungary's only international port. There was competition between Austria's Port of
Trieste and Hungary's Port of Fiume.
Major port development, the general expansion of international trade and the city's connection (
1873) to the Hungarian and Austrian railway networks contributed to rapid population growth from 21,000 in
1880 to 50,000 in
1910. A lot of major building of the city took place at that time, including the Governor's Palace by the Hungarian architect Alajos Hauszmann. The future mayor of
New York City,
Fiorello La Guardia, lived in the city at the turn of the
20th century, and reportedly even played
football for the local sports club.
In 1912 the future Hungarian head of state
János Kádár was born in then Fiume.
The Italo-Yugoslav dispute and the Free State
Habsburg-ruled
Austria-Hungary's defeat and disintegration in the closing weeks of
World War I led to the establishment of rival Italian and Croatian administrations in the city as both
Italy and the founders of the new
Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (later Yugoslavia) claimed sovereignty based on their "
irredentist" ("unredeemed") ethnic populations.
After a brief Italian occupation, an international force of
French,
British and
United States troops occupied the city (November
1918) while its future was discussed at the
Paris Peace Conference during the course of
1919.
Italy based her claim on the fact that Italians were the largest single nationality within the city. Croats made up most of the remainder, and were also a majority in the surrounding area, including the neighbouring town of
Sušak. Negotiations were rudely interrupted by the city's seizure on
September 12, 1919 by a force of Italian nationalist irregulars led by the writer
Gabriele d'Annunzio, who eventually established a state, the
Italian Regency of Carnaro. This happened just two days after the
Treaty of Saint-Germain was signed that declared the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy dissolved.
The resumption of Italy's premiership by the Liberal
Giovanni Giolitti in June
1920 signaled a hardening of official attitudes to d'Annunzio's ''coup''. On
November 12, Italy and Yugoslavia concluded the
Treaty of Rapallo, under which Fiume/Rijeka was to be an independent state, the
Free State of Fiume/Rijeka, under a regime acceptable to both.
D'Annunzio's response was characteristically flamboyant and of doubtful judgment: his declaration of war against Italy invited the bombardment by Italian royal forces which led to his surrender of the city at the end of the year. Italian troops took over in January
1921. The election of an autonomist-led
constituent assembly for the territory did not put an end to strife: a brief Italian nationalist seizure of power was ended by the intervention of an Italian royal commissioner, and a short-lived local Fascist takeover in March
1922 ended in a third Italian military occupation. Seven months later Italy herself fell under Fascist rule.
A period of diplomatic acrimony closed with the
Treaty of Rome (
January 27,
1924), which assigned Fiume to Italy and Sušak to Yugoslavia, with joint port administration. Formal Italian annexation (
March 16, 1924) inaugurated twenty years of Fascist rule and a policy of forced
Italianization of the Croatian population, followed by twenty months of
German military occupation.
After World War II
The aftermath of
World War II saw the city's fate again resolved by a combination of force and diplomacy. This time, Yugoslav troops advanced (early May
1945) as far west as
Trieste in their campaign against the German occupiers of both countries: Fiume became Croatian (and until June
1991, Yugoslav) city of Rijeka, a situation formalized by the
Paris peace treaty between Italy and the wartime Allies on
February 10,
1947. Once the change in sovereignty was formalized, 58,000 of the 66,000
Italian speakers fled the city in advance of
Tito's communist regime and went into exile (''Esuli''). The discrimination most of them experienced and the persecution many of them suffered at the hands of the new Yugoslav authorities in the dying days of World War Two and the first weeks of peace were a painful memory for them. Summary executions of hundreds of suspected 'Fascists', Italian public servants, military and just ordinary citizens pushed Fiume's Italians to abandon their ancestral home.
Economy
View to Rijeka
Rijeka's economy has a strong growth. After the
Yugoslav wars, many companies were destroyed such as the cigarette paper factory "Hartera", the torpedo factory "Torpedo" and many others.
Main sights
HNK Ivana pl. Zajca
'Tvornica "Torpedo"' (the Torpedo factory)
The first European prototypes of a self-propelled torpedo were created by
Giovanni Luppis, a retired naval engineer from Fiume/Rijeka. The remains of this factory still exist, including a well-preserved launch ramp used for testing self propelled torpedoes on which in 1866 the first torpedo was tested.
'Svetište Majke Božje Trsatske' (Sanctuary of Madonna Trsatian)
(Zvijezda mora, Kraljica Jadrana, zaštitnica putnika - Star of the sea, Queen of Adriatic, protector of the travelers.)
Built 135 meters above the sea on the hill Trsat 7 centuries ago, it represents keeper of the travelers and especially seamen who bring offerings to madonna so she will guard them or to help them in troubles or illness. Among other gifts especially rises the gothic sculpture of (Gospa Slunjska) Madonna of Slunj and paintings from baroque painter C. Tasce.
'Stara vrata, Rimski luk' (Old gate,Roman arch)
At first it was thought that it was a Roman Triumph Arch built by the roman emperor
Claudius Gothicus but later it was discovered to be just a portal of gates to Pretorij, army command from late antiquity.
Transport
Ferry in Rijeka harbour.
Rijeka has effective and efficient transport connections to other parts of Croatia and neighboring countries. The A6 Zagreb-Rijeka motorway was completed in 2004; a shorter stretch connecting Rijeka with the Slovenian border, part of the A7 motorway, was also completed in 2004. Rijeka is also connected to the A8/A9
Istrian Y expressway network by the
Učka Tunnel. A very intricate series of high-capacity bypass and connection roads are presently being constructed as well. The eastern half of this project will open on 15 July 2006, and the more complex western half will open 2 years later.
Rijeka has an awkward air connection; it has an
international airport of its own, but it is located on the nearby island of
Krk. Handling only 130,000 passengers in 2005, and projected to handle only 250,000 by 2008, the airport is more of a charter airport than a serious transport hub, although various scheduled airlines have commenced services as well.
Rijeka is well-integrated into the
Croatian Railways and critical international lines. A fully electrified line connects Rijeka with Zagreb, and onwards towards
Koprivnica and the Hungarian border, as part of the international 5b corridor. It is also connected to Trieste and Ljubljana by a separate electrified stretch that extends northwards from the city. A transport bill, to be passed by the Croatian Parliament in July 2006, will see the start of construction of Croatia's first high-speed rail line, following the aforementioned 5b corridor, enabling speeds nearing 250 km/h. Construction on the new line starts in 2007 and is slated to be completed by 2010. The speeds of this line will enable a trip from Rijeka to Zagreb in around an hour, as opposed to the current four hours. Rijeka is well connected (direct trains) to Munich in Germany or Salzburg in Austria, and there are direct night trains running to Rijeka from these two cities.
Rijeka has good ferry connections with the surrounding islands and cities within Croatia, but no direct foreign connections. There are daily coastal routes to
Zadar,
Split, and onwards to
Dubrovnik, where more international connections are offered.
Pula offers more direct southward connections from northwestern Croatia.
Twin cities
★
Faenza,
Italy
★
Este,
Italy
★
Genoa,
Italy
★
Köln,
Germany
★
Neuss,
Germany
★
Ljubljana,
Slovenia
★
Kawasaki,
Japan
See also
★
Constitution of Fiume
★
Governors and Heads of State of Fiume
★
Postage stamps and postal history of Fiume
★
Virtual Free State of Rijeka
★
Rijeka (disambiguation)
★
Ilario Carposio
External links
★
City of Rijeka
★
Rijeka danas (Rijeka today)
★
Information on cultural events in Rijeka
★
The Virtual Free State of Rijeka
★
Just Rijeka
★
Forza Fiume
★
The publishing company of the italian-speaking community, with on line articles of their daily paper ''
La Voce del Popolo''
★
Port of Rijeka Authority
★
MAW's point of view ... by feet
References
★ MacMullen, Ramsay, 2000. ''Romanization in the Time of Augustus'',
Yale University Press
العربية
中国
Français
Deutsch
Ελληνική
हिन्दी
Italiano
日本語
Português
Русский
Español
