Rijeka

Rijeka (Italian and Hungarian Fiume, other Croatian dialects: Reka or Rika, Reka, Sankt Veit am Flaum or Pflaum (both historical)) is the principal seaport of Croatia, located on Kvarner Bay, an inlet of the Adriatic Sea. It has 144,043 (2001) inhabitants. The overwhelming majority of its citizens (80.39%/ 2001 census) are Croats, with Serbs coming in second (6.21%). The Croatian, Slovene and Italian version of the city's name mean river in each of the languages.

Rijeka is the center of Primorje-Gorski Kotar County in Croatia. The city's economy largely depends on shipbuilding (shipyards "3. Maj" and "Viktor Lenac") and maritime transport.

Rijeka hosts the Croatian National Theatre "Ivan pl. Zajc", first built in 1765, as well as the University of Rijeka, founded in 1973 but with roots dating back to 1632.

Among other remarkable names, the most notable son of Fiume was probably János Kádár who, as Chairman of the Central Committee of the Hungarian Communist Party, served for more than 30 years as de facto Dictator of Hungary.

Ancient and medieval times
Though traces of Neolithic settlements can be found in the region, the earliest modern settlements on the site were Celtic Tarsatica (modern Trsat, now part of Rijeka) on the hill, and the tribe of mariners, the Liburni, in the natural harbour below. The city long retained its 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 means "the big river") as Flumen. Pliny mentioned Tarsatica (Natural History iii.140).

From the 5th century onwards, the town was ruled successively by the Ostrogoths, the Byzantines, the Lombards, the Avars, the Franks, the  Croats, the Hungarians and the Venetians before coming under the control of the Archduchy of Austria ruled by Austrian Habsburgs in 1466, where it remained for over 450 years except French rule between 1805 and 1813, until its occupation by Italian and Croat irregulars at the end of the first world war

After the 4th century the city was rededicated to St. Vitus, the city's patron saint, as Terra Fluminis sancti Sancti Viti or in German Sankt Veit am Pflaum. In medieval times Rijeka got its Croatian name, Rika svetoga Vida (= the river of St. Vitus).

Medieval Rijeka was a city surrounded by a wall and was thus a feudal stronghold. The fort was in the center of the city, at its highest point.

Under Habsburg sovereignty


After coming under Austrian Rule in 1466, Sankt Veit am Pflaum grew as part of the Holy Roman Empire and was eventually turned into a free port in 1723.During the 18th and 19th centuries was passed among the Habsburgs' Austrian, Croatian, and Hungarian possessions until being attached to Hungary for the third and last time in 1870. Although Croatia had constitutional autonomy within Hungary, the City of Rijeka was independent, governed (as a corpus separatum) 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. In the early 19th century, the prominent economical and cultural leader of the city was Andrija Ljudevit Adamić.

Fiume also had a significant naval base, and in the mid-19th century it became the site of the Austro-Hungarian Naval Academy (K.u.K. Marine-Akademie), where the Austro-Hungarian Navy trained its officers.

Giovanni de Ciotta (Mayor from 1872 to 1896) proved to be the most authoritative local political leader. Under his leadership, an impressive phase of expansion of the city started, marked by major port development, fuelled by the general expansion of international trade and the city's connection (1873) to the Hungarian and Austrian railway networks. Modern industrial and commercial enterprises such as the Royal Hungarian Sea Navigation Company "Adria", and the Papermill, situated in the Rječina canyon, producing worldwide known cigarette paper, became trademarks of the city.

In 1866, Robert Whitehead, manager of Stabilimento Tecnico Fiumano (an Austrian engineering company engaged in providing engines for the Austro-Hungarian Navy), experimented on the first torpedo. The population grew from only 21,000 in 1880 to 50,000 in 1910. A lot of major civic buildings went up at that time, including the Governor's Palace designed 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.

The Italo-Yugoslav dispute and the Free State
Habsburg-ruled Austria-Hungary's disintegration in the closing weeks of World War I in the fall of 1918 led to the establishment of rival Croatian and Italian administrations in the city; both Italy and the founders of the new Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (later the Kingdom of Yugoslavia) claimed sovereignty based on their "irredentist" ("unredeemed") ethnic populations.

After a brief Serbian occupation, an international force of Italian, French, British and American troops occupied the city (November 1918) while its future was discussed at the Paris Peace Conference during the course of 1919.

Italy based its claim on the fact that Italians were the largest single nationality within the city, 88% of total. Croats made up most of the remainder and were also a majority in the surrounding area, including the neighbouring town of Sušak. Andrea Ossoinack, who had been the last delegate from Fiume to the Hungarian Parliament, was admitted to the conference as a representative of Fiume, and essentially supported the Italian claims.

On 10 September 1919, the Treaty of Saint-Germain was signed declaring the Austro-Hungarian monarchy dissolved. Negotiations over the future of the city were interrupted two days later when a force of Italian nationalist irregulars led by the poet Gabriele d'Annunzio seized control of the city by force; d'Annunzio eventually established a state, the Italian Regency of Carnaro.

The resumption of Italy's premiership by the liberal Giovanni Giolitti in June 1920 signalled a hardening of official attitudes to d'Annunzio's coup. On 12 November, Italy and Yugoslavia concluded the Treaty of Rapallo, under which Rijeka was to be an independent state, the Free State of Rijeka/Fiume, 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, after a five days resistance. 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 (27 January 1924), which assigned Rijeka to Italy and Sušak to Yugoslavia, with joint port administration. Formal Italian annexation (16 March 1924) inaugurated twenty years of Italian government.

Rijeka in World War II
After the surrender of Italy to the Allies in September 1943, Rijeka and the surrounding territories were occupied by Germany, becoming part of the Adriatic Littoral Zone. Because of its industries (oil refinery, torpedo factory, shipyards) and its port facilities, the city was a target of frequent Anglo-American air attacks. Some of the worst attacks happened on January 12, 1944 (attack on the refinery, part of the Oil Campaign), on November 3–6, 1944, when a series of attacks resulted in at least 125 deaths and between February 15 and 25, 1945 (200 dead, 300 wounded). The harbour area was destroyed by retreating German troops at the very end of the war. Yugoslav troops entered the city on May 3, 1945, after heavy fighting.

Post World War II
The aftermath of the war 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. The city of Rijeka thus became Yugoslav, a situation formalized by the Paris peace treaty between Italy and the wartime Allies on 10 February 1947. Once the change in sovereignty was formalized, 58,000 of the 66,000 Italian speakers left in advance of the Yugoslav army, choosing exile (known in Italian as esuli or the exiled ones). The discrimination and persecution many of them experienced at the hands of the Yugoslav populace and officials in the last days of World War II and the first weeks of peace remain painful memories. Summary executions of alleged fascists, Italian public servants, military officials and even normal civilians (at least 650 Italians were executed immediately after the war ), forced most ethnic Italians to abandon Rijeka in order to avoid this class and ethnic cleansing.

Climate and geography
Rijeka's position overlooking the Kvarner Bay with its islands (Cres, Krk) on the south, the Učka mountain on the west, the mountains of Gorski kotar to the north and the Velebit range to the east offers an impressive natural setting.

Rijeka has a Humid subtropical climate with warm summers and relatively mild and rainy winters. Snow is rare (usually 3 days per year, almost always in traces). There are 22 days a year with maximum of 30 °C or higher, while one day a year temperature does not exceed 0 °C. Fog appears in about 4 days per year, mainly in winter. The climate is also characterized by frequent rainfall. Cold bura (bora) winds are common in winter time.

There are 1922.5 hours of sunshine per year. Maximum is in July with 297.6 hours, while minimum is in December with 97.8 hours of sunshine.

Main sights

 * Tvornica "Torpedo" (the Torpedo factory). The first European prototypes of a self-propelled torpedo, created by Giovanni Luppis, a retired naval engineer from 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 the Madonna of Trsat). Built 135 meters above the sea on the Trsat hill during the late Middle Ages, it represents the Guardian of Travelers, especially seamen, who bring offerings to her so she will guard them or help them in time of trouble or illness. It is home to the Gothic sculpture of the Madonna of Slunj and to works by the Baroque painter C. Tasce.
 * Old gate or Roman arch. At first it was thought that this was a Roman Triumphal Arch built by the Roman Emperor Claudius Gothicus but later it was discovered to be just a portal to the pretorium, the army command in late antiquity.
 * Rijeka Cathedral, dedicated to St. Vitus.

Transport
Port of Rijeka was rush-built by Austro-Hungary in World War I and was completed in 1918, just before the collapse of the Dual Monarchy. The cost was more than 800.000 Kronen.

Rijeka is the largest port in Croatia. According to the Rijeka Port Authority, its total throughput cargo in 2007 was more than 13 million tons and is rapidly increasing.

Rijeka has efficient road connections to other parts of Croatia and neighbouring countries. The A6 highway runs between Rijeka and Zagreb, Croatia; a shorter stretch connecting Rijeka with the Slovenian border, part of the A7 highway, was completed in 2004. Rijeka gains access to the B8/B9 Istrian Y expressway network by means of the Učka Tunnel, which currently has only one lane of traffic in each direction. An intricate series of high-capacity bypass and connection roads is currently under construction. The eastern half of this project was due to open on 15 July 2006, and the more complex western half is to open 2 years later.

The city is difficult to get to by air; it has its own international airport, but it is located on the nearby island of Krk with a toll bridge in-between. Handling only 130,000 passengers in 2005, and projected to handle only 250,000 by 2008, the facility is more of a charter airport than a serious transport hub, although various scheduled airlines have begun to serve it.

Rijeka is well integrated into the Croatian railway network and critical international rail lines. A fully-electrified line connects Rijeka with Zagreb and beyond towards Koprivnica and the Hungarian border as part of the pan-European Vb corridor. Rijeka is also connected to Trieste and Ljubljana by a separate electrified stretch that extends northwards from the city. A transport bill, to have been passed by the Croatian Parliament in July 2006, was to see the start of construction along the aforementioned 5b corridor of Croatia's first high-speed rail line, making possible speeds nearing 250 km/h. Construction on the new line was to start in 2007 and is slated to be completed by 2013. Higher speeds on this line will mean a trip from Rijeka to Zagreb will take about an hour, as opposed to the current three or four hours. Rijeka is well connected by direct train, with daily trains to Vienna, Munich, and Salzburg, and direct night trains running to Rijeka from these two cities.

Good ferry connections with the surrounding islands and cities within Croatia exist in Rijeka, but no direct foreign connections. There are twice-weekly coastal routes to Split, and onwards to Dubrovnik which has international connections. Pula offers more direct southward connections from northwestern Croatia.

Sports
Rijeka was the host of the 2008 European Short Course Swimming Championships. In its more than 80 years of history, LEN had never seen so many records set as the number of them set at the Kantrida Swimming Complex. A total of 14 European Records have been set of which 10 World Records and even 7 World Best Times. This championship also presented a record in the number of participating countries. There were more than 600 top athletes, from some 50 European countries.

Swimmers from 21 nations won medals and 40 of the 51 national member Federations of LEN were present in Rijeka.

Twin towns — Sister cities
Rijeka is twinned with:
 * 🇲🇰 Bitola, Republic of Macedonia
 * 🇮🇹 Faenza, Italy
 * 🇮🇹 Este, Italy
 * 🇮🇹 Genoa, Italy
 * 🇩🇪 Cologne, Germany
 * 🇩🇪 Neuss, Germany
 * 🇸🇮 Ljubljana, Slovenia
 * 🇯🇵 Kawasaki, Japan
 * 🇺🇦 Yalta, Ukraine
 * 🇲🇪 Cetinje, Montenegro