Natural History Museum

A little further to the northeast, in a villa overlooking the park Šetalište Vladimira Nazora, lies the Natural Science Museum (at 1 Lorenzov Prolaz). Its tradition dates back to 1876, when the natural scientist Dr. Josef Roman Lorenz designed its function, directing it towards geology and exploration of the sea. Although some parts of the display and collections are general in character, this museum primarily fosters the natural resources of Gorski Kotar, Istria and Kvarner, and is the only one of this kind in the region. Its permanent layout presents the geological history of the Adriatic, sharks, rays, and osseous fishes. Its presentations are accompanied by appropriate scenery and multimedia displays. The ichthyologic collection contains some extremely rare species, while some protected species can be seen in the malacological collection, and Eocene macrofossils in the paleontological one.
In the park in front of the Museum is situated the building housing the main office and part of the collection of the Croatian National Archives, which collect, keep, systemize and present the written historical records of the region. The building was originally a villa owned subsequently by several families. After a number of noble families of Rijeka, a British consul and a Rijeka's mayor, the building was owned by the Austrian Archduke Joseph, brother of the emperor Francis Joseph I. After a dispute with the court, which forced him to live in Hungary, Joseph cunningly chose Rijeka, at the time under direct Hungarian rule, in the immediate vicinity of Opatija, the court of Vienna’s winter resort. Significant reconstruction was made on the villa, consequently named the Vila Giuseppe, supervised by the architect R. Culotti and completed in 1895. The facades and the more representative parts of the interior were adorned in the decorations of late historicism. The palace was surrounded by romantic English gardens with the famous botanical garden, which even surpassed its better-known rival in Opatija. Today's Park Nikole Hosta sadly presents only the remains of a once splendid complex.