A Not So Old Town - Rijeka: Uncovering The Unseen (Traveling The Croatian Coastline #39)

Rijeka’s Old Town pales in comparison to others that can be found in cities along the Croatian coast. Its historic core is fragmented, the product of a violent history. Specifically, in World War II terror rained down upon Rijeka numerous times. The Allied aerial bombing campaign made it a prime target due to its harbor and port facilities. Rijeka survived but not exactly intact. Rebuilding meant adhering to the ideology of post World War II Yugoslavia where Tito and communism were triumphant. The same concrete constructions that blighted so many Eastern European cities still hover over the city from the hills rising above it. On the Rijeka Free Tour, we would discover that much of the Old Town was rather new. Functionalist and other modernist architectural works dot the area. Because of this, anything that has managed to survive from the pre-World War II era in Rijeka is noticeable and well worth seeing.

Symbolic Value – The City Clock Tower

Our guide Sinjan pointed us in the right direction throughout the Free Tour. This was apparent when 15 minutes into the tour we were strolling along the Korzo. He stopped the group just outside the City Clock Tower which is the most famous entry point into the Old Town. The lavishly Baroque exterior of the Clock Tower has an arched gateway at ground level that allows pedestrians to pass in and out of the Old Town. It is an inviting way to transition from new to old in a matter of seconds. The Clock Tower has all the monumental accouterments one would expect from such an exalted structure. These include symbolic representations which represent important aspects of the city’s history.

Many things may have changed in Rijeka since the beginning of the 20th century, how could it be otherwise since no less than eight governments (Austria-Hungary, the Italian Regency of Carnaro, the Free State of Fiume, the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, Fascist Italy, Nazi Germany, Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and Croatia) have ruled over the city during that time. This withering array of polities attempted to imprint themselves on the city’s physical landscape. Symbolism was paramount in these impositions. Interestingly, it is the oldest of those polities, Austria-Hungary, which has had one of the longest lasting effects upon the cityscape. A striking example of this can be seen by a relief of Emperors Leopold and Charles VI on the City Clock Tower.

It was Leopold I who helped orient the city toward maritime trade as a matter of Habsburg policy. He also granted the city its unique coat of arms, a double headed eagle. Unusual for this common heraldic symbol, the eagles both are shown facing the same way. The coat of arms was also prominently displayed on the City Clock Tower’s fa?ade. While as a city symbol it is three and a half centuries old, the current sculpture on the City Clock Tower only went up in 2017. An earlier one that had been atop the tower’s dome was altered by Italian soldiers following World War I. They decapitated one of the eagle’s heads because of its Habsburg symbolism. Fortunately, the eagle has risen again and looks as good as ever. As for the portrayal of Emperor Charles VI, it was he who gave Rijeka free port status, setting in motion the development of commerce that would eventually lead to it being one of the premier ports along the Eastern Adriatic shoreline.

Ancient & justified - Roman ruins in Old Town Rijeka

Traces of the Past - The Denigrated & The Disregarded

The City Clock Tower stood on the location of an old town gate, thought to have been here as far back as Late Antiquity. As we entered the Old Town, I noticed right away that much of it was modern with traces of the past. The preservation instinct was something that had been lacking in Rijeka for many decades. For many this is a drawback, but I found it fascinating. Piecing together the past in a modern environment can create a historical mosaic. Sinjan was up to the task. Besides an obvious visit to the ruins of the Roman military town of Tarsatica Principia, he offered us tantalizing tidbits of what remained hidden to all, but the most historically minded Rijekans. While viewing Saint Mary of the Assumption Church and Rijeka’s own Leaning Tower, Sanjin turned our attention to the unseen.

This area along the eastern fringes of the Old Town was where the public thermal baths were located during Roman times. Beneath a record shop located in a non-descript modern building, archaeologists had discovered the hypocaust, a floor space that was used for heating the baths. Since it lays beneath the foundations of a privately owned building, hopes that it will be revealed anytime soon are just that. Sanjin used the hidden hypocaust to talk about the lack of a historic preservation ethic in Rijeka. He believed this stemmed from the communist years when the focus was building a brave new world rather than preserving the past. The past was denigrated and disregarded. Ironically, now that communist Yugoslavia is history, it will be interesting to see whether its history will similarly be disregarded.

An old town - Apartment building in Rijeka

Lost In Time - Forming An Opinion

Sinjan deftly led us out of the Old Town’s serpentine streets toward the Rjecina River where he showed us an image of the same place. This had been the interwar border between Italy and Yugoslavia. What looked like an innocuous watercourse had once been the dividing line between two nations at odds. It would not be long before they were at war. The river never flowed with blood, but it might as well have because it symbolized a disagreement that would ultimately be settled by violence. It was hard to believe something so natural as the river could be used to demarcate an artificial border. The border did not last, while the Rjecina quietly kept flowing. It was a humbling moment, one lost in time and recovered before our very eyes with the help of an image Sinjan held in his hand. His words provided information and interpretation. He left us to form our own opinions of Rijeka’s rich history. If those opinions are anything like the one that I formed of Sinjan’s tour than they will provide me with a great deal to think about for many years to come.??