CROATIAN MUSEUM OF TOURISMDIGITAL COLLECTIONS

Villa Angiolina is one of the oldest buildings in Opatija, as well as the most beautiful residential villa belonging to the Palladian style, with historicist architectural shaping of Neo-Renaissance vocabulary. It is surrounded by a park, the famous arboretum which is a significant example of horticultural landscape heritage. The building is symmetrical and has a monumental stairway on the sea-facing side, oriented towards the central section of the park with its floral rotunda.

The villa and the adjoining park are a symbol of Opatija. It was built by the Scarpa family from Rijeka (wealthy ship-owners and merchants) at the former location of the modest house of sailor Matija Justi Katičić (mentioned in 1837). The Scarpas were well-known for their hospitality, so the villa and the extraordinary ambience of Opatija attracted guests from Rijeka, as well as passers-by and chance travelers. Count Viktor Chorinsky bought the villa from the Scarpa family in 1875 and sold it seven years later to the Southern Railway Company which began investing in Opatija. In 1910, they sold the villa to the Inns and Health Resorts of Opatija Stock Company in Vienna. It was then used by the Health Resort Commission of Opatija, followed by Azienda Autonoma di Soggiorno during Italian rule. After World War II, it was used by the Tourism and Hospitality Chamber of the district of Rijeka, Opatija Subcommittee, the Tourist Association and Tourism Bureau of Opatija, Reading room and library Viktor Car Emin, Pozornica Opatija Company, Villa Angiolina Company Ltd. and Festival Opatija. Since 2007, villa Angiolina has been the seat of the Croatian Museum of Tourism.

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Abbazia. Angiolina Platz.
Opatija. Park Angiolina.
anonymous
1906

postcard, illustrated
paper; heliography
9 x 14 cm
HMT-7

The seaside promenade of Franz Joseph I, widely known as lungomare, is 12 kilometers long in total and extends from Volosko through Opatija, Ika and Ičići all the way to Lovran.

Its construction was initiated by the Austrian Tourist Club (Österreichisches Touristenclub), specifically its Opatija branch (founded in 1885 at the behest of the club’s president Anton Silberhuber) and the Association for the Beautification of the Opatija Health Resort (Verschönerungs – Verein des Curortes Abbazia) and its president Julius Glax.

The section of the promenade from Volosko to Slatina was constructed in 1889, the same year that Opatija was declared a health resort, and the south section of the promenade, from Opatija to Lovran, was completed in 1911.

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Abbazia. Nordstrand.
Opatija, northern part of the coastal promenade
Tomasić & Co., R.E.C.A.; Opatija
1912

postcard
paper; heliography, three-coloured litography; paper
8,8 x 13,8 cm
HMT-10

With the development of spa tourism on the eastern Adriatic, the second half of the 19thcentury was a time when a number of baths were built along the coast - wooden or concrete objects whose purpose was to facilitate entering the water on the rocky parts of the coast and provide changing spaces (booths), as well as various other facilities for the demanding European clientele.

The planning and construction of bathing resort facilities in tourist areas were closely linked with the development of scientific and medical research on the healing properties of the sea. In fact, at the end of the 19th century, swimming in the sea was recommended “by prescription” as a method of treating certain illnesses, most commonly cardiac and respiratory, but also many other ailments.

The Angiolina Sea Bath, developed by the Southern Railways, was the first large-scale public sea bath in Opatija. The bath included a hydropathic institute, as well as an open sea bath, and was opened to the public on July 20th of 1884.

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Angiolina Seebad
Angiolina bathing establishment
Mehner & Maas; Leipzig
ca 1900

postcard, illustrated
paper; chromolithography
9,1 x 13,8 cm
HMT-14

The building was constructed in 1900 by the Quarnero stock company from Vienna. Originally, it was a pastry shop called Gerbaud and later Glacier. Fresh cakes arrived to the then favorite Opatija pastry shop every morning from Vienna and Budapest by express train.

In 1930, the building became an exhibition pavilion owned by the Municipality of Opatija (the City of Opatija today) and has been used for holding exhibitions until today.

The Juraj Šporer Art Pavilion is located on the seashore, next to the St. Jacob parish church. The building is longitudinal, asymmetrical and has a semi-circular entrance porch with pillars. The roof is flat and built as a terrace. The façade is decorated with stucco friezes and medallions. A terrace is situated in front of the south façade, above the coastal path.

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Abbazia. Pavillon Glacier
Opatija, Pavillon Glacier
anonymous
ca 1926

postcard
paper; print
13,65 x 8,7 cm
HMT-18

The building was mentioned for the first time in 1875 as an outbuilding owned by the Scarpa family, also owners of the nearby villa Angiolina. It was not unusual for Paolo Scarpa and his wife, Maria von Bruck, nature lovers and a romantic couple of their time, to have on their property a cottage in which their servants made homemade dairy products.

After renovations in 1884, the cottage became a boarding house. In the early 20th century it housed a music room (Musikzimmer) for guests of Opatija, and during the Italian administration the cottage became a gardener's house (casa del giardiniere).

After the Second World War, this building was home to offices of the company caring for Opatija's parks, until 2013, when the Swiss House became a part of the Croatian Museum of Tourism.

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Schweizerhaus.
The Swiss House
J. B. Rottmayer, Opatija
1883.

photography
21,6 x 28,7 cm
HMT-1182/9

Madonina is the statue which the Kesselstadt family had erected in memory of their tragically deceased son. Count Arthur Kesselstadt tragically lost his life in a spring storm in 1891 off the coast of Opatija. Overwhelmed by pain, the Count’s family erected the sculpture Madonna del Mare on a seaside rock to watch over his soul.

The sculpture is the work of sculptor Hans Rathausky from Graz. It stood on the rocks along the promenade, but it collapsed in the sea during a severe storm in the 1950s. The famous Girl with the Seagull statue was erected in its place.

Today, a gilded replica of the Madonina is located next to the Church of St. Jacob, and the restored original is kept in the Croatian Museum of Tourism.

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Madonina, Opatija
Ivan Letiš; Opatija
1920

photography on cardboard
21,9 x 27,8 cm
HMT-1409

Casino Rosalia is situated in the eponymous villa Rosalia. The villa is located along the main road and surrounded by a large park. It was built in 1896 for Countess Henkel Dannemark of Pressburg. It was named after the saint to whom the former house chapel was dedicated. In 1922, the villa was bought by a famous Czech virtuoso, Jan Kubelik, who lived in it until 1930. The villa is an example of a luxurious construction, typical for the late 19th century, when the Austrian aristocracy set the standards which shaped Opatija into an exclusive tourist destination.

Vila Rosalia became the Casino Rosalia in 1963 - it was the first casino in Eastern Europe.

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Opening of the Casino Rosalia, Opatija
anonymous
1963

photography
30 x 40 cm
HMT-3868

Fan made of thin wood (veneer). Consisting of 14 petals with a thicker one on each end, enclosing the collapsed fan. The petals in the upper section are perforated and semi-circular. Connected by a cloth ribbon underneath the perforations. Linked with an oval metal ring at the bottom, affixed by circular white inserts on both sides.

The middle of the fan features images of hotels and spa salons, in b/w print on an oval piece of paper of different diameters of 5.5, 6 and 7 cm. Three on each side - three Opatija hotels on one side, three Austrian on the other. Names of hotels in Italian. Opatija Hotels: Hotel Quarnero Majestic, Hotel Regina Majestic, Grand Hotel Laurana. Austrian hotels: Kursalon der Stadt Wien, Parkhotel Schonbrunn, Schlosshotel Kobenzl. The protective, thicker end petals also feature names of hotels in gold print.

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Hand fan with hotel motifs
Hans Hübner
ca 1925

hand fan
wood, paper, linen, metal; goldprint, print
16,5 x 28 cm
HMT-1820

With the development of transport infrastructure in the mid-19th century (construction of railways and introduction of steamship lines) traveling became safer, more comfortable and more accessible to a wider range of people. This was the beginning of the development of tourism, a new economic activity that changed the traditional way of life in Croatia.

In this period, tourist destinations were visited by distinguished guests and members of the high society of the time. The contents of the luggage were determined by the status of the owner and the amount of items that had to be transported from the place of residence to the tourist destination. Given that the stay could last several weeks, and the expected social events and status required appropriate attire, we can assume that ‘mountains’ of luggage were brought along. The external appearance and quality of suitcases, trunks, boxes, bags and such represented a kind of calling card of the owner. Several manufacturers of luggage could guarantee the quality of workmanship and design for the sophisticated clientele who came to Opatija, and elsewhere. Travelers from France and Great Britain, mainly carried luggage by Louis Vuitton, but the Parisian companies Goyard, Hermes and Moynat were also quite good. Germans favored suitcases by the company Moritz Mädler, while the “local” clientele from Vienna and Budapest preferred luggage by M. Würzel and sons from Vienna, which was good enough that they could advertise as a Hoflieferant (palace purveyor). And if the manufacturer engraved the owner’s monogram on the luggage, doormen and porters could expect a royal tip.

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Suitcase
anonymous
beginning of the 20th century

suitcase
leather, metal, cardboard
43,5 x 70 x 21,5 cm
HMT-4415

The development of tourism in continental Croatia started in the 18th century, with the construction of thermal springs. That is when spas were built in Varaždin, Tuhelj, Stubica, Krapina, Sutinsko and Daruvar, as well as health resorts in Topusko and Lipik.

Springs were tapped, many spas, baths and hotels built, parks and promenades laid out and communal infrastructure developed.

As early as the 19th century, Topusko became one of the most well-known health resort destinations of the Habsburg Empire, and in 1895 and 1896 it received international recognition as the best spa resort.

Particularly interesting in Topusko were bog peat sediments - mud with healing properties applied in mud baths.

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Vase with the inscription Bad Topusko
anonymous
beginning of the 20th century

vase
colourless glass; casting, abrading, inscribing
11 x 7 cm
HMT-2801

After the First World War, the tourist industry also underwent major changes, largely caused by the lifestyle change which swept the world during the 1920s.

Elite guests from the aristocracy were no longer the only visitors to tourist destinations. The new middle class became more numerous, leisure and traveling democratized and was no longer a privilege of the upper classes, increasingly including also members of other social classes.

One tourist activity gained strong momentum - hiking. Local population, especially in urban areas, adopted the European fashion of enjoying the outdoors, especially on Sundays. Thanks primarily to hikers, tourism in Gorski Kotar began to develop more in the period between the two World Wars, aided by a good railway link with two important sources of visitors, Rijeka and Zagreb. In 1924, the first hotel in Gorski Kotar was built - Tomislav in Delnice. Visitors came for the beauty of the landscape, as well as the opportunity for skiing in winter and other forms of recreation.

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Gorski kotar
Pavao Gavranić
1935

tourist poster
cardboard; lithography
33,2 x 21,5 cm
HMT-1515

After the First World War, the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy meant that a part of Croatian territory was annexed by Italy after the Rapallo Treaty in 1920 (Opatija and its Riviera, Cres, Lošinj, Zadar, the whole of Istria, Lastovo and Palagruža). These important tourist areas became direct competition to Croatian tourist destinations within the newly created Kingdom of SHS (Crikvenica, Novi, Krk, Rab, Split, Hvar, Dubrovnik, Makarska). Their development still went in the same direction - the era of climate spas and health motivated tourism was coming to an end, and tourism was changing into summertime, recreational, beach tourism, slowly paving the way to what would, in the second half of the 20th century, be called mass tourism.

Visitors come to tourist destinations mostly during the summer months, wanting to spend their vacation swimming and sunbathing, but also enjoying a variety of sports activities. Recreational sport became an imperative of the period, as a form of leisure connected with nature and having a healthy body. By the 1930s, a classic motif in advertising brochures for Adriatic tourist destinations is a slim young woman in a form-fitting bathing suit which allows her to enjoy any of the seaside sports activities without hindrance.

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Abbazia
Opatija
Pizzi & Pizio; Milano
1930's

brochure
paper; print
18 x 12 cm
HMT-2318