The City Museum of Rijeka is a general cultural and historical museum institution. It engages in collecting, handling and restoring the precious material, but it also organizes research projects, sets up relevant exhibitions and publishes detailed catalogues that explore the topics from the city’s recent history.

The most significant of these projects are: Rijeka’s Bridges, Rijeka’s Park Heritage, Ričina Talks – on the Manufacture and Industry on the Rječina River, Rijeka’s Springs and Laundry Washing Sites, Rijeka’s Stairs, the Port of Rijeka (history, construction, transport), Merika – Emigration from Central Europe to America 1815-1930, Rijeka’s Cinematography, Rijeka’s Advertisements 1890-1940, Magic Pin: the Collection of Gramophones and Rijeka’s Discography, the Story of Rijeka’s Industry, Rijeka’s Torpedo: the First in the World, etc.

In a series of exhibitions dedicated to prominent people of Rijeka, the Museum presents the life and work of persons who left a permanent mark in numerous areas of Rijeka’s life, such as economy (Andrija Ljudevit Adamić), architecture (Igor Emili, Andrija Čičin Šain, Ninoslav Kučan, Zdravko Bregovac), photography (Viktor Hreljanović, Ervin Debeuc, Francesco Drenig), painting (Leontine Littrow, Rikard Žic), set design and costume design (Dorian Sokolić and Ružica Nenadović Sokolić), and many others.

Museum items and documents are kept in different collections. These are: artistic crafts collection, philately collection, arts collection, music collection, collection of numismatics, securities, medals and decorations, collection of documentary material, press collection, collection of photographs and photographic equipment, collections of theatre and film material, collection of items from everyday life, postcard collection, technical collection, the Second World War collection, the collection of memoirs, the Galeb collection, auxiliary documentation fund and the Museum Library.