The permanent exhibition follows the internal layout of the Palace. This means it is spread out through 30 rooms on two floors of the building, over a total of 1,200 square metres of the building. The exhibition offers an insight into the economic, political, cultural, educational, scientific and sports history of Rijeka in the period from the 18th to the 21st centuries. More precisely, from the moment the city became a free royal port in 1719 up until 2020 when the city became a European Capital of Culture. Everything has been done by placing Rijeka in the European context, by connecting it with Vienna, Antwerp, Budapest, Rome and other European cities. As well as those on other continents, such as New York. The basic material for this has been provided by the museum collections.

It was 2007 when, under happy circumstances, a group of enthusiasts, “torpedoists”, gathered at the City Museum of Rijeka and the first torpedoes and numerous instruments, parts and tools arrived. This exhibition is the first concrete step towards a museum collection – a museum of industrial heritage. The necessity of a museum of this type in Rijeka has been considered for several years, however, it has only recently been discussed seriously. Our approach to the research of the torpedo is based on the fascination with the technological achievements and the fact that a remarkable boom took place in Rijeka, which gained a global reputation at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century thanks to the torpedo.

Galeb’s permanent museum exhibition focuses on the ship as an object, on the values embedded in it, and on the events it has gone through. By highlighting the varied aspects from its biography over the 4,500 square metres of the ship’s space, it becomes a unique example of the presentation of cultural heritage in a technical, cultural and historical-political sense. The concept of the permanent exhibition was conceived by the City Museum of Rijeka, and it also obtained documentary material (objects, photographs, archival films and alike) and created a collaboration with designers in the realisation of the exhibition. It did this after it had, in collaboration with the Conservation Department of the Ministry of Culture in Rijeka, organised the inventorying, storage and restoration of the furniture, fittings and other items from Galeb.