Natural History Museum Rijeka (NHMR)
Country: Croatia | Region: Primorje-Gorski Kotar County
Natural History Museum Rijeka, founded back in 1876 by Josef Roman Lorenz, and established in 1945, is a regional museum which main activities include collecting, researching, preserving and presenting the natural heritage of broader region, as well as communicating the heritage to audience and public.
Today the Museum takes care of about 90.000 samples in 28 collections, registered as protected cultural heritage of Republic of Croatia. The herbarium collection (NHMR) keeps round 8.000 specimens of vascular plants and bryophytes, a seed bank as well as an extensive collection of silica-gel dried samples.
The Museum staff counts 13 highly motivated and expert staff members, among whom there are biologists and 1 geologist that are engaged in scientific and expert research in fields of botany, zoology, palaeontology and geology. Scientific research, conducted both in marine and terrestrial habitats, addresses topics in taxonomy, phylogeny, phylogeography, ecology, pollination biology, nature conservation and habitat restoration.
Museum, which is one of the leaders in introducing new technologies and services into Croatian museum practice, is proud of its intensive education programme for different target groups and a strong bond with the local community in Rijeka.
Museum is currently involved in several projects with a broad focus on nature protection and basic botanical scientific research. In particular, activities are focused towards phylogeny, phylogeography, pollination ecology, conservation genetics and ex/in situ conservation of endangered plant taxa (e.g., Moehringia tommasinii, Salvia brachyodon, Degenia velebitica, Cerastium dinaricum, Scilla litardierei etc.) which are conducted in close cooperation with the Universities of Primorska (Koper, Slovenia), Rijeka (Rijeka, Croatia) and Zagreb (Zagreb, Croatia).
Contact
Željka Modrić Surina – Director, zeljka@prirodoslovni.com
Boštjan Surina – Botany Curator, bostjan.surina@prirodoslovni.com
Address
Natural History Museum Rijeka
Lorenzov prolaz 1
51000 Rijeka
Croatia