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Medical history of the city of Rijeka is a rich treasure trove of events, celebrities and valuable innovations in the field of healthcare. The historical development of Rijeka was largely determined by her geopolitical position as a border town with a multicultural population, marked by strong conflicts of interest and numerous identity turmoil. The great exodus of the domicile population of Italian nationality after World War II has significantly changed the social picture of the city. Among many of such esuli (immigrants) were brothers Giovanni (b. 1932) and Abdon (b. 1933) Pamich, whose lives are reminiscent of the fate of many displaced people from Rijeka who were forced to live in exile after the war. After leaving their hometown during the formative years of their childhood, they had successful careers in Italy in the fields of medicine and healthcare. The older brother Giovanni became a successful surgeon and the younger Abdon a psychologist. Along with his positions as the head of general surgery at the Monfalcone and Gorizia Hospitals, Giovanni Pamich was teaching at the University of Trieste. Abdon Pamich collaborated with the best Italian tennis players in the field of sports psychology, and was a psychologist for the Italian handball team. They both practiced athletics, and Abdon Pamich won the silver medal in speed walking at the 1958 European Championships in Sweden and the gold medal at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. In addition to emphasizing the achievements of the two brothers in the field of medicine, this paper also addresses the position of the migrant, which is highlighted in Robert Covaz’s book “Abdon Pamich, memorie di un marciatore (Rome, 2016), an exciting biography of an emigrant from Rijeka. The paper also explores the concept of thematizing the limits of differences and experiences of migration of Rijeka residents facing the existential issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Searching for an answer whether medicine is a science or an art, especially in today's time when the emphasis is on the biotechnological aspects of treatment, the intention of this paper is to reflect on the outcomes of the encounter of medicine and art. Those that are recognised at least in the complementarity of the methodology, creating additional life values. By presenting authentic actions, this is a call for additional health improvement interventions, without allowing the biopsychosocial approach to human integrity to be forgotten. The inspiration for this view was the prestigious title of the European Capital of Culture that the Town of Rijeka was awarded for the year 2020. This city is also a kind of capital of health culture in many ways. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Plague epidemics have remained in the collective consciousness until nowadays remembered as the deadliest. Therefore, it is not surprising that the answers to them throughout history have been not only medical but also religious. The previously mentioned will be analyzed in this paper through the cults of the protector saints against the plague epidemics that have developed in two Croatian cities of comparable size, Rijeka and Osijek, but with the diametrically opposed geographical positions and, accordingly, quite different historical developments. On the one hand, a more detailed overview of the development of the cults of various saints present in the mentioned cities will be presented. On the other hand, based on their presentation in the sacral heritage of these cities, the broader context of the time and space in which they have developed will be lightened. Particular attention will be paid to their medical connotations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Order of St. Augustine (Ordo Eremitarum Sancti Augustini) was the first religious community in Rijeka. The monastery of St. Jerome, founded by the noble families of Devin and Walsee, existed from the 14th century till 1788, when it was dissolved by Joseph II. Unfortunately, the past of the Augustine Monastery of St. Jerome is mostly unknown. On the basis of largely unexplored sources in Croatia and overseas, the author reveals several facts about the relation between Rijeka's Augustinian community and medicine. The paper includes an important piece of information concerning the existence of a hospital on the location of Andrejšćica in Rijeka, founded in the 15th century, which has so far been unknown. Augustinian's sources (16th and 18th century) show the presence of several shaver-surgeon (barbitonsorius) and other various relevant topics for the history of medicine in Rijeka - pharmacopola, aromatarius etc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]