The Natural History Museum, located within the Nikola Host Park was the first regional museum in the Rijeka area founded in 1876 when Doctor Joseph Roman Lorenz designed its concept in accordance with Vienna's Naturhistoriches Museum. Initially it was a collection that was the main part of the City Museum, but since 1945 it has operated as an individual institution with rich holdings on its current location within which until 1960s, the zoo and aquarium were located. Today, the Museum is oriented towards marine research and possesses a specialized library including biology, geology and palaeontology volumes. Visitors can enjoy the rich collections and permanent exhibition presenting the geological past of the Adriatic, methods of oceanographic research, minerals, marine invertebrates, sharks and rays, a multimedia centre, an aquarium, and reptiles and amphibians from the river area.