Trsat was an extremely patriotic Croatian town, and, together with Sušak, demonstrated its attachment to its mother country at every opportunity, and its independence from Rijeka, which was part of Hungary. The centre of political and cultural life in Trsat was the Croatian Reading Room, founded in 1877, with many cultural, educational and sports societies. Many memorial inscriptions and monuments bear witness to the resistance by the people of Trsat and Sušak to Italian and German occupation, a mortuary made according to plans by the architect Zdenko Sila and Zdenko Kolacio being outstanding.
