This relatively modest, baroque building served as the Town Hall from 1532, until Rijeka’s expansion demanded the city authorities move to the Municipium. The composer Ivan Zajc, after whom the National Theatre is named, was trained in music at the Philharmonic Institute which once occupied the first floor. The square in front, named after a local historian, Ivan Kobler, was once a lively piazza - the centre of the city’s social, commercial and political life, and a promenade by evening. The fountain built in commemoration of the 150th anniversary of Rijeka’s paper mill (see Industrial Rijeka) makes this a pleasant place to linger in the shade.