2 Days in Cluj

This week I had the opportunity to visit Cluj-Napoca, one of Transylvania's largest cities. Cluj, like Sighișoara, was founded by German Saxons in the 12th century, while Transylvania was part of the Kingdom of Hungary. Cluj is much larger than Sighisoara - and has a much higher percentage of Hungarians.

Here are a few of the pictures I took while in Cluj.

St. Michael's Church stands on the main square in Cluj. It is the 2nd largest Saxon Church in Transylvania. Construction began on this Gothic Church in the 14th century. The current tower was built in the 19th century. It was built as a Roman Catholic Church before the Protestant Reformation, and remains a Catholic Church to this day.



The inside of St. Michael's Church. Notice the very ornate raised pulpit on the left.

In front of the church, notice a large black statue of Matthias Corvinus (see previous blog post here about Hunyadi Castle). Matthias Corvinius was the king of Hungary in the 15th century, a contemporary of Vlad Dracula who ruled in Wallachia (the southern part of present-day Romania).

The house where Matthias Corvinus was born, just steps from St. Michael's Church.

Commonly referred to as the Mirror Street, the buildings on this street are mirror images of one another. The only difference is that the one has recently been restored but not the other.

One of the original towers which protected the city during the Middle Ages.

Cluj is a university town. The Babeș Bolyai University is the city's oldest and largest university. This is its main building.


A statue of Saint George, slaying the dragon.


The national theater in Cluj.


A Romanian Orthodox Church. In the plaza in front of the church stands a monument to Avram Iancu, an important figure in the Transylvanian Revolution of 1848.


A lake near the place where I stayed overnight.


Just like other Romanian cities, Cluj has a picture of Mihai Viteazul (Michael the Brave), who first united the 3 major territories which make up present-day Romania.

Also in Cluj is the famous statue of Romulus & Remus being nursed by the she-wolf, a symbol marking the Roman history of Cluj-Napoca. (Napoca was the name of the Roman settlement on the site.)

While in Cluj, I visited its ethnographic museum, as well as a small pharmacy museum in the city's oldest pharmacy, several historical churches, and the botanical gardens.