Capital of Transylvania – Cluj Napoca
The city that never sleeps
Cluj-Napoca (Kolozsvár) looks back on a highly eventful Dacian, Romanian, Hungarian, Austrian and German past that we can rediscover both in its name and its cityscape.
Cluj was at times an administrative and military center and also the capital of Transylvania, but it has always been one of the most important cultural strongholds of Romania. Here Prince Johann Sigmund issued the Edict of Torda (Patent of Toleration) in 11568, an attempt to guarantee religious freedom in Christian Europe. In our days Cluj-Napoca is a great center of culture and education boasting several famous universities – one of which is in three languages (Romanian, Hungarian and German) – a Romanian and a Hungarian theater, but also a branch of the Romanian Academy.
The center features a wonderful symbiosis of buildings from the Middle Ages to the 21st century. Including the Gothic birthplace of the Hungarian King Matei Corvin, the St. Michael’s Church (Biserica Sf. Mihail), the Franciscan Church (Biserica Franciscanilor), the Baroque Priaristen Church (Biserica Priaristilor) and the Banffy Palace from the 18th century.
With over 100,000 students living in the city, no wonder that the cafes, bars and clubs are always busy and the nightlife is lively.
MUSEUMS WE RECOMMEND:
The National Museum of Art
The Emil Racovita Cave Research Institute & Museum
The Museum of Ethnology
The History Museum of Transylvania
The Pharmacy Museum
The Museum of Speleology
The Botanical Museum
The Ethnographic State Museum
NOT TO BE MISSED:
The St. Michael’s Church
The Folk Park
The bastion towers
The Orthodox Cathedral
The Botanical Garden
IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD:
Bear Cave
Turda / Thornberg
Gherla
Nicula and Sic
Targu Mures
Turzii Gorge
Banffy Castle
Salina Turda
Bistrita