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Cluj-Napoca (pronunciation in Romanian: /'kluʒ na'poka/; Template:Lang-de; Template:Lang-hu; Medieval Latin: Castrum Clus / Claudiopolis), until 1974 Cluj, is a city in north-western Romania and the seat of Cluj County. The city, one of the most important academic, cultural and industrial centres in the country, is located in the historic province of Transylvania and is approximately 440 km north-west of Bucharest, in the Someşul Mic Valley.
Etymology
The name Cluj derives from Castrum Clus, first used in the 12th century to designate the city's medieval citadel. The word Clus means "closed" in Latin, and is related to the hills that surround the city. Another probable theory derives the name from German, either from the name Klaus, or from the word Klause (meaning mountain pass, or weir - from clusa).
The city is also known by its Hungarian name Kolozsvár, as well as by its German name Klausenburg. Klausenburg was one of the seven medieval fortified Saxon cities of Siebenbürgen (meaning seven fortresses) Transylvania). The first Romanian name of the city was Cluş, also written as Klus. The city became known by the Romanian variant name Cluj after becoming part of the Kingdom of Romania in 1918. The city's name was changed to Cluj-Napoca in 1974 by the Romanian communist authorities.
History
After the Roman Empire conquered Dacia at the beginning of the 2nd century, Trajan established a legion camp known as Napoca. Hadrian raised Napoca to the status of a municipium, naming it Municipium Aelium Hadrianum Napoca. The locality was later raised to the status of a colonia, probably during the reign of Marcus Aurelius. Napoca became a provincial capital of Provincia Porolissensis and the seat of a procurator. However, during the Migrations Period Napoca was overrun and destroyed.
In the 10th century, the region was settled the Magyars (Hungarians) and became part of the Kingdom of Hungary. The Mongol invasion destroyed the old plank fortress and also the surounding village. A new castle and a village was built in a new place (present-day Memorandului and Emil Isac street) in the late 13th century. Crown Prince Stephen Duke of Transylvania encouraged the Transylvanian Saxons to settle down in the new village in 1272.
In 1270 Kuluzsvar (the castle and the village) was donated (so thus degraded) to the bishopric of Transylvania. In 1316 received town privileges from Charles I of Hungary and to the memory of this event the Saint Michael Church started to build. In 1331 the voivode of Transylvania lost his supremacy over Kuluzsvar. Kolozsvar-Klausenburg became a free royal city in 1405. By this time the number of Saxon and Hungarian inhabitants was equal, and King Matthias Corvinus (born in Klausenburg in 1440) ordered that the office of the chief judge should be alternating between Hungarians and Saxons.
In 1541 Klausenburg became part of the independent Principality of Transylvania after the Ottoman Turks occupied the central part of the of the Hungarian Kingdom. Although Alba Iulia served as political capital for the princes of Siebenbürgen (Transylvania), Klausenburg was the main cultural and religious centre for the principality. Prince Stefan Batory founded a Jesuit academy in Klausenburg in 1581. Between 1545 and 1570 large numbers of Germans (Saxons) left the city due to the introduction of Unitarian doctrines,. The remaining were assimilated to Hungarians, and the city became a centre for Hungarian nobility and intellectuals. With the Treaty of Karlowitz in 1699, Klausenburg became part of the Habsburg Monarchy.
The first Hungarian-language newspaper was published in Klausenburg in 1791, and the first Hungarian theatrical company was established in 1792. In 1798 the city was heavily damaged by a fire.
From 1790-1848 and 1861-1867, Klausenburg was the capital of the Grand Principality of Siebenbürgen within the Austrian Empire; the city was also the seat of the Transylvanian diets. Beginning in 1830, the city became the centre of the Hungarian national movement within the principality. During the Revolutions of 1848, Klausenburg was taken and garrisoned in December by Hungarians under the command of the Polish general Józef Bem.
After the Ausgleich (compromise) which created Austria-Hungary in 1867, Klausenburg and Transylvania were again integrated into the Kingdom of Hungary. During this time, Kolozsvar was among the largest and most important cities of the kingdom, and was the seat of Kolozs County. In 1897, the the Hungarian government decided that only Hungarian place names should be used and therefore prohibited the use of the German or Romanian versions of the city's name in official government documents.
After World War I, Cluj became part of the Kingdom of Romania, along with the rest of Transylvania. In 1940 Cluj was returned to Hungary through the Second Vienna Award, but Hungarian forces in the city were defeated by the Soviet and Romanian armies in October 1944. Cluj was restored to Romania by the Treaty of Paris in 1947.
Cluj had 16,763 inhabitants of Jewish ancestry in 1941. After Hungary's German occupation in March 1944, the city's Jews were forced into ghettos under conditions of intense overcrowding and practically no facilities. Liquidation of the ghetto occurred through six deportations to Auschwitz between May and June 1944. Despite facing severe sanctions from the Horthy administration, many Jews escaped across the border to Romania with the assistance of Romanian peasants of neighboring villages. They were then able to flee Europe from the Romanian Black Sea port of Constanţa. Other Jews originating from East European countries were helped to escape from Europe by an Anti-Nazi group led by the Jewish Joint and Romanian politicians in Cluj and Bucharest. The leader of this network, between 1943 and 1944, was Raoul Şorban.
Hungarians remained the majority of the city's population until the 1960s, when for the first time in its long history, Romanians outnumbered Hungarians. According to the 1966 census, the city's population of 185,663 was composed of 56% Romanians and 41% Hungarians. Until 1974 the official Romanian name of the city was Cluj. It was renamed to Cluj-Napoca by the Communist government to recognize it as the site of the Roman colony Napoca. Some believe this was done to slight the Hungarian community by emphasizing that the Romanian community descends from romanized Dacians.
Following the Romanian Revolution of 1989, the nationalist politician Gheorghe Funar became mayor for 12 years. His tenure was marked by strong Romanian nationalistic and anti-Hungarian ideas. A number of public art projects were undertaken by the city with the aim of highlighting Romanian symbols of the city, most of them regarded by Hungarian ethnics as a way of obscuring the city's Hungarian ancestry. In June 2004 Gheorghe Funar was voted out of office. He was replaced by Emil Boc of the Democratic Party. The laws on municipal bilingualism have not been applied in administration as the 2002 city census showed less than 20% Hungarians.
In 1994 and 2000, Cluj-Napoca hosted the Central European Olympiad in Informatics (CEOI). It thus made Romania not only the first country to have hosted the CEOI, but also the first country to have hosted it a second time.
The city is known in Hasidic Jewish history for the founding of the Sanz-Klausenburg dynasty.
Politics
Main article: Politics of Cluj-NapocaThe mayor of Cluj-Napoca is Emil Boc, the leader of the Democratic Party, ex-FSN.
The Cluj-Napoca Municipal Council, elected in the 2004 local government elections, is made up of 27 councillors, with the following party composition:
The most important parties at Cluj are Partidul Naţional Liberal, Partidul Democrat (ex-FSN), Partidul Social Democrat, Partidul Naţional Ţărănesc Creştin-Democrat (PNŢCD), Partidul România Mare, Uniunea Democratǎ a Maghiarilor din România, Partidul Conservator
Population
From the Middle Ages onwards, the city of Cluj has been a multicultural city with a diverse cultural and religious life. As of 2002 the city's population was 317,953 (ranked third in Romania after the capital Bucharest and Iaşi)
The ethnic composition, according to the 2002 census, is:
- 252,433 Romanians (79.4%)
- 60,287 Hungarians (18.9%)
- 1% Roma, 0.23% Germans and 0.06% Jews.
Population dynamics
Official Censuses show the following population dynamics:
- 1850: || 19 612 (Romanians: 21.0%, Hungarians: 62.8%)
- 1880: ||| 32 831 (Romanians: 17.1%, Hungarians: 72.1%)
- 1890: |||| 37 184 (Romanians: 15.2%, Hungarians: 79.1%)
- 1900: ||||| 50 908 (Romanians: 14.1%, Hungarians: 81.1%)
- 1910: |||||| 62 733 (Romanians: 14.2%, Hungarians: 81.6%) (After Transylvania united with Romania in 1918-1920, an exile of Hungarian inhabitants occurred. Also the city grew and many people moved to the town from the surrounding area and Cluj county, populated largely by Romanians).
- 1920: ||||||||| 85 509 (Romanians: 34.7%, Hungarians: 49.3%)
- 1930: |||||||||| 103 840 (Romanians: 35.7%, Hungarians: 46.5%) (In August 1940, as the second Vienna Award transferred the northern half of Transylvania to Hungary, an exile of Romanian inhabitants occurred.)
- 1941: ||||||||||| 114 984 (Romanians: 9.8%, Hungarians 85.7%)(The 1941 Hungarian census is considered unreliable by most historians. In 1941, Cluj had 16,763 Jews. The Cluj Jews were ghettoised in 1944 by the Hungarian forces and deported to Auschwitz between May and June 1944.)
- 1948: |||||||||||| 117 915 (Romanians: 40%, Hungarians: 57%)
- 1956: ||||||||||||||| 154 723 (Romanians: 47.8%, Hungarians: 47.9%) (In the sixties a very strong policy of Industrialization started. Many people from the surrounding rural areas (largely Romanian) were moved into the city. As a consequence, for the first time in its long history, Cluj had a Romanian majority.)
- 1966: ||||||||||||||||||| 185 663 (Romanians: 56.5%, Hungarians: 41.4%)
- 1977: |||||||||||||||||||||||||| 262 858 (Romanians: 65.8%, Hungarians: 32.8%)
- 1992: ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| 328 602 (Romanians: 76.6%, Hungarians: 22.7%)
- 2002: |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| 318 027 (Romanians: 79.5%, Hungarians: 18.9%)
Source: Template:Hu icon Varga E. Árpád: Ethnical and religious statistics for Transylvania
Famous natives/inhabitants of Cluj
- Ion Agârbiceanu - novelist
- Bartolomeu Valeriu Anania - Orthodox bishop
- Dezső Bánffy - prime minister of Hungary
- Miklós Bánffy - politician and novelist
- Lucian Blaga - philosopher, poet
- István Bocskay - prince of Transylvania
- János Bolyai - mathematician
- Alexandru Borza - scientist, founder of the Botanical Garden
- The Cheeky Girls - pop duo
- Corneliu Coposu - politician (National Peasants' Party)
- Doina Cornea - anti-communist dissident, human rights activist and politician (National Peasants' Party)
- Mathias Corvinus - King of Hungary
- Hadrian Daicoviciu - professor and historian
- Ferenc Dávid - protestant reformer, founder of the Unitarian Church in Transylvania
- Gheorghe Dima - composer, musician, professor
- Gheorghe Funar - nationalist politician (Greater Romania Party)
- Onisifor Ghibu - historian, moralist, politician
- Ionel Haiduc - professor, President of the Romanian Academy
- Emil Haţieganu - politician
- Iuliu Haţieganu - scientist, doctor, politician (National Peasants' Party)
- Iuliu Hossu - Greek-Catholic cardinal, participant at the Alba Iulia National Assembly on December 1, 1918
- Ioan Lupaş - historian, theologist, politician, member of the Romanian Academy, representative in the Alba Iulia National Assembly
- Iuliu Maniu - politician (National Peasants' Party)
- Andrei Marga - politician and philosopher
- Iuliu Merca - artist
- Crişan Mircioiu - doctor and professor
- Dorinel Munteanu - football player
- Gheorghe Mureşan - basketball player
- Ioan Gyuri Pascu - artist
- Ştefan Pascu - historian, professor
- Florin Piersic - actor
- David Prodan - historian,professor
- Emil Racoviţă - biologist, speleologist and explorer
- Ion Raţiu - politician (National Peasants' Party)
- Sándor Reményik - poet
- Dumitru D. Roşca - philosopher
- Stefan Ruha - violinist
- István Szamosközy - historian
- Ioan Ovidiu Sabău - football player
- Raoul Cornel Toma Şorban - art historian and professor, holder of the Righteous Among the Nations title
- Alexandru Vaida-Voievod - politician,(National Peasants' Party)
Administration
Cluj-Napoca administrative areas
The city contains over 15 districts, some of them with their own local administrative structure (townhall). The city townhall intend to develop local administrative structures for most of the districts.
- Andrei Mureşanu
- Bulgaria
- Bună Ziua
- Centru
- Dâmbul Rotund
- Gheorgheni
- Grădinile Mănăştur
- Grigorescu
- Gruia
- Iris
- Între Lacuri
- Mănăştur
- Mărăşti
- Someşeni
- Zorilor
Because of the last years massive city development, in 2005 some areas of Cluj were named as districts. Most of them are still building yards:
- Sopor district, placed in Sopor colony area.
- Borhanci district, placed in Borhanci colony area.
- Becaş district, placed in Becaş colony area.
- Făget district, placed in Făget colony area.
- Zorilor South district, placed in Observatorului South area.
Beside these, there are some other building areas like Tineretului, Lombului or Oser, which it's likely to become districts in the following years.
Cityhall
Main article: List of mayors of Cluj-Napoca
Mayor of Cluj is the democrate Emil Boc, representing the PNL-PD alliance. Vicemayors are: Adrian Popa (PNL) and Boros János (UDMR). The local coalition is composed from PNL, PD and UDMR.
Prefecture and County Board
The two institutions administration board was decided after 2004 alections:
- Prefect: Alin Tişe (none; PD, until 2006)
- County Board: Marius-Petre Nicoară (PNL)
Arts and culture
An important cultural centre, Cluj-Napoca has many museums, theatres, and the like.
The Lucian Blaga National Theatre, opened on 1 December 1919 in Avram Iancu Square, is the most important theatre in Transylvania. The building, designed by the Austrian architects Helmer and Fellner was built in 1904-1906 to house the Hungarian National Theatre. The building also hosts the Romanian Opera, the oldest lyrics and dramatics institution in Romania. The Hungarian Theatre and Opera in Cluj was moved in 1919 to a smaller building where it remains to this day.
In the Bánffy Palace, where the National Art Museum is located, many notable artists are on display: Romanian painters Nicolae Grigorescu, Ştefan Luchian, and Dimitrie Paciurea, as well as foreign painters such as Constantin David Rosenthal or Karl Storck. Other museums: include the National Transylvanian History Museum, the Pharmacy Museum, the Village Museum, and the Geology and Animals Museum.
In Cluj-Napoca there are also the following foreign culture centres:
- French Cultural Centre
- J.F. Kennedy American Cultural Center
- British Cultural Centre
- German Cultural Centre
- Italian Cultural Centre
- The Japanese Centre of Art and Culture
- Indian Cultural Centre
Since 1955 Cluj has also hosted the Transylvanian National Philharmonia.
On June 3, 2006, the MTV Romania Music Award ceremony took place in Cluj.
One of the main cultural events that takes place in Cluj-Napoca is the Transilvania International Film Festival (official site). The Gay Film Nights festival, showcasing LGBT culture and cinema, is also organised annually in Cluj-Napoca by Be An Angel, the city's largest LGBT rights organisation.
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Economy
Cluj-Napoca is an important economic centre in Romania. Famous local brands that have become well known at a national, or even international level, include: Banca Transilvania, Farmec, Jolidon, Napolact, and Ursus breweries.
The city has also become an important IT sector centre, with over 100 software companies and two universities that provide quality graduate engineers.
Cluj-Napoca is also an important regional commercial centre, with shopping centres and hypermarkets like: Billa, Central, Cora, Kaufland, Plus, Praktiker, Profi, Metro, Selgros, Sigma Center, Sora. Two shopping malls, Julius and Polus Centre are also currently under construction, an Auchan and a Real hypermarket also.
Transport
Cluj-Napoca is very well served in terms of transport and infrastructure for Romanian cities standard, being an important element of the national air, rail and road transport networks.
Air
The Cluj-Napoca International Airport (CLJ), located 9 km to the east of the city centre, is the fourth busiest airport in Romania, after the two Bucharest airports (OTP and BBU) and Timisoara airport. Situated on the European route E576 (Cluj-Napoca - Dej), the airport is connected to the city centre by the local public transport company, RATUC, bus number 8.
Rail
The Cluj-Napoca Main Rail Station, located about 2 km to the north of the city centre, is situated on the CFR-Romanian Railways Main Line 300 (Bucharest - Oradea - Romanian Western Border) and on the Line 401 (Cluj-Napoca - Dej). CFR provides direct rail connections to all the major Romanian cities and to Budapest. The rail station is very well connected to all the parts of the city by the trams, trolleybuses and buses of the local public transport company, RATUC.
The city is also served by two other secondary rail stations, the Little Station (Romanian: Gara Micǎ) and Cluj-Napoca East.
Road
Cluj-Napoca is an important node in the European road network, being on three different European routes (E60, E81 and E576). At a national level, Cluj-Napoca is located on three different main national roads, DN1, DN1C and DN1F.
The Romanian Motorway A3, also known as Transylvania Motorway (Romanian: Autostrada Transilvania), currently under construction, will link the city with Bucharest and the Romanian western border. Its western part (Romanian border - Oradea - Cluj-Napoca) is planned to be finished by 2009, while its eastern and southern part (Cluj-Napoca - Braşov) is planned to be finished by 2012.
The Cluj-Napoca Coach Station (Romanian: Autogara) is used by several private transport companies to provide coach connections from Cluj-Napoca to a large number of locations from all over the country.
Public transport
RATUC, the local public transport company, runs an extensive 342 km public transport network within the city using trams, trolleybuses and buses.
Education
Cluj-Napoca is one of the most important academic centres in Romania.
Universities:
- Babeş-Bolyai University (more than 43,000 students) offering 105 concentrations in Romanian, 52 in Hungarian, 13 in German and 4 in English
- University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine
- Technical University of Cluj-Napoca (with more than 12,000 students)
- Iuliu Hatieganu University of Medicine and Pharmacy (with more than 6,000 students)
- Art and Design University
- Gheorghe Dima Music Academy
Some private universities:
- Dimitrie Cantemir Christian University (more than 1,500 students), official site
- Bogdan Vodă University, official site
- Avram Iancu University, official site
- Sapientia Hungarian University of Transylvania (Template:Ro, Template:Hu), official site
Some important public schools: Liceul Teoretic Avram Iancu, Liceul de Informatică Tiberiu Popoviciu, Colegiul National George Baritiu, Liceul Teoretic Lucian Blaga, Liceul Emil Racoviţă, Liceul Gheorghe Şincai, Liceul Nicolae Bălcescu, Liceul George Coşbuc, Liceul Mihai Eminescu, Liceul Onisifor Ghibu, Báthory István Elméleti Liceum, János Zsigmond Unitárius Kollégium, Brassai Sámuel Gimnázium, Apáczai Csere János Elméleti Liceum
Modern architecture
Main article: Modern architecture in Cluj-NapocaCluj is one of the most important cities in Transylvania, so many companies and banks have headquarters there, some building modern tall skyscrapers and glass buildings throughout the city.
Sports teams
Football (soccer)
Rugby
- Universitatea BT Agressione Cluj-Napoca
Volleyball
- Universitatea Cluj Men
- Universitatea Cluj Women
Basketball
Handball
- U Jolidon Cluj-Napoca (women)
- U Agronomia Cluj-Napoca (men)
Waterpolo
- Poli CSM Cluj-Napoca
Women's soccer
- Clujeana Cluj-Napoca
Foreign relations
Sister cities
Köln
Athens
São Paulo
Be'er Sheva
Pécs
Zagreb
Zhengzhou
Chacao Municipality
Dijon and Nantes
Suwon
Makati
Korca
Cervia
Columbia, East Lansing and Rockford
Legations
Before the communist centralization of 1948, several foreign consulates for countries like France, Czechoslovakia, Canada were based in Cluj. The last closed legation was that of the Republic of Hungary in 1988. In 1997 the legation was re-opened, as part of Timişoara Treaty.
Currently there are legations from several countries in Cluj:
- General Consulate of the Republic of Hungary,
- US Embassy Information Office,
- Honorary Viceconsul of the Republic of Italy,
Netherlands Business Support Office,
Honorary Consul of Turkey.
Some tourist attractions
Main article: List of places in Cluj-Napoca
Any tourist's must-see list should definitely include the following:
- the Avram Iancu Square with the Orthodox Cathedral, the National Theatre, the Romanian Opera and the Avram Iancu Statue
- the Unirii Square with the St. Michael's Church and the Matthias Corvinus Statue
- the Mihai Viteazul Square with the Michael the Brave Statue
- the Universităţii Street with the Babeş-Bolyai University and the Reformed Church
- the Lucian Blaga Square with the University Library
- the Botanical Garden
- the house where Matthias Corvinus (Romanian: Matei Corvin; Hungarian: Hunyadi Mátyás) was born
- the George Bariţiu Street with the Technical University
- the Cetăţuia with its wonderful panorama of the city
- the Central Park
- several museums: the Transylvanian Ethnographic Museum (including its open air section), the History Museum, the Art Museum, the Zoology Museum and the Pharmacy Museum
- the Central Cemetery (also known as Házsongárd, or Hajongard)(16th century)
Gallery
- The Orthodox Cathedral The Orthodox Cathedral
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Catholic Cathedral
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The National Theatre & The Romanian Opera
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River Someş
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Avram Iancu Square, aerial view
- Matthias Corvinus Statue Matthias Corvinus Statue
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Capitoline Wolf Statue on Eroilor Avenue
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Saint George Statue
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Iuliu Maniu Street
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The Cetăţuie Hill
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Matei Corvin Alley
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Babeş-Bolyai University
- Etnographic Park Etnographic Park
- Cluj-Napoca's tallest skyscraper Cluj-Napoca's tallest skyscraper
- Panoramic view at night Panoramic view at night
-
Panoramic view
- Another panoramic view Another panoramic view
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The Old Town Hall
- The City Hall (the tower) The City Hall (the tower)
- The Chios Casino and Restaurant building, in the Central Park The Chios Casino and Restaurant building, in the Central Park
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See also
- Cluj-Napoca Botanical Garden
- Orthodox Cathedral
- Church of Saint Michael
- Bánffy Palace
- Modern architecture in Cluj-Napoca
- Cluj-Napoca Companies
- Klausenberg (Hasidic dynasty)
External links
- Template:Ro iconWebsite of Cluj-Napoca
- Template:Hu iconHungarian website of Kolozsvár
- Virtual trip of Cluj-Napoca
- Template:Ro iconEvents in Cluj-Napoca
- Mobile webcam offering a good panorama over Cluj-Napoca
- Template:En iconA virtual guide into the history,culture and sightseeing of Cluj-Napoca,the city in the heart of Transylvania, Romania
- Template:En iconAn Online Travel Guide about Cluj-Napoca
- Template:En iconCluj-Napoca airport website
Notes
- Georges Castellan, A history of the Romanians, Boulder, 1989, pp.148
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