COUNTY CLUJ

City of residence of Cluj county, Cluj City is the second big city of the country, situated at an altitude of 340Km,on the Valley of Somesul Mic, being an important industrial, commercial, cultural and tourist center.

The history of Cluj city is particularly rich, the age of the settlement is shown by the remains of the ages of stone, bronze and iron, discovered on the hearth of the city today. In documents Cluj appears for the first time under the name of the Dacian settlement Napoca, and Ptolemy, the great geographer of antiquity mentions it. Under this name the city develops also under the mastery of the Romans when it becomes a county and afterwards a colony. The native population has left its traces on these places during the great migration of nations, and in the 9th-11th centuries it seems that here existed the nucleus of Gelu Voivode ship, who fought with the Hungarians coming from west to conquer Transylvania, ”the country beyond forests “. From the prefeudal period, when here a military organization is set up, organization superposed on the economic, social and political organization forms of the local Roman slave population ,the tumultuous history of Cluj abounds in facts.

The formation and the development of the medieval town as the economic center was encouraged by the placing of some important trade routes at the crossroads and at the gate of Apuseni Mountains whose gold mines were strived for, operated and surrounded by camps and by Romans. The received privileges and sometimes lost, the oppressed peasantry uprisings -sometimes joined by the poor population of the fortress – the different occupations and reprisals, have made the line of development of Cluj an upward curve sometimes, and descending other times. He remained permanently one of the most powerful economic, political and cultural centers in Transylvania and for long periods it was the capital of autonomous principality established in 1541.Although he had established the capital at Alba Iulia, Michael the Brave gave Cluj all the privileges that were granted in the past.

Here in Cluj,the famous Transylvanian diet was presented” Supplex Libellus Valachorum “initiated by Samuil Micu, Petru Maior, Gheorghe Sincai and others which demanded the recognition of the Romanians of Transylvania as a nation with equal rights with others, and later on in 1892 the Memorandum ,an act of protest against national oppression was presented here.

Today the county hosts the institutions of science, education at all levels, art and culture. Situated in the Apuseni coasts, the city offers a beautiful panorama. Seen from above the Feleacul hill, the city appears as an oasis surrounded by hills, with most of the buildings alligned along the Valley of Somes Mic as a wide open gate to Transylvania Plain. Within the county there are many important historical monuments, and in the surrounding area many tourist attractions.

In Cluj-Napoca traces of old fortresses and bastions, old architectural monuments and museums can be seen. The most important are:

– The History Museum-which help visitors to know the rich and tumultuous history of the city. The History Museum of Transylvania has a heritage of over 100,000 pieces of history that present the history of this region since ancient times. It includes exhibits of exceptional value as the plates with iconic signs dating from the neolithic settlement of Tartaria, the Dacian cult vessel from Sarmizegetusa, the vessel having the stamps ” Decebal per Scorilo ” (Decebal fiul lui Scorilo),collections of ceramics and Roman statues. Lapidariul is one of the most important riches of the museum, the Roman lapidariu (a place where the collection of sculptured or graved big stones is held) includes around 300 epigraphic and sculptural monuments of Dacia Traiana and the medieval one – architectural testimonies from Cluj and the surroundings. The museum has a collection of history of pharmacy, Greek and Egyptian history.

- The Art Museum, arranged in a palace of the 17th century built in Baroque style, also a valuable monument of architecture. The museum has 22 rooms where you can admire: art museums objects of the feudal era, works of painters, sculptors and sketchers of Cluj; works of the representatives of the school of painting in Baia Mare (19th century) and works of great masters of the Romanian painting: N. Grigorescu, Stefan Luchian, and Nicholas I. Andreescu Tonitza.

- The Museum of Ethnography of Transylvania installed in the building built at the beginning of the 19th century, a building in which Liszt has played in 1846 and in the trial of memorandists which took place in 1894. Created in 1923, the museum has a fund of more than 50,000 household objects and documents,a picture library, a library, old prints, a folk archive.It also has an outdoors ethnographic park in Hoia forest.

The Botanical Garden located in the university quarter on the last hills that descend from Feleacului hill towards Somes, through which the Beck of the Gipsy runs. Here you can admire plants from all the continents(on an area of 14 hectares.)These plants have great scientific value. The ornamental plants corner, the economic plants corner, the Japanese garden, a whole range of trees and shrubs that grow in our country and more species of other countries draw the attention of many visitors. A special mention should be made on the complex of greenhouses built in 1960. They cover an area of 2000 sqm. and, the” palmarinul “-the greenhouse that shelters bananierii – has a height of 18 m. Besides the possibility of different heating (as specific plant and season requires)the greenhouses have installations for artificial rain. Inside the garden there is a valuable botanical museum, including over 500.00 clasified plants. The museum has exchange relationships with over 500 botanical gardens in the world.

Liberty Square (Piata Libertatii ) in whose middle rises the monumental St. Michael Cathedral, a valuable monument of architecture in Gothic style, which was built during a period of a whole century, being finished in the middle of the 14th century. Beside the church there is a fine equestrian statue of Matei Corvin, born in Cluj. Around the square, outside the palace, which houses art museums, there are other old buildings (in Baroque style) declared monuments of architecture. Very close there is a building of the first half of the 15th century, in Gothic style considered the national house of Matei Corvin. Nearby you can see the Universities of Babes-Bolyai and Casa Universitarilor.

Dealul Cetatuii (The Fortress Hill), on the left bank of Somes (405m height), on top of which a small fortification was built in 1713-1716 and from which a wide view over the city opens. On the hills slope that sees Somes,a beautiful park has been arranged.

Manastur Monastery situated in the western suburbs of the city is documentarily mentioned in 1222 but the buildings have been restored in the Gothic style(15th-16th century). Here the first agreement between the peasants of Bobalna(1437) and the feudal crowd has been signed.

Cluj county is a genuine fortress of culture. Here many institutions of culture exist: unions of writers with their operating subsidiaries, composers and artists, the National Theater and The State Opera also recognized abroad, The Hungarian Theater and the Hungarian State Opera, “ Gheorghe Dima ”Philharmonic, which also has a section of traditional music, The Puppet Theatre, with sections in English and Hungarian.

Cluj is also famous for its rich and multilateral scientific research both in its institutions of higher education as well as in the institutions of the Romanian Academy’s subsidiary.

Tourists who stop in Cluj are able to do trips in the pleasant surroundings: Hoia Forest and the hills in the South of the town. On these hills there are two tourist challeys: Faget, located on a local road at 2km. of the national road which goes down on the Feleacului hill and Faget –a spring located at about 3km.distance from Manastur quarter. A camping ground has also been arranged in Faget.

We can organize Tours that include - COUNTY CLUJ.

So do not hesitate to Contact Us if you want to visit them, or take a look in the Tours page and for sure you’ll find an interesting tour.

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