In Mănăştur neighborhood, on a hill that in the medieval period dominated the entrance to the city from the west, we find one of the most important institutions of medieval Transylvania, the Benedictine abbey from Cluj-Mănăştur. The name of the old monastic settlement was the Church of the Benedictine Abbey, now known as the Calvaria Church. The old church of the abbey, which was dedicated to St. Mary, is considered the oldest church in the area of Cluj-Napoca.
Archaeological research in this area demonstrates the existence of a fortification dating from the 9th century. Starting with the 11th century, the hill was fortified, using the technique specific to that period, when the walls were built of earth waves and numerous logs. Inside the fortifications, during the same period, the Benedictine abbey was built, which did not fall under the jurisdiction of the Roman Catholic Episcopate of Alba Iulia, but was directly subordinated to the Archbishop of Esztergom. Unfortunately, following the great Tartar invasion in 1241, the Benedictine abbey was destroyed, the only element that can be considered from that era was the lion on the southeast wall of the church today.
Today’s church was built after 1896 and contains several elements of churches from earlier periods: the old church gate, a sundial on which the name of Abbot Anton can be identified, and funerary monuments dating from the 16th and 19th centuries. From the old constructions, the church choir is still preserved, provided with a simpler nave, built in the 19th century on the old foundations. The church is surrounded by a high wave of earth, a trace of the ellipsoidal fortifications of the Middle Ages, when the whole area had defensive ditches to the south, east and west, to the north there is a steep natural slope.
