Wass House

The building is a combination of Renaissance, Classicist and Rococo architectural styles, which belonged to the Wass counts, having on the facade of the house the coat of arms of the Wass family – a bull’s head with its snout pierced by an arrow. The Wass family was one of the oldest families in Transylvania.

The last descendant of this family was Otilia Wass who, being passionate about literature, organized literary salons here, leaving the building by will to the Transylvanian Museum Association.

“Sfânta Treime din Deal” (Holy Trinity on the Hill) Orthodox Church

iserica Ortodoxa Sfanta Treime din Deal Cluj-Napoca, o cladire alba cu turla mica, incadrata de copaci, avand o icoana pictata pe fatada.

The first church of the Orthodox denomination located near the walls of Cluj is the ”Holy Trinity on the Hill” Orthodox Church, situated today on the street of the Orthodox Church. The place of worship was built between 1795-1796 and its history is related to the presence in Cluj, starting with the 18th century, of some families of Macedonian – Romanian merchants. In 1788 the merchants Ienache Mavrodin and Ioan Constantin made a first request to Count Ádám Teleki to allow them to build a church, the nearest church being, at that time, in the Someșeni area. A second request was approved on February 14, 1790. Architecturally, the church resembles Bob Church, having similar dimensions. The most valuable work of art in the church is the iconostasis. It is the work of a very well-known church painter of the time, deacon Constantin Zugravul, and was donated by Romanian merchants from Brașov for the Orthodox community in Cluj.

The Holy Trinity on the Hill Church is linked to one of the most important moments in the history of the Romanian Orthodox Church: the installation after 100 years of the first Romanian Orthodox bishop in Transylvania in the person of Vasile Moga, in 1911. In 1921 in this church was installed Nicolae Ivan, Bishop of Vadul Feleacul and Cluj and the church became between 1921-1932 the Orthodox Episcopal Cathedral.

Josika Palace

Palatul Josika Cluj, o clădire istorică roșie și bej cu fațadă elegantă și balcoane, situată într-o piață centrală.

In Unirii Square at no. 10 stands one of the largest buildings in this area: Josika Palace. The people of Cluj also call this building “the house with legs”, due to the four Doric columns on which the balcony located on the first floor rests. There is a superstition which says that the student who passes under the “feet” of the balcony in the morning will receive a bad grade that day.

On the site of the current building, in the 16th century, there was a house – the residence of the Transylvanian princes who visited Cluj, and then, in the 18th century, the building became the property of Josika Barons. The governor of Transylvania, Josika Janos, started the construction of the current building which had only one floor. In the 19th century, another floor was added, reaching its current form. This neoclassical style building had several uses over time: casino, the headquarters of the Royal Court in Cluj or even the library of the medicine faculty.

On the building’s frontispiece appears the inscription MDCCCXXVIII (1828), the year of the building’ s renovation.

Rhedey Palace

Palatul Rhedey Cluj, o clădire istorică cu fațadă roz și detalii arhitecturale elegante, situată la colțul unei străzi aglomerate.

Rhedey Palace (corner of Union Square with Napoca Street) is named after the family who bought it in the early 18th century. Around 1500 there were four patricians houses, in their place being built the palace, in eclectic style. At that time, today’s Napoca Street was called Hay Lane, because at the end of the street there was a hay depot, that’s why it is also called “the house with chains”. The chains were used to protect the house from the hay carts that were passing in front of it.

Rhedey Palace links its name, through the ballroom, even to the history of the hungarian theater in Transylvania. A commemorative plaque mentions that in this place a first hungarian theater institution from Cluj was established, in 1792.

 In the 18th century, the house was unified with three other neighboring houses on Hay Lane (Napoca Street). At the same time, owner Rhedey Janos added another floor to the old building. On the frontispiece of the building, it is the Rhedey Janos coat of arms, with the initials RJ and the sign of the crown with nine vegetal branches, the sign of the “count” rank.

The Reformed Church

Biserica Reformata Cluj Napoca, o cladire impunatoare de culoare galbena, cu doua turnuri simetrice, situata intr-o zona cu vegetatie

One of the most imposing churches in the modern period of Cluj-Napoca is the reformed church on 21 December 1989 Boulevard. It was built in neoclassical style, between 1821-1859, according to the plans of the architect Georg Winkler. The architectural elements that stand out are the columns with composite capitals, the portals and the windows with semicircular and rectangular openings. In the parish house there is a small museum dedicated to a historical community of Cluj, the Museum of the Hostesses.

Heltai House

Casa Heltai din Cluj-Napoca, o clădire istorică cu fațadă albă, situată pe o stradă pietonală.

The Heltai House is also called the Bocskai House because Stefan Bocskai, Prince of Transylvania, was born here. On the left wall after entering the gate there are several commemorative plaques reminding of these events, and in one of the halls of the building, there is the coat of arms of the prince sculpted in 1606 which is surrounded by the coats of arms of Transylvania and Hungary.

In the middle of the 16th century, Heltai Gaspar arranged here the first printing house in Cluj and one of the largest in Transylvania. He was a Lutheran preacher, originally Saxon, settling from Sibiu to Cluj. With his arrival in Cluj we can talk about the beginning of the religious reform in this city. Heltai was a true Renaissance scholar, also a translator, theologian, publisher, printer. He also built the first brewery in the city.

The building later belonged to Counts Teleki and Bethlen, between 1870-1890 it functioned as a post office building, currently being the Sapientia University rectory.

“ Schimbarea la Faţă” Greek-Catholic Cathedral

Catedrala Schimbarea la Fata Cluj Napoca, o cladire baroca de culoare galbena cu turla inalta, situata intr-o zona centrala a orasului

In the center of Cluj-Napoca, on Heroes Boulevard, we meet a second church that belonged to the Franciscan-minority order. The church was rebuilt with the support of Empress Maria Theresa after a project by architect Johan Eberhardt Blaumann that gives elements specific to the late Baroque style. It is a church in the form of a hall, with a polygonal altar and a façade amplified by double artificial pilasters. After 1930, the church passed into the patrimony of the Greek Catholic Episcopate of Cluj – Gherla. Between 1948 and 1998 it is an Orthodox church. At present it returned to the Romanian Church United with Rome, having the state of cathedral of the Cluj – Gherla Diocese.

Evangelical Church

Cluj-Napoca Evangelical Church

Medieval Cluj after the great Tartar invasion from 1241, until the Reformation, was a place of the German community. The most important personality of the Reformation in Transylvania was the Lutheran pastor Gáspár Heltai, from the church of St. Michael. Later, a small community of German origin remained in Cluj.

In order to highlight the role that the German community had in Cluj, between the years 1816-1829, an evangelical cathedral was built according to the plans of the architect Georg Winkler, which combines the elements of the neoclassical style with those of the baroque. With a main facade with a width of 18 meters, the church built on 21 December 1989 Boulevard, near Union Square, has a total length of 30 meters and a bell tower of about 40 m.

Unitarian Cathedral

Imaginea prezinta Catedrala Unitariana din Cluj-Napoca, o cladire cu turn alb si acoperis traditional, situata pe marginea unei strazi centrale animate

The Unitarian Church is the only Christian denomination that was born during the Reformation in a different geographical area than that of Western Europe. An important part of the Hungarian community in Transylvania adopts Unitarianism, the Unitarian confession founded by Pastor Francisc David taking over the main Roman Catholic churches in the Cluj area. With the entry of Transylvania under the jurisdiction of the Habsurg Empire, the Unitarian denomination is forced to return the churches, and for about 75 years the liturgical service will take place in private homes.

The architect Anton Turk from Vienna supervised between 1791-1796 the construction of a cathedral for the Unitarian confession. The building was made in the late Baroque style, in the form of a nave, the total length being 40 meters, with classicist and rococo elements. This church is the only worldwide episcopal cathedral of the Unitarian denomination. 

Piarists’ Church

Imaginea prezinta Biserica Piaristilor Cluj, o cladire baroca cu fatada portocalie, doua turnuri simetrice si elemente decorative clasice

The Piarists Church is one of the most imposing Baroque-style art monuments built in Transylvania. Its history begins in the 1700s, when Europe is marked by the era of the Catholic Counter-Reformation. The Baroque style became the dominant style in the Habsburg Empire, the first Baroque style construction built in Transylvania was the church of the Jesuit order, which managed to raise it between 1718-1724. The church is dedicated to the Holy Trinity, and the main religious artifact is the icon of the Virgin Mary with the Infant. The icon belongs to a circle (collections) of famous icons from Transylvania, painted by the Orthodox priest Luca de la Iclod and which are considered to work miracles. In 1773 Pope Clement XIV abolished the Jesuit order, and Empress Maria Theresa transferred the building to the Piarist order. Currently, the church is an integral part of the Roman Catholic parish in the center of Cluj-Napoca, being the church where Misa is celebrated in Italian language for the italian community that is established in Cluj.