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 fa̤ade amplified by double artificial pilasters. After 1930, the church passed into the patrimony of the Greek Catholic Episcopate of Cluj РGherla. 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 РGherla Diocese.
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 GÃĄspÃĄr 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.
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.Â
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.
The Franciscan minority order received in 1486 on UliČa Lupilor (currently Mihail KogÄlniceanu street) a place from the municipality. With the financial support of King Matthias Corvinus, at whose intervention they received the land, the Franciscans built an imposing church in the style of the late Gothic. The architect who supervised the work was a monk, a specialist in the construction of such buildings. The church dedicated to St. Mary was completed in 1516, during the Reformation it was abandoned and then taken over by the Jesuits. After the 1600s it is destroyed, being rebuilt according to the original project by Prince George RÃĄkÃŗczi II. Gothic style specialists are brought from the Baltic States to restore the ogival arches. Once rebuilt, the church becomes the cathedral of the Calvinist Reformed Church in Transylvania.
The church is a classic Gothic room-type construction with star-shaped arches systems. The most important art object is the pulpit from the 17th century, the work of a Polish sculptor. One of the two pipe organs is one of the largest in Transylvania. It is functional, during the summer it is used weekly for classical music concerts. Inside the church are exhibited the most important collection of funerary coats of arms of the Hungarian aristocracy of Transylvania. The church is the princely necropolis of the last two princes of Transylvania, Michael Apafi I and Michael Apafi II, who are buried with their wives inside this cathedral.
The Church of Franciscan Monastery was built in the center of the old Cluj fortress, on the site of the cityâs first church that was made in the 11th century. Starting with 1390, the location was offered to the Dominican order, which, with the support of the Transylvanian voivode Iancu de Hunedoara, began the construction of the current buildings inside the monastery. The year 1556 marks the beginning of the Reformation in Cluj, the Dominican monks are expelled from the city and the church in turn becomes a Lutheran, Calvinist, Unitarian church. In 1693, with the establishment of the Habsburg jurisdiction over Transylvania, the buildings became the property of the Jesuit order. The church was destroyed by fire in 1697, the Gothic vault being permanently destroyed, and the Jesuits began to build the church on University Street known today as the Piarists Church. Between 1728-1745 the Franciscan order begins and completes the construction of the current church in Baroque style. The history of the churchâs location gives it a unique status, being the place of worship of all Christian denominations specific to Western Europe.
The most important religious artifacts in the church are a religious painting drawned in 1730 and the funeral chapel of the KorniČ family. The religious painting depicting the Virgin Mary is a faithful copy of a famous painting found in the church of Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome. The funerary chapel of the KorniČ family was arranged at the initiative of Count Sigismund KorniČ, one of the most important aristocrats in the Cluj area and governor of Transylvania between 1713 -1731. In this chapel there is a crucifix of impressive dimensions that can be considered one of the most important objects of art in Medieval Transylvania. The crucifix faithfully depicts the anatomical details of a man crucified on the cross.
In 1948 the Franciscan order was dissolved on the romanian territory, the buildings of the Franciscan monastery becoming up until 1990 the headquarters of the Sigismund ToduČÄ Music High School. Starting with 1990, a process of restoring the properties to the Franciscan order began, currently the church and the buildings of the monastery are owned by this order.
In MÄnÄÅtur 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-MÄnÄÅtur. 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 ââCluj-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.
The “Saint Michael” Church was built following the act issued by King Carol Robert of Anjou in the 14th century, which offered Cluj a series of privileges, including the city’s right to freely choose its priest and parish priest. The city had reached a development that required the construction of such a building, and the chosen place was the Great Square of the city instead of an old chapel dedicated to St. Jacob.
The “Saint Michael” Church is an impressive historical and religious monument, located in the central area of ââCluj, in Union Square. This is an important Gothic style building made in Transylvania, being the second largest Gothic church in Romania. Most of the church is built in Gothic style, but over time the interior has undergone several restorations in the Baroque style. One of the most important ornaments of the church, the door frame of the sacristy, dates from 1528 and is made in the late Renaissance style. Also, the church tower is built in neo-Gothic style, with a height of 80 meters, being the church with one of the tallest towers in Romania.
Historians claim that in the basement of the church there is a crypt, made during the Middle Ages, which houses the tombs of personalities from that period, with important heritage objects. Numerous meetings of the Transylvanian Diet were held in this church and the princes Sigismund BÃĄthory, Sigismund RÃĄkÃŗczi, Gabriel BÃĄthory and Gabriel Bethlen were enthroned in this church.
The year 1918 marks the achievement of the Romanian unitary state through the political-administrative union of the Romanian territories under the jurisdiction of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the Tsarist Empire with Romania Kingdom. Right after the Great Union, an Orthodox episcopal see with the title of Episcopacy of Vadu, Feleac and Cluj was re-established in Cluj.
As early as the following year, Bishop Nicolae Ivan proposed the construction of an Orthodox cathedral in the park in front of the Cluj-Napoca National Theater âLucian Blagaâ, in Avram Iancu Square. Thus, between 1923-1933, at the initiative of the bishop and with the support of the Royal House of Romania, the Episcopal Cathedral was built, one of the most important monumental buildings in Romanian style made after the Great Union of December 1, 1918. It is made in Byzantine style with defining elements of the Brancoveanu style, according to the project of the architects George Cristinel and Constantin Pomponiu.
The consecration of the cathedral took place in a festive setting in 1933, the service being officiated by the Patriarch of Romania (Miron Cristea), the Metropolitan of Transylvania (Nicolae BÄlan) and the Bishop of Cluj (Nicolae Ivan). The festivity was attended by King Carol II and Crown Prince Michael, as well as members of the Romanian government.
Between 1997 and 2000, at the initiative of Archbishop Bartholomeu Anania, began an extensive process of renovation of the cathedral, a process in which it was possible to add elements from the initial project that in the ’30s could not be completed. The 4 towers that frame the central tower were added, the sculpture of the 18 huge columns from the roundabout of the big tower was made, the eight medallions carved in stone and the stone arches on the side facades were made. In 2001, His Eminence Father Bartholomeu, together with the Diocesan Council, decided to endow the cathedral with a monumental iconography in mosaic technique.
 In the cathedral there is an icon of the Virgin Mary with the Baby painted in 1673 by the priest Luca de Iclod, an icon that is part, along with the icon from Nicula Monastery and the icon from the Piarists Church in Cluj, from the category of famous Transylvanian icons painted by the same priest. In the basement of the cathedral there is a museum that presents the history of the Orthodox dioceses in the Cluj area, the iconographic art starting with the 14th century and the crypt of the hierarchs.
BÃĄnffy Castle from BonÅŖida is one of the architectural monuments representative of the Transylvanian Baroque style, the richness of elements specific to this architectural style also bringing it the name of “Transylvaniaâs Versailles”. According to historical documents, the castle took the place of a former mansion, a noble residence that existed around the 14th century.
King Sigismund of Luxembourg donated to the BÃĄnffy family, in 1387, the estate on which BÃĄnffy Castle now stands. Dionisie Banffy starts the construction of the castle in BonÅŖida commune, a place located approximately 30 km north-east of Cluj-Napoca. The construction was designed to have the shape of the letter “L”, in the first phase being built a fortress surrounded by a fortifications system, with strong stone walls and doors carved in Renaissance style.
The tower located at the entrance to the castle, had an important defense role. Symmetrical alleys, long terraces, airy atmosphere, are the things that completed the castle park, making it look unique.
The main buildings of the palace are dominated by architectural elements specific to the Renaissance style, in the 18th century being made extensions in the Baroque style.
The reconstruction of the castle, in Austrian Baroque style, is initiated by Dionisie BÃĄnffy II, starting with 1745, according to the plans of the Viennese architect Joseph Emanuel Fischer von Erlachc. He gives a new shape to the palace, like the letter U, by creating new buildings: the riding hall, the stable, the shed and the servants’ houses. The amusement park keeps the same baroque style, being provided with symmetrical alleys, the lake on the right side of the castle from where you can admire the romantic side of the castle, statues, obelisks and artesian wells.
The next descendant of the family, JÃŗzsef BÃĄnffy, changes the appearance of the estate by demolishing the gate tower and redefining the sober baroque forms in the park, with more free, romantic forms, characteristic to English ones. Also during the reign of JÃŗzsef, a new wing of the building was raised, and a water mill was built from the material resulting from the demolition of the tower, made available to the villagers.
In 1944 the castle was used as a military hospital, and at the end of World War II it was largely damaged by vandalism and arson by retreating German troops. After 1950, one of the wings of the castle became the headquarters of the BonÅŖida Agricultural Production Cooperative.
The domain of the BÃĄnffy family was not limited only to the BonČida Castle, but also extended within the RÄscruci village, located in the same commune. BÃĄnffy Castle from RÄscruci was built in the 18th century, in an eclectic neoclassical style, the residence being surrounded by one of the most beautiful parks of the BÃĄnffy family estates. The palace belonged to the BonÅŖida estate and was used as a summer residence by the BÃĄnffy family, the two residences being connected by a poplar alley.
Currently, BÃĄnffy Castle from BonČida is under the administration of the Transylvania Trust Foundation, which aims to restore and capitalize on the potential of the BonČida estate. Numerous cultural-artistic activities are currently organized here, activities that attract many visitors.
The castle became famous due to the fact that every year it hosts the famous Electric Castle music festival. The festival initiated on the castle estate in 2013, taking place over 3 days, in which lovers of different musical genres lived a unique experience in Romania. From one year to another, the festival becomes more and more popular, registering increases among the participants, the scenes used, innovation and creativity. The 2019 edition marked the existence of the first festival in Romania that translated for those with hearing impairments, the most important concerts, using sign language.
Among the most important awards obtained by the festival are the Best Camping Award at the European Festival Awards in 2017, the Best Food & Drinks Award at the European Festival Awards in 2018 and the Best Medium Sized Festival award at the European Festival Awards in 2019.
The access to the castle is made from the national road leading to BonČida, a commune located about 30 km from Cluj-Napoca.
The castle awaits its visitors with its gates opened every day.
