Cluj (Romanian until 1974 Cluj, today Cluj-Napoca, German:
Klausenburg, sometimes Clausenburg, Latin: Claudiopolis, Saxon
Kleusenburch, Yiddish: קלויזנבורג, Klojznburg) is the second most
populous city in Romania, the seat of Cluj County. It is located in
the northwestern part of the country, in the valley of Kis-Szamos,
roughly the same distance from Bucharest (445 km), Budapest (461 km)
and Belgrade (483 km). The city is considered the unofficial capital
of Transylvania. Between 1790–1848 and 1861–1867 it was the official
capital of the Principality of Transylvania. It was one of the seven
fortified cities from which Transylvania got its German name
(Siebenbürgen). It is also famous as the birthplace of King Mátyás
and Prince István Bocskai, and as the cradle of Unitarianism.
In 2011, 324,576 inhabitants lived within the city limits
(making it the second most populous city in Romania, after the
national capital Bucharest), which represents a slight increase
compared to the 2002 census. The population of the Cluj
agglomeration exceeds 420,000. Among its many monuments, the most
famous are St. Michael's Church (which was built in the 14th century
and named after the Archangel Michael, the patron saint of Cluj),
with the statue of Mátyás János Fadrusz in front of it, the Reformed
Church on Farkas Street, and the Bánffy Palace.
It is the
96th most populous city in the European Union. With two theaters,
two opera houses, eleven higher education institutions and several
high schools, today the city is one of the most important
scientific, cultural, industrial and business centers in Romania.
Among other institutions, it is home to the country's largest
university, the Babeș-Bolyai University. Cluj held the title of
Youth Capital of Europe in 2015 and European Sports City in 2018.
Cluj Monastery Abbey, also known as Calvary Church
The Gothic St.
Michael's Church is one of the main cult places in Transylvania, the
site of many great historical events.
Birthplace of King Matthias
The monument to King Matthias János Fadrusz is one of the most beautiful
Hungarian equestrian statues.
The reformed church on Farkas Street,
built in the Gothic style, in front of it is a copy of the equestrian
statue of Saint George of the Cluj brothers.
The Bánffy Palace, built
between 1774 and 1775, is one of the most significant monuments of
Transylvanian Baroque architecture, and is currently the Museum of Fine
Arts.
The greats of Transylvanian public life and art are laid to
rest in the Házsongárd cemetery.
The Piarist church preserves the
image of the Virgin Mary.
One of the bastions of the medieval castle,
the Bastion of the Tailors, still stands today.
The Reformed church
in Alsóváros, known as the "two-pointed church", built in a classical
style
The Citadel offers a beautiful view of the entire city.
Sétatér was a park established at the end of the 19th century.
Tens
of thousands of plants can be found in the 14-hectare area of the
botanical garden.
The "rooster church" designed by Károly Kós is an
example of the national Art Nouveau style.
The Farkas Street Reformed
Church and Reformed College
The Báthory–Apor Seminary, which was
originally a Jesuit institution, became a Piarist institution in 1776.
Cluj has many parks, but the largest and best known is the "Sétátér" (Romanian name: Parcul Central "Simion Bărnuțiu"). The park was renamed Sétatér in the 1800s, until then it was known as Rákóczi-kert. Since the dilapidated state of the park could no longer be maintained, it was renovated between the fall of 2011 and the spring of 2012. During the renovation, 232 new benches, 31 bridges bridging the drainage ditches, and 176 new garbage cans were installed. In addition, the casino - which has since become the home of cultural events - has been renovated, the promenades and the vegetation has been maintained.
Theaters and operas
Puck Puppet Theatre
State Hungarian Theatre
State Hungarian Opera
Lucian Blaga National Theatre
Romanian Opera
Zoological Museum
Emil Isac Memorial Museum
Pharmacy History
Museum (Mauksch–Hintz House)
Museum of Ethnography (Redut)
Romulus
Vuia Ethnographic Park (open-air village museum in the Hója forest)
Servatius Museum
Museum of Fine Arts (Bánffy Palace)
History and
Archeology Museum
Firefighters Museum
The founding of the first Hungarian university in Transylvania can be
linked to the life work of István Báthory. Already in 1579, with the
help of Father Antonio Possevino, Báthory begins to organize the
establishment of the Jesuit order in Transylvania. On May 12, 1581,
István Báthory signed the charter of the Jesuit Academy of Cluj. The
establishment of the academic-level University of Cluj - which we also
call the Báthory University - can therefore be counted from 1585. After
the opening of the University of Cluj, even more scientists came to
Transylvania from all over Europe, who received HUF 300 travel expenses
and an additional HUF 50 from the Polish king and Transylvanian prince
István Báthory. When Prince Mózes Székely entered Cluj, due to several
years of repression, murder and regular persecution of Protestants, the
mostly Unitarian Hungarians of the city and its surroundings burned down
the university and library of Cluj, symbolizing foreign oppression, on
June 9, 1603, and drove out the Jesuit fathers.
In the 2021/2022
academic year, ten higher education institutions operated in the city.
State universities: University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary
Medicine, Babeș–Bolyai University, Gheorghe Dima Music Academy, Iuliu
Hațieganu University of Medicine and Pharmacy, University of Fine Arts
and Design, University of Technology. State-accredited private
universities: Avram Iancu University, Bogdan Vodă University, Protestant
Theological Institute, Sapientia Transylvanian Hungarian University.
The city's theoretical high schools in the 2021/2022 school year: Apáczai Csere Theoretical High School, Victor Babeș Theoretical High School, Nicolae Bălcescu Theoretical High School, George Barițiu High School, István Báthory High School, Lucian Blaga Theoretical High School, Brassai Sámuel High School, George Coșbuc High School , Elf Theoretical Lyceum, Mihai Eminescu Theoretical Lyceum, Emmánuel Baptista Lyceum, Onisifor Ghibu Lyceum, Horea Cloșca Și Crișan Theoretical Lyceum, Avram Iancu Theoretical Lyceum, János Zsigmond Unitarian Lyceum. Romulus Ladea Fine Arts High School, Special High School for the Visually Impaired, Gheorghe Lazăr Pedagogical High School, Maranatha Adventist High School, Inocențiu Micu Greek Catholic Theological High School, Orthodox Theological Seminary (Cluj), Tiberiu Popoviciu Informatics High School, Eugen Pora Theoretical High School, Pro Deo Christian High School, Emil Racoviță High School, Reformed Theological High School, Royal School In Transylvania, Gheorghe Șincai High School, Sports High School, Octavian Stroia High School of Ballet and Performing Arts, Sigismund Toduța Music High School, Transylvania College, Waldorf High School.
For the 2020/21 academic year, 363 students were enrolled in Hungarian classes in elementary schools, which is 11.6% of all first-grade students.
The city with an area of 179.5 km² is the seat of Cluj County. It is located 152 km southeast of Nagyvárad, in the heart of historical Transylvania, in the area between the Central Transylvanian Mountains and the Transylvanian Basin. It is located in the valleys of Kis-Szamos and Nádas streams, but some of its neighborhoods extend into the valleys of neighboring streams (Kajántó stream, Borháncs stream). It is surrounded on three sides by hills whose height is between 500 and 825 meters. In the southeast direction, it clings to the northern slope of the 825-meter-high Feleki hill, to the east of which stretches the Szamos plateau. To the north, the highest hills are Lomb-tetö (684 meters) and Csiga-domb (617 m). To the west are the Hója hill (506 m) and the Gorbó hill (570 m). Once outside the city were the Kálvária hill and the Citadel, but these are now considered to be within the city.
The city's moderate continental climate is influenced by the
proximity of the Central Transylvanian Mountains. The average annual
temperature is 8.2 °C, the average annual precipitation is around
550–600 mm, and the number of annual sunshine hours is around 2015.
The origin of its name
The name as a Latin adjective (Clusiensis)
(a. m. enclosed?) appeared in written form as early as 1177. The first
mention of it as a noun dates back to 1213: de castro Clus. The first
known occurrence of the Hungarian Kulusuar dates back to 1257. The Kolos
prefix evolved from the original Clus. It appears not only in the name
of Cluj, but also occurs in the counties of Vas and Zala. According to a
now outmoded view, Clus was formed from the Latin word clausa, so the
name of the city would be "an enclosed area surrounded by hills". This
view is not supported by the regularities of phonetic transformations.
According to another opinion, it comes from the Slavic kluzs, which is
taken from the High German word klus (= mountain gorge, sluice that dams
up the water of a mountain stream), which has the same meaning.
According to the current position of linguistics, the place name derives
from a personal name, but there is no consensus as to whether the origin
is the German Nikolaus, the Slavic Miklus, or the Hungarian Miklus of
the Árpád era.
According to controversial assumptions, Napoca may
have been a Dacian family name. In 1974, in honor of the 1850th
anniversary of the elevation of the former Napoca to the rank of a Roman
municipality, the suffix Napoca was added to its name.
The oldest finds in the city come from the Middle Paleolithic. According to the evidence of the excavations, it was continuously inhabited during the Neolithic, Bronze Age, and Iron Age. In ancient times, Napoca, located on the site of the city, was part of the Roman Empire. It was founded by Emperor Trajan, and then raised to the rank of a municipality by Emperor Hadrian in 124. In the 3rd century, it became the seat of Northern Dacia, it received the rank of colonia from Marcus Aurelius, but it was evacuated by the Romans in 271.
Seven and a half centuries later, St. István made it the seat of the
Colosseum. The city itself was formed in the first half of the 11th
century. His castle was in the northwestern part of today's city center,
one of its towers still remains. Around this time, King Saint László
also founded the Cluj Monastery Abbey.
In 1241, the Tatars also
ransacked this town, so in 1272 István V settled Saxons to replace the
population. King Sigismund ordered the settlement to be strengthened,
and then in 1405 it became a free royal city. Despite the
reinforcements, in 1437 the peasant army of Antal Nagy of Budai occupied
Cluj, but on December 10-14, in the decisive battle that also took place
here, the uprising was crushed and the city was recaptured.
In
the 15th century, the town's population was half Hungarian and half
Saxon. This is evidenced by the surviving decree of Mihály Szilágyi from
1458, according to which fifty Hungarians and fifty Saxons made up the
city's leadership, the council of centurions (centumvirate), and the two
nations alternated the judge every year. At this time, most of the
townspeople were craftsmen, organized into guilds. A small but strong
merchant stratum was also formed, which won various privileges for
itself.
In 1468, the leaders of the uprising against Mátyás
Hunyadi were executed in the main square on January 19. The city wall
was completed in 1470. In 1514, the peasant army led by the priest
Lőrinc was defeated here by the nobles, and the priest Lőrinc was burned
in the main square.
The era of the independent Principality of Transylvania also meant
the rise of Cluj - from this period the name Cluj-Napoca comes from.
Although the capital was Gyulafehérvár, Cluj became the scene of several
events of national importance: in 1551, Queen Isabella handed over the
crown here - at least according to Bethlen Farkas's later novel
description - to General Castaldo (According to Castaldo's contemporary
report, the event took place in Torda.) He was born here in 1557 in
István Bocskai, who later became the prince of Transylvania and Hungary.
Bocskai's birthplace is only a few steps away from Mátyás Hunyadi's
birthplace. In 1575, István Báthory executed the captured pretenders to
the throne in the main square. Here, Gábor Bethlen and György I. Rákóczi
were elected princes. In 1585, István Báthori founded Transylvania's
first university here, which was run by the Jesuits. Prince Zsigmond
Báthory beheaded the rebel nobles here on August 31, 1594. During the
principality's existence, a total of 37 parliaments were held in Cluj.
Prince Mózes Székely marched into Cluj on June 9, 1603 at the head
of his troops, as soon as the German mercenaries led by Hans
Zeidenstorffer and Adam Volner left the city. The Hungarians of
Cluj-Napoca greeted the prince and the pro-independence Hungarian armies
with great jubilation, but in their joy they chased away the Jesuits,
and thus the first Hungarian university founded by István Báthory ceased
to exist. Prince Mózes Székely, staying in the camps in Cluj and
Szamosfalv, tried to help the disastrous financial situation of the
Principality of Transylvania. At this time, sometime around the middle
of June 1603, he minted strong money at the Cluj-Napoca mint, which is
considered one of the most beautiful coins in Transylvania.
With
his certificate dated June 18, 1623 in Cluj-Napoca, Gábor Bethlen
allowed Jews to settle, trade freely and practice their religion in
Transylvania, and exempted them from wearing the usual Jewish symbol.
Gábor Bethlen rebuilt the southeast corner bastion bearing his name
and the St. Michael's Church. György I. Rákóczi repaired the castle
walls and bastions. Between September 15 and 17, 1661, it was besieged
by János Kemény, and in 1662 by Mihály I. Apafi. On October 18, 1687, he
surrendered to the imperialists without resistance. It only became the
capital of Transylvania again in 1790.
In December 1792, the Transylvanian Hungarian Noble Theater Company
held its first performance in the dance hall of the Rhédey Palace on
Belső Szén (Jókai, now Napoca) Street. On July 13, 1803, five noblemen
bought a double lot in Farkas Street from the Reformed College for the
construction of a permanent theater, the lot was handed over to the
"theatrical commission". On March 12, 1821, the stone theater on Farkas
(today Kogălniceanu) Street, built from the collection, was opened, the
very first Hungarian theater building. 1822. on December 26, the first
Hungarian opera with extant music and text, József Ruzitska's Béla's
Run, was presented here.
On the evening of December 31, 1827,
public lighting began with 247 lanterns on the city's market square and
main streets. From 1869, kerosene lamps were replaced by gas lighting.
After a Belgian company built a power plant on Hideg-Szamos in 1906, in
1907 there were already 1,416 electric lights in 218 streets. In 1893, a
modern telephone network was established. Between 1879 and 1908, the
city spent two million crowns on infrastructure investments. In 1900,
Cluj-Napoca had 589 bathrooms for 12,900 apartments, making it second
nationally behind Budapest.
The industry of Cluj during the
reform period was primarily dominated by small guild industry, which was
closely related to agricultural activities around this time. The
economic role of the city was somewhat increased by the institutions
founded at that time, for example the Transylvanian Economic Association
or the Ice Damage and Fire Damage Association. The first major factory
(sugar factory) was founded in the 1840s, but the company soon went
bankrupt and its buildings were converted into a correctional facility.
During the period of neo-absolutism, minor developments can be noted in
the field of the urban manufacturing industry: in 1851, a distillery was
founded, and in 1853, Cluj was founded and at the same time the first
steam mill in Transylvania. At the time of the settlement, three
important factories operated in Cluj: the tobacco factory, the Sigmond
spirit factory, and a machine factory. Nevertheless, the development of
the factories in Cluj was hampered by the economic crisis in the 1870s
and the series of natural disasters that followed. Mayor Simon Elek
called the years after the compromise the lean years, referring to the
city's miserable situation. The arrival of the long-awaited railway did
not give much impetus to the situation of the manufacturing industry,
but at the same time it entailed the establishment of two new factories.
One was the gas factory, and the other was the repair shop of the
state-run MÁV. The latter has become one of the most significant
factories in Cluj. In 1880, it had more than two hundred employees, and
by the mid-1890s it was already close to five hundred. Other machine
factories were established in Cluj (Senn, Simonffy, Solymossy and
Junász), but none of them were able to achieve greater success in the
long term. Their development largely depended on the current
agricultural season. The urban spirit industry could not show any
serious development either. While it appeared to be a mostly stable
industry around the 1860s, it largely declined in importance over the
following decades. Around the 1890s, seven distillery companies operated
in Cluj, but at the turn of the century, four went bankrupt (including
the Sigmond Brothers distillery. This was later bought by Frigyes Czell
and then Ödön Hirsch), and two became agricultural distilleries. The
situation of the town's mill industry was not favorable either. The
climate of Transylvania did not allow the cultivation of larger
quantities of grain, and on the other hand, the development of the
industry was hindered by intensifying competition, expensive transport
costs, and the poor harvest of the region. In Cluj-Napoca, in addition
to the state-run MÁV repair shop and the state-run tobacco factory, only
the Reitter match factory established in 1899, the Heinrich mineral soap
factory, which was converted into a joint-stock company in 1906, and the
Renner tannery, founded in 1911, were able to become major industrial
enterprises. All in all, if we only look at Transylvania, the
manufacturing industry in Cluj, despite all its problems, was at the
forefront of the region, but in a national context, it was far behind
the major manufacturing industry centers.
On May 30, 1848, the
union between Hungary and Transylvania was declared here. After the
settlement, Cluj lost its role as the capital, its industry lagged
behind Timisoara, Nagyvár and Arad, but it remained its scientific and
cultural center. Between May 17 and 25, 1894, the memorandum trial took
place here against the leaders of the Romanian National Party, who were
sentenced to several years in prison, and their party was banned on June
18.
After the settlement, the city once again experienced an era
of economic prosperity. Industrial companies were established one after
the other, such as the paper factory, the brick factory, the iron
factory, the electric works, the distillery, the leather factory and the
match factory. At the beginning of the 20th century, 17 credit
institutions were available to entrepreneurs.
In 1910, of its 60,808 inhabitants, 50,704 were Hungarians, 7,562
Romanians, 1,676 Germans, 371 Gypsies and 107 Slovaks. It was occupied
by the Romanians in 1918, but as of August 30, 1940, according to the
Second Vienna Decision, it returned to Hungary as part of Northern
Transylvania, and on September 11, Hungarian troops entered Cluj.
On March 27, 1944, German troops entered Cluj. On May 3, 1944, the
gathering of Jews (more than 16,000 people) into the ghetto began in the
city. On the 18th, the Roman Catholic Bishop Áron Márton expressed his
shock at the anti-Jewish measures in his homily in the main square
church, and on the 22nd, he sent a letter to the Prime Minister, the
Minister of the Interior, the Office of the High Commissioner and the
police headquarters to prevent the deportation of the Jews. Starting on
May 25, 1944, the Jews gathered in the Cluj-Napoca ghetto were
transported to German death camps in six trains.
On June 2, 1944,
the railway station and its surroundings were hit by a bomb attack.
Hundreds of people died as a result of the event, including a red
cross-marked ambulance train that was hit. On October 10, Hungarian
troops surrendered Cluj, and the next day, Soviet-Ukrainian troops led
by Marshal Malinovsky entered there. From October 12, 1944 to March 13,
1945, Cluj-Napoca, together with Northern Transylvania, was under Soviet
rule and was taken over by the Romanian public administration in
mid-March. The urban policy of the communist regime after the Second
World War was characterized by strong industrialization. During this
period, the Carbochim grinding stone factory, the Tehnofrig refrigerator
factory, and the Heavy Machinery Factory were established. At the same
time, new housing estates were built on the outskirts of the city for
the growing population: Monostor, Donát, Györgyfalvi, Mărăști, Hajnal.
Since Hungarians made up the majority of the population for a short time
even after the Second World War, a large number of Romanian families
settled in Cluj, most of them from Moldavia, but also from other regions
(such as the Transylvanian Ore Mountains), thus completely changing the
city's ethnic image.
The coat of arms of Cluj originates from the Middle Ages and was modeled after the city's seal. The first surviving document in which it appeared was the 1369 certificate of the Szűcsök guild. Its use has been constant over the centuries, it was even used between the two world wars. In 1948, the use of county and city coats of arms was generally banned in Romania, but coats of arms were reintroduced after the administrative restructuring of 1968; the "socialist" coat of arms designed at that time also featured the three-towered, city-walled-gatekeeper motif. From 1999, the then mayor of the city, Gheorghe Funar, started using a completely new coat of arms, which his successor, Emil Boc, kept, despite the opinions of experts and the public. In 2010, a collection of signatures was started in order to restore the old coat of arms.
According to the 2002 census data, the population of Cluj was
317,953. This made it the 3rd largest city in Romania, surpassed only by
Bucharest (1,926,334 people) and Iași (320,888). At the time of the
census held in 2011, it became the second most populous city in the
country, even with its population reduced to 309,136.
After
Marosvásárhely, Cluj has the largest Hungarian community in Romania:
60,287 people (in 2002, which means a 19% decrease of 14,000 people
compared to 1992). This community of 60,000 makes up 18.96% of the city.
In 2011, only 49,425 native Hungarian speakers were counted, which
is 15.2% of the population. It is a fact that 7% of the city's
residents, 22,884 people, did not declare their ethnicity. The real
proportion of Hungarians was around 16% at the time of this census.
The city consists of several districts, and in the course of history,
the city also had districts, which can be attributed to the heritage of
the Hungarian public administration.
City districts
The 13
traditional and 5 newly founded districts that make up the city were
formed by merging or expanding the former historical districts. Today's
city center, i.e. Belváros, consists of the historical Belváros (the
part of the city between the medieval walls, of which the Old Town is
also a part) and Hídelve, which lies at the foot of the Fellegvár
between Kis-Szamos and Állomás-tér.
The largest quarter of the
city is the Monostori housing estate, which was formed in the 1970s and
1980s by the construction of the former Cluj Monastery and the swelling
of its population. On the opposite, eastern side of the city, the city's
other large block of flats, the Mărăști housing estate, emerged in the
historical Hóstát area. To the south of this are the Tóköz and
Györgyfalvi neighborhoods, which are also blocks of flats. The
Hajnalnegyed, built above the Házsongárd cemetery, and the Donátnegyed
at the bottom of the Hója Forest are largely made up of blocks of flats.
The Kerekdomb and Irisz neighborhoods on the north side of the city, as
well as the Bulgáriatelep, are primarily industrial settlements.
Szamosfalva, located at the eastern end of the city, still has a village
character, as it was only annexed to the city in the 1970s.
The
city has two older neighborhoods, consisting almost exclusively of
private houses: the Fellegvári neighborhood (in the central part of the
city) and the Tisztviselőtelep, south of the city center.
After
the economic boom after 2000, the construction of new residential
buildings in the city increased explosively, which justified the
separation of 5 new districts. Four of these (Szoporinegyed, Borháncs
quarter, Jó Napot/Békás quarter, Európaquenyd) were formed in the old
agricultural border areas in the southern part of the city, while the
fifth (Bükki forest) was formed in the area of Bükki forest located
south-southwest of the Monostori housing estate. mainly due to the
increase in the number of weekend houses built in the area. The names of
the border areas surrounding the city districts and neighborhoods are
still used today to distinguish the city's agricultural areas.
Patarét (in Romanian Pata-Rât) in the eastern part of the city, where
the municipal garbage dump is located, is not officially a city
district. In 2019, about two thousand, mostly Roma, lived in Patarét.
The city's economy is dominated by the manufacturing industry. At the
end of 2000, 23,843 privately owned, 56 state-owned and 146 other
companies were operating in the city. The nominal value of foreign
investments at the same time was USD 156 million. The most important
foreign investors came from Hungary, Luxembourg, Italy and the United
States of America.
Financial and IT services also play a
significant role in the city's economic life. In 2005, two important
transactions took place in the field of computer technology: UPC bought
Astral and RTC bought Sistec.
Important companies: Ardaf
(insurance), Brinel (computer technology), Farmec (cosmetics), Jolidon
(underwear), Napolact (dairy) and Ursus (beer). "Transylvania Bank"
(bank).
According to a survey conducted by the economic newspaper
Capital at the beginning of 2006, Cluj is the most expensive city in
Romania. Bucharest was not included in the survey, but according to the
Internet portal Hotnews.ro, using the same calculation method, the
capital would only be second. The large number of students also
contributes to the high cost: Cluj has the largest university in the
country. There are 19 businessmen from Cluj on the list of the 300
richest Romanians. In the fall of 2007, Capital also made the comparison
in which Romanian cities with over 150,000 inhabitants were ranked in
terms of the dynamics of economic growth in the period October 2006 -
September 2007. They took into account the investments, the development
of the per capita amount of the city budget (it increased by 60% in
Cluj-Napoca compared to the previous year), and the number of
large-scale projects launched. In the comparison, Cluj took second place
behind Bucharest.
In 2007, after the recruitment campaigns necessary for the new investments (Bechtel, Nokia, Siemens, Emerson, Trelleborg, Carrefour, Auchan) and the strong emigration, the unemployment rate dropped to 0.2%. At the same time, as a result of the global economic crisis that broke out in 2008, unemployment increased again significantly. According to national data, unemployment in Romania was 6.4 percent in December 2014.
The European road E60 passes through Cluj
(Vienna–Nagyvárad–Cluj–Bucharest). At the same time, there is a lack of
connection with the European Corridor 4
(Arad–Déva–Gyulafehérvár–Segesvár–Brassó–Bucharest–Constanța) and with
the European Corridor 9 in the northeastern part of the country. The
volume of passing road freight traffic and the lack of a suitable bypass
ring put a strain on the city's internal traffic and pollute the
environment.
In terms of rail transport, the city has direct
connections with all major cities in Romania. There are already four
international trains running on the Cluj-Budapest route (Corona, Bihar,
Hargita and Ady Endre). In addition to the central railway station, the
city also has two railway stations: the Cluj-Napoca "small" station and
the Szamosfalv station called Cluj-Napoca Est, or Eastern Cluj.
The city has an international airport, which is located in the eastern
part of Cluj, 6 kilometers from the center. The annual traffic of the
airport is approx. 800,000 passengers, two-thirds of which travel on
international flights.
The city's street network is 662 km long,
of which 443 km are modernly equipped. Public transport takes place on
342 kilometers of routes, with the help of buses, trolleybuses and
trams.
In 2004, work began on a new highway on the
Bucharest-Brassou-Cluj-Nagyvárad route. In 2005, the construction of the
Transylvanian highway was suspended due to financing reasons, but
construction resumed in April 2006 after the Romanian government and the
American company Bechtel reached an agreement. On November 13, 2010, the
section of the road bypassing Cluj between Gyalu and Aranyosgyéres,
which is part of the North Transylvanian highway, was opened, which
greatly contributes to the relief of the city from freight traffic.
Based on the number of copies, the most read dailies are Făclia and
Ziua de Cluj. The daily newspapers Monitorul de Cluj and Gazeta de Cluj
are also published here. In 2008, the Clujeanul weekly newspaper,
published by the MediaPro company, published an average of 6 - 8,000
copies per month.
The most read daily newspapers in Hungarian are
Szabadság and Krónika.
The editorial offices of Helikon and
Korunk and zem magazines are located in the city. Cluj-Napoca is also
home to the Association of Romanian Hungarian-Language Local and
Regional Newspaper Publishers, which gathers around 90% of the Hungarian
daily newspaper market in Romania.
Between 2004 and 2009, the
editorial office of the weekly Erdélyi Napló was located here.
Paprika Rádió is Cluj's first full-time Hungarian-language radio
station. The radio launched and operated by the Eureka Association
broadcast its first broadcast on November 23, 2006 at six o'clock in the
morning. The owners – Hungarian entrepreneurs from Cluj-Napoca –
entrusted Márton Illés, a Hungarian radio specialist, with the image
design and the launch of the radio.
The first online historical
portal of Transylvania, the Erdélyi Krónika, began its operations in
Cluj. The Transylvanian Chronicle Association, which publishes the
portal, is also headquartered in Cluj.
Other media and press
bodies, news portals:
Cluj Radio
Trans index
New Hungarian word
online
Main square
Cluj Ma
Transylvanian Gyopár
Filmtett -
Transylvanian Film Portal
The best-known football team is CFR 1907 Cluj, which plays in the
first division, played in the final of the UEFA Intertoto Cup in
2004-2005, and even reached the main table of the UEFA Champions League
in the 2008-2009 season, and played with big teams such as AS Roma. The
third division team of the university sports club in 2017/2018, FC
Universitatea Cluj, is also well known. The university team known as U
Cluj achieved many successes in the past: in 1932-33, it finished second
in the Romanian championship, in 1964-65 it was the Romanian Cup winner,
and then it reached the round of 16 of the European Cup.
Cluj
teams in other sports:
rugby: Universitatea Cluj-Napoca
women's
basketball: Universitatea Cluj-Napoca
men's basketball: U-Mobitelco
BT Cluj-Napoca
women's handball: U Jolidon Cluj-Napoca
men's
handball: U Cluj-Napoca
men's water polo: Politehnica Cluj-Napoca
The city's first Olympic medalist Dr. It was István Somodi, who came
second in the high jump at the 1908 London Olympics. The once popular
Kolozsvár Munkás Sport Club (KMSC) trained many excellences in
athletics: among others, its member was Ilona Silai, the middle-distance
runner who won a silver medal at the 1968 Mexico Olympics.
Born in Cluj:
On February 23, 1443, King Matthias of Hungary.
Around 1510, Ferenc Dávid was a reformer and the founder of the
Unitarian Church.
On January 1, 1557, István Bocskai, Transylvanian
prince.
In 1570, István Szamosközy (Latin: Zamosius) was a historian.
Around 1674, Ottoman printer Ibrahim Müteferrika, Hungarian-born founder
of the first Turkish printing house
On December 15, 1802,
mathematician János Bolyai.
On May 8, 1835, painter Bertalan Székely.
On December 29, 1873, gr. Miklós Bánffy politician, writer, graphic
designer, foreign minister, editor-in-chief of Transylvanian Helikon,
On May 17, 1886, poet Emil Isac.
On July 4, 1903, sculptor Jenő
Servátiusz.
In 1913, Széfeddin Sefket bey was a writer, poet,
journalist, lyricist, librettist, screenwriter, film director, and
actor.
On July 29, 1913, mathematician Béla Szőkefalvi-Nagy.
On
May 9, 1937, chemist Ionel Haiduc, president of the Romanian Academy.