Harghita

Bistrita-Nasaud

Eastern Transylvania


Western Transylvania

General Information

Transylvania Proximity

Location:



Cluj-Napoca

Main Page | Historical Center | Accomodation in Cluj-Napoca

Cluj-Napoca Geographically, it is roughly equidistant from Bucharest (324 km / 201 mi), Budapest (351 km / 218 mi) and Belgrade (322 km / 200 mi). Located in the Somesul Mic River valley, the city is considered the unofficial capital to the historical province of Transylvania. In 1790-1848 and 1861-1867, it was the official capital of the Grand Principality of Transylvania.

The first written mention of its name - as a Royal Borough - was in 1213 under the Latin name Castrum Clus. Despite the fact that Clus as a county name was recorded in the 1173 document Thomas comes Clusiensis, it is believed that the county's designation derives from the name of the castrum, which might have existed prior to its first mention in 1213, and not vice versa.

Many craft guilds were established in the second half of the 13th century, and a patrician stratum based in commerce and craft production displaced the older landed elite in the town's leadership. Through the privilege granted by Sigismund of Luxembourg in 1405, the city opted out from the jurisdiction of voivodes, vice-voivodes and royal judges, and obtained the right to elect a twelve-member jury every year. In 1488, King Matthias Corvinus (born in Klausenburg in 1440) ordered that the centumvirate-the city council, consisting of one hundred men-be half composed from the homines bone conditiones (the wealthy people), with craftsmen supplying the other half; together they would elect the chief judge and the jury.In 1541, Klausenburg became part of the independent Principality of Transylvania after the Ottoman Turks occupied the central part of the Kingdom of Hungary; a period of economic and cultural prosperity followed.

click on a thumb for larger image

Cluj-Napoca  Cluj-Napoca   Cluj-Napoca
Cluj-Napoca  Cluj-Napoca   Cluj-Napoca
Cluj-Napoca  Cluj-Napoca   Cluj-Napoca
Cluj-Napoca  Cluj-Napoca   Cluj-Napoca
Cluj-Napoca  Cluj-Napoca   Cluj-Napoca
Cluj-Napoca  Cluj-Napoca   Cluj-Napoca
Cluj-Napoca  Cluj-Napoca   Cluj-Napoca
Cluj-Napoca  Cluj-Napoca   Cluj-Napoca
Cluj-Napoca  Cluj-Napoca   Cluj-Napoca
Cluj-Napoca