Cluj-Napoca - Places of Interest

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Tailors Tower

The Tailors' Tower (Romanian: Bastionul Croitorilor din Cluj-Napoca, Hungarian: Szabók bástyája) is located at the southeast corner of the old Cluj-Napoca citadel. It was built in the 15th century and rebuilt between 1627 and 1629, assuming its present form. It was named after the Tailors' Guild, who took care of and guarded this part of the city. Near the tower — where Baba Novac, general of Michael the Brave and Saski priest, was killed in 1601 by General Basta — there is a statue of Baba Novac.

Deserted until 2007, the municipality of Cluj-Napoca undertook to include the tower in the city's touristic itinerary, financing its restoration.

The tower will become a Center for Urban Culture, based on a project offered by the Transilvanian Branch of the Architects’ Chamber of Romania in collaboration with BAU (Birou de Arhitectura si Urbanism). The Centre will host an exhibition space on the ground floor, a library and a conference room on the upper floors.

Botanical Garden

The Botanical Garden (officially the Botanical Garden of the Babeş-Bolyai University) in Cluj-Napoca, Romania was founded in 1920 by Alexandru Borza.

The garden spreads over 14 hectares of hilly land, which seems to favor successfully the growth of extremely diverse types of plants, coming from every corner of the world. The plant collections account for around 10,000 distinctive groups. The area is divided into several sections based on the special type of the plants: ornamental, phytogeographic, systematic, economic and medicinal. The Romanian flora is well represented by the vegetation characteristic to the Transylvanian Plain, to the Carpathian Mountains, to the regions of Banat and Oltenia, to the seaside dunes, etc.

One of the main attractions here is the Roman Garden, dominated by the statue of the goddess Ceres and by several archeological artifacts dating from the Roman age of the Napoca municipium. This section is meant to depict an ancient Roman garden with vegetables and flowers that were then cultivated and which are still to be found in our peasant gardens nowadays.The Japanese Garden is a garden in Japanese style, with a brook and a Japanese-style house.

The Church of Saint Michael

The Church of Saint Michael is a Gothic-style Roman Catholic church in Cluj-Napoca. It is the second largest church (after the Black Church of Brasov) in Transylvania, Romania. The nave is 50 meters long and 24 meters wide, the apse is 20×10 m. The tower with its height of 76 meter (80 meter including the cross) is the highest one in Transylvania. The western portal is decorated with the three coats of arms of Sigismund as King of Hungary, as King of the Czech Kingdom and as Holy Roman Emperor.

The construction was completed between 1442-1447, the old tower was built between 1511-1545. The tower that stands today was erected in 1862. The church was Protestant between 1545-1566, and Unitarian in the period 1566-1716, after that it was reconfiscated by the Catholic Church during the counter-reformation.

The oldest of its sections is the altar, inaugurated in 1390, while the newest part is the clock tower, which was built in Gothic Revival style (1837-1862).

The Dormition of the Theotokos Cathedral

The Dormition of the Theotokos Cathedral (Romanian: Catedrala Adormirea Maicii Domnului) is the most famous Eastern Orthodox church of Cluj-Napoca, Romania. Built in a Romanian Brâncovenesc style, a synthesis of Renaissance and Byzantine architecture, it lies on the Avram Iancu Square, together with the Cluj-Napoca National Theatre and the Avram Iancu Statue.

The cathedral was built between 1923 and 1933, after the Union of Transylvania with the Romanian Old Kingdom. Nicolae Ivan (1855-1936), at the time Bishop of Cluj, had a very important contribution in suggesting the location of the cathedral and in obtaining the necessary funds for its construction, which began on 10 September 1923.

On 5 November 1933 the Cathedral was officially opened by Miron Cristea, the Patriarch of All Romania, Nicolae Bălan, the Metropolitan of Transylvania and Nicolae Ivan, the Bishop of Cluj. The opening ceremony was also attended, among many others, by King Carol II and Crown Prince Michael I.