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CLUJ NAPOCA - ROMANIA
Cluj-Napoca (Latin
Napoca, Claudiopolis, Hungarian Kolozsvár, German Klausenburg), the
capital city of Cluj county, is one of the most important academic,
cultural and industrial centers in Romania. Regarded as the historic
capital of Transylvania, the city is located in northwestern Romania,
and is approximately 320 km (200 miles) northwest of Bucharest in the
Somesul Mic valley.
Cluj-Napoca has a very rich historical and cultural heritage. The city
stands on the site of an ancient Dacian settlement, Napoca, which the
Romans made a colonia. Colonized by Saxons in 1178, at this time the
city received its German name of Klausenburg, from the old word Klause,
meaning mountain pass. However, between 1545 and 1570 large numbers of
the Saxons left the town due to the introduction of Unitarian doctrines.
The first Hungarian newspaper appeared in Cluj-Napoca in 1791, and the
first Hungarian theatrical company was there established in 1792. In
1798 the town was to a great extent destroyed by fire. From 1830 to
1848, as capital of Transylvania and the seat of the Transylvanian diets,
the city became the centre of the Hungarian national movement in the
principality; and in December 1848, during the Hungarian revolt against
the Austrians it was taken and garrisoned by the Hungarians under the
Polish General Bem.
The majority of the city's inhabitants were Hungarians and German Saxons
from the Middle Ages until 1918 when Transylvania was incorporated into
Romania. The ethnic composition of the city has changed dramatically since
then with only around 20 percent of the inhabitants now Hungarians and the
ethnic German population virtually extinct. As of 2002 the population of the
city was 318,000.
Ursus beer is brewed here. The city is served by the Cluj-Napoca
International Airport.
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