St Michael Church

The economic development experienced by Cluj in the first half of the 14th century made possible the construction of the Roman-Catholic parish church in what is today the central square of the city (Unirii Square). Dedicated to the Holy Archangel Michael, the church is the first Transylvanian example of a complete three-nave Gothic hall-church.

The construction work, mentioned in a 1349 indulgence, proceeded in several stages and was completed in 1481 with the building of the western rostrum and of Schleynig chapel on the ground floor of the southwestern tower.

In 1528, on the north side of the chancel they built a sacristy fitted with a beautiful portal in the South-German Renaissance style, which bears the inscription with the name of the donor - parish priest Johannes Clyn (Klein). The Neo-Gothic tower, erected on the north side, was completed in 1863. The tower with its height of 76 meter (80 meter including the cross) is the highest one in Transylvania.

Franciscan Church

The Franciscan Church and monastery were built in the first medieval centre of the town, in today's Museum Square. The Church was the first place of worship of medieval Cluj-Napoca. It was erected around 1260 until 1290 in the place of a pagan temple and the old church of the settlement destroyed during an invasion of the Tartars who plundered the city. The locals have always known this place of worship as the "church of the brethren", which derives from the Hungarian "barat", meaning brother monk.

The church is the burial place of many prominent Hungarian aristocrats. Theatrical plays were performed here and the Gothic monastery next to the church hosted a printing house for the first half of the 20th century under the name of Saint Bonaventura.

The latest restorations performed on the building brought to light the Romanesque style of the original construction, yet the facade displays Gothic elements which were screened by the Baroque alterations introduced in the time of the Franciscan monks. A 52-meter high tower with a bulbed roof, the most recent and important element of the Baroque, covered the central window in the 18th century.

Johannes Nachtigall sculptured the statues of patron saint Virgin Mary, St Jeremiah and St Anthony. The main altar, divided by three columns with Doric and Ionic capitals, displays a copy of a painting of Virgin Mary from Santa Maggiore Church in Rome. The painting is flanked by the statues of St Stephen and St Joseph.

Photos courtesy of Sanziana Craciun.

The Reformed Church on Kogalniceanu Street

The Woolf Street, today Kogalniceanu Street, is ruled by the dignified block of the tower less church built in Gothic style. Its enormous gable "is a big A letter, with a compassionate entrance between its sides" (Zoltan Jekely).

The construction of the church began in the year 1486 for the Franciscans on the order of King Matthias. The first document referring to the construction of the church is from September 9, 1486, the judge of the city and the town council gave the area besides the Tailor's Bastion to the Franciscans, on which both the monastery and the church could be built. Before 1516 the church and the monastery built in the honor of Virgin Mary were already finished. The organ was made before 1534.

In 1556, Dominicans and Franciscans had abandon the city and the church on the Wolf Street was left deserted for three and a half decades. Yet, it had visitors. In 1577 somebody scratched on the southern pillars the following taunting poem "Qui non canit in coro/Stat, sicut bos in foro" (Who doesn't sing in the choir, stands like an ox in the market).

In 1581, the monastery received inhabitants once again, Istvan Bathory, the reigning prince of Transylvania granted the ensemble of buildings to the Jesuit order and to their academy which was educating almost 150 young people. In the summer of 1603, the population instigated by the Unitarian preacher chased out the fathers from the city and devastated the church and monastery. The church's arch collapsed and the monastery was used as a quarry and the sanctuary of the church was transformed into a warehouse.

In 1638 Gyorgy Rakoczi I initiated the restoration of the church bringing competent master-builders from Kurland (today Latvia). The restoration and the heightening of the southern bell-tower could be linked with their names.

The hexagonal painted sandstone pulpit with alabaster insertions is the masterpiece of the 17th century Transylvanian  stone-cutting, the work of Elias Nicolai and Benedikt Mueck, masters from Sibiu. Made out of cypress, the painted and gilded pulpit-crown was set up in April 1647. The pews which fill in the intercolumniations are handiwork of joiners from Sighisoara and Bistrita. The renewed church was sanctified on the 30th June 1647.

The southern bell-tower didn't manage to hold for long the weight of the bell, it had to be demolished again and the bells were moved to the belfry which stood in the place where the parish is today. The first organ of the church was assembled in 1765 in the sanctuary's organ-loft made out of wood. The inlaid decorated holy table was made in the 1820s. The new organ made by the Angster company form Pecs was placed in 1913.

The unique collection of the funeral crests and printed crests from the 17th-19th centuries which hang on the pews and walls, was gradually formed and its purpose is to immortalize the memory of the deceased protectors and bereaved. A few gilded funeral crests cherish the memory of the old burial habits. The only reference today to the old funerals of the church are two burial plates and the grave of the reigning prince Mihaly Apafi I.

 

Transfiguration of our Lord Cathedral in Cluj-Napoca

The present cathedral, on Eroilor Street, was built by the Franciscan Minor Conventual Friors between 1775 and 1779, occupying the Henter House area and other areas bought by them, the monks Ioan Sandor and Balint Heja taking care of all prerequisites for the building process, one of the builders being Francisc Kirtner.

On September 4, 1779, with the church almost entirely built, the tower collapsed, affecting the front side. After long parleys, Queen Therese donated 7000 florins for the reconstruction of the tower and the front side, the mission being entrusted to the famous architect Eberhard Blaumann, who fulfilled the work late 1783.

After 1918, with a serious increase of the number of Greek-Catholics in Cluj, the Holy Marry Reunion in Cluj wrote a memorial to his Grace Vasile Suciu, the Metropolitan Bishop, asking for the purchase of the Franciscan Minor Conventual Church. The memorial was forwarded to Rome, and in 1924, the Franciscan Order, gave the church and all its belongings to Holy Father Pius XI who on April 29, 1926, donates it to the Metropolitan Church of Alba Iulia and Fagaras.

Starting 1948, the Greek Catholic Church was abusively used by the Romanian Orthodox Church, but after the fall of the communist regime, a process started to be taken back and on March 13, 1998, the first Greek Catholic Mess in 50 years is celebrated again.

The church is built in stone and bricks in a simplified baroque style. It is adorned in Byzantine style, with interior frescoes painted by Franscis Lohr in 1934 and restored by Coriolan Munteanu in 1968, with beautiful stained-glass in the widows. The wall in the altar and the windows are still wearing the heraldic of the Franciscan Order.

The Evangelic Cat

God saved the cat! Actually, A&J saved the cat, almost five years ago, late September. El Pisun was stuck in a drain pipe of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, built between 1816 - 1829, from Cluj city centre.

 

I don't know if El Pisun was a fan of baroque and neoclassic style or it found out that the church has stones from the Round Bastion incorporated in it. Maybe it was a fellow of George Winkler, the architect of the church or enjoyed the paintings from the sanctuary by Johannn Gentiluomo.

Or maybe it was just a melomaniac and during an organ concert it dripped in the pipe.

I'm pretty sure that after being saved El Pisun followed the words scratched on the facade of the church: "PIETATI".