Things you didn’t know about the European Youth Capital, Cluj-Napoca

By Ramona Ciortescu Last updated Mar 23, 2015

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Cluj-Napoca is the third city in Romania by number of inhabitants (310.243 in 2007).
The name Cluj comes from Castrum Clus, first used in the 12th century as the name of the citadel surrounding the city. Clus means ‘closed’ in Latin and refers to the hills that surround the city. Cluj-Napoca is the name since 1974; ‘Napoca’ was the name during Romans.
At the end of the 14th century – beginning of the 15th century, the majority population of the city was formed by Saxons.
The last dinner Michael the Brave (Mihai Viteazul) had before the assassination took place in Cluj.
The greatest Hungarian king, Matthias Corvinus, was born in Cluj Napoca on February 23, 1443.
The population of this city has grown more than 5 times in just 80 years. In 1912, 60,000 people lived here and in 1992 the number increased to 328,000.
The Hungarian community in Cluj-Napoca is the second in size in a Romanian city, after Targu Mures. Currently, almost 20% of the city population is made up of Hungarians.
Cluj was destroyed by the Mongol invasion in 1241.
In 1655, three quarters of the city buildings were destroyed by a devastating fire.
Between 1738 and 1739, 20% of residents Cluj died in the plague that ravaged Europe.
In the 14th and 15th centuries, Cluj was called the ‘treasure-city’ due to its prosperity and influence in Hungarian politics.
In the center of Cluj the three major squares, Unirii Square, Avram Iancu Square and Mihai Viteazul Square form an equilateral triangle.
The name of the district ‘Hello’ (Buna ziua) comes from the Romanian greeting that the local Hungarians have learned from the shepherds who sold their products in Cluj.
With over 45,000 students, the University of Cluj, ‘Babes-Bolyai’, is the largest in the country. Babes-Bolyai University is the largest academic institution in Romania where teaching is done in four languages.

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