The third mall in the national network of Iulius was inaugurated in
November 2007, after a total investment of 80 million euro. Because
the Transylvanian people appreciate the originality, Iulius Mall Cluj
was designed as a commercial center with a unique synergy, where fun
and dining is combined with quality shopping on a generous surface of
147.000sqm. The mall in Cluj includes 210 stores, restaurants, the
Auchan Hypermarket, Starbucks Café, a multiplex cinema Cinema City
with 10 halls, a food court with 15 fast-food's, a seasonal outdoor
skating rink, an underground and on ground parking with a total of
2.500 places. The architectural grandeur, unique design, quality
brands and annual traffic of over 13 million visitors recommend Iulius
Mall Cluj as a top destination. To this add the business component,
represented by class A office building “Iulius Business Center”.
Located on the terrace of the mall, the office building was
inaugurated in January 2008, and is fully rented by prestigious
companies. With nearly two decades of experience in retail, IULIUS
GROUP is the largest developer and operator of mall-type shopping
centers in Romania. The company has four malls under the IULIUS brand
in Iasi, Timisoara, Cluj-Napoca and Suceava, which attract over 40
million visitors annually. Currently, IULIUS GROUP is developing in
Iasi the Palas urban ensemble, an investment of over 260 million euro.
As an active member of the International Council of Shopping Centers
New York, IULIUS GROUP has the active support of this international
organization, in the construction and operation of shopping centers.
The Vivarium was built between 1998 and 2001 out of the Babes-Bolyai
University and the Biology and Geology Faculty funds. It contains
approximately 57 animal species. When it opened in 2001, it only
sheltered a collection of reptiles and amphibians. Currently,
alongside the reptile collection, the Vivarium also hosts 10 fish
species, 9 micro mammal species and 6 bird species, out of which we
can mention the Puff Adder, the Rainbow Boa, the leopard gecko, the
Nile monitor, the chinchilla, the Dobrogea turtle, the salamander etc.
Entry fee: Adults: 5 RON Children, students: 2.5 RON Biology
students, military personnel, disabled: free
The Franciscan Church in Cluj-Napoca (2, Muzeului Square) is one of
the oldest and most significant buildings of the city. Initially, it
was the first Roman Catholic Church in Cluj, built in 11th –
12th centuries, destroyed during the first invasion of the Tatars
(1241). After its destruction, the place was rebuilt during 1260-1290
in a Romanesque style church, later recast in the 15th century in
Gothic style.
The church was enlarged (works in Gothic style) and a monastery was
built near it, with the support of Prince John of Hunedoara, and
belonged to the Dominican order. With the banishing of the Catholic
religious orders by the Protestants in March 1556, the monastery
building was no longer of religious use. Until 1557, Queen Isabella of
Hungary lived in the building, later the church was transformed into a
school (in 1558, the Unitarian School). Since 1609, according to the
wish of Prince Gabriel Bathory, the building was donated to the
Calvinist-Reformed religion. The Franciscans, returning to the city in
1728, initiated a campaign to restore the church and tower, which is
the main component in the Baroque style.
The church-monastery ensemble is available on three sides, around an
inner court open to the broken archways. The monastic cells sheltered
rooms, library rooms, common rooms, administrative space etc. There
was also a renowned school, where Nicolaus by Mirabilibus has studied,
later a professor at the University of Florence.
Inside the monastery there is a famous library of the Franciscans,
which collection exceeded thousand volumes. During 1906-1948, a
printing shop St. Bonaventure functioned in the monastery, where
various religious magazines were printed (“Catholic
World”, "Holy Cross” etc.).
Since 1898, the Carolina Obelisk was relocated in front of the church,
from Unirii Square.
One of the most recent restorations of the building was made during
1976-1978, followed by others during 1980-1986. These occasions meant
a rediscovery of Gothic elements of the church.
The Franciscan church was confiscated in 1949, after the communist
authorities have decided to dissolve the Franciscan order in Romania
and the monastery building housed the "School of Music," which later
became “Sigismund Toduta" Music High School. Since 1990 the
church returned to the property of the Franciscan Roman Catholic
Order, along with a part of the old convent.
Unitarian Church. Early history of the Unitarian community in Cluj is
related to the parish church of St. Michael. Its first vicar in the
late 1560, Dávid Ferenc (Franz Hertel ) - became the adept of
anti-Trinitarian precepts – and convinced most of the city's
inhabitants to move to the Reformed confession of faith. Since 1568 -
for nearly 150 years – the religious edifice in downtown Cluj
was used by the Unitarian church, a denomination that became the
majority in the city. During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries,
the Unitarian church in Cluj was composed of two distinct communities,
of the Saxons and the Hungarians. After 1661, a large community of
Unitarians Polish refugees in Cluj because of the drastic measures
taken by the Catholic Counter-Reformation in Poland joined these two
communities. From the moment when the new confession was set up, Cluj
became the centre of Unitarianism in Transylvania , a position held by
the city so far.
A few decades after the integration of Transylvania into the Habsburg
Empire, a number of measures were adopted in favour of the Roman
Catholic Church. Among the major initiatives we would like to mention
the restitution of churches lost during the Reformation. As a result
of imperial decrees, the church in the Downtown Square of Cluj was
transferred to the Roman Catholic denomination in 1716. In this
context, the Unitarian church was forced to hold prayer services in
various private houses in the city and in early eighteenth century
four prayer halls were operated simultaneously.
At the end of the century, there were only two prayer halls in the
city. In this context - and taking advantage of the effects of the
"Edict of Tolerance" of Emperor Joseph the 2nd - in 1791, the idea of
building a Unitarian church community in Cluj emerged. In the same
year, they decided the site of the future church, on the site of three
houses on the north side of the street of the Hungarian street "of the
Interior" (nowadays Blvd. December 21, 1989). The next year, they
started the demolition of the three buildings and sett cornerstone of
the church. New Unitarian church of the city was built under the
contract signed with the architect Anton Türk, between 1792 and
1796. Carpentry work was made by Anton Überlacher,
furniture by István Vas, alabaster pulpit is the work of an
unknown stonemason. The latter was achieved according to the plan of
A. Türk, at the order of the Bishop István
Lázár. Construction works of the building have exhausted
all church funds, so that the organ was ordered to be made by the
organ master Samuel Metz of Biertan only in 1804. This - a piece with
ten books and a prospectus decorated by painter György Posoni -
was completed the following year. In 1928 it was replaced by an organ
manufactured by Ferenc Szeidl of Oradea.
Despite the solid foundation, the building suffered soon after
completion of works.At the end of the third decade of the nineteenth
century, cracked walls and vaults of the church already needed
restoration. On this occasion exterior buttresses of the church were
built by architect Antal Alföldi. In 1908, the simple helmet
– in four waters – of the tower was replaced by a Baroque
bulbous helmet designed by the chief architect of the city, Lajos
Pakei. The church was restored in 1910, 1948 and between 1967-1968.
The building is a hall-church with an atrium and a polygonal altar.
The main façade is dominated by central risalit of the entry,
crowned by two-story tower bearing a bulbous roof. On the upper level,
the tower walls are articulated with pilasters in Ionic style, church
facades are marked with pilasters in Doric style. The main
façade is decorated with various rococo reliefs, in a
composition of garlands, roses, grape vines and intertwined ribbons.
Above the entrance is the inscription: IN HONOREM SOLIUS / DEI.
MDCCXCVI (In honour of the only God 1796). The niche of main entrance
is adorned at the top with the relief of a shell decorated with leafy
branches.
The atrium is covered with a semi-cylindrical vault, respectively
with two semi-cylindrical vaults with penetrations and the nave space
with a vault with bohemian dome and two elliptical domes. The interior
of the church is articulated by double pilasters in Corinthian style.
Interior plastics is enriched by the balconies upstairs protruding in
curved relief and through the stucco decoration of the vaults. The
pulpit is decorated with roses, acanthus leaves and curtains.
The passageway in the southwest corner of the church is the famous
stone on which, according to tradition, the Diet of Turda returned in
1568, Ferenc Dávid held an impressive discourse, leading to the
conversion of all the inhabitants of Cluj to the Unitarian
denomination. Near the entrance, there are preserved a number of
tombstones from the Central Cemetery, of which the most notably
belongs to the Polish preacher Andreas Lachovius (1691).
The Neolog Synagogue (21, Horea Street) is one of the symbolic
buildings of Cluj-Napoca, the only functioning synagogue in the town.
The building, of Moorish art, bears the name “the Deported
Memorial Temple”. The Mosaic Neolog community was led by Rabbi
Mátyás Eisler, professor of Semitic languages at the
University of Cluj. The synagogue was built after the projects of the
railway engineer Izide Hegner and was inaugurated in late-nineteenth
century. In 1927, the building was severely damaged by the
Legionnaires, later the restoration is supported by the Romanian
state. During the Viennese Diktat (1940-1944), after the deportation
of Jews by Hungarian troops in the Nazi camps, the synagogue was again
severely damaged due to bombing of the neighboring areas (June 2nd,
1944), and has benefited of new restorations in 1951.
The Universitas Swimming Complex, situated in Iuliu Hatieganu sports
park, completes the complex of sports facilities (terrains and sports
halls), which are part of Babes-Bolyai University property. It was
inaugurated on the 27th of September 2009 and on the 1st of February
2010 it was actually opened for swimming teaching, but also for the
public.
It is first of all a teaching base for F.E.F.S (Faculty of Sports and
Physical Education) students, who have daily swimming classes; a
recreational spot for other persons, but also a spot where children
and adults can learn how to swim.
The complex has an Olympic pool (50 x 20.6 meters), with 8 lanes
provided with block-starts; a water temperature of 26-28 C degrees,
and an environment temperature of 28-30 C degrees and it has a depth
of 1.80-2.00 meters. The quality of the water is permanently checked,
from a chemical and microbiological point of view, by an ultramodern
and automatic water treatment system.
