Cluj-Napoca County
Lying in north-western Romania, the county of Cluj is the 13th in
size in this country, taking up 2.8 per cent of the total Romanian
territory. With a natural background most favourable to human activities,
the expanse of Cluj county has been inhabited since time immemorial.
Archaeological finds in this region attest to the existence of a civilisation
long integrated into the European life and culture. The oldest traces
of Neolithic settlements in Romania were unearthed in the Gura Baciului
area. In the second century BC, a flourishing Geto-Dacian civilisation
developed, mentioned in the writings of Herodotus. Following the conquest
of Dacia by the Romans and its becoming a Roman province, in the place
of the old settlement of Napoca a Roman city was erected and elevated
to the rank of municipium by emperor Hadrian (AD 124), then turned
into colonia during the reign of Marcus Aurelius (AD 160-180). An
important economic and political centre during the Roman rule, the
settlement was for a time the capital of Dacia Porolissensis. The
Roman colonisation covered the provinces, too, a fact attested by
numerous vestiges of rustic villas and Roman camps (Bologa, Caseiu).
After the withdrawal of the Roman armies and administration south
of the Danube (AD 275), the region continued to be inhabited (as the
testimonies discovered in the district of Manastur prove), and the
population left behind had to put up with a hectic period of barbarian
migrations from southern and eastern Europe. At that time, the first
Romanian state-like organisations were set up, pride of place taking
the Voivodate of Gelu, established around the strongholds of Dabaca
and Gilau. In AD 1213, the locality was mentioned under the name of
Castrenses de Clus, owing to its position in an area enclosed (from
the Latin clusus) by hills. The Voivodate of Gelu could not withstand
the pressure of the Hungarians – settled in the Pannonian Plain, on
the territory of the former Roman Province of Pannonia – being conquered
and included in the Voivodate of Transilvania, under Hungarian suzerainty.
In 1316, Cluj acquired the privilege of civitas, and in the 14th-15th
centuries it became one of the most outstanding cities in Transilvania,
an important economic, political and cultural centre. In 1437, the
peasants rose against oppression and injustice in the uprising of
Bobalna, with a tragic denouement for the rebels. Starting with the
16th century, the city flourished as a cultural centre; in 1550 a
printing house was established, and in 1580 an academy with three
departments (theology, philosophy and law) opened its gates. In 1776
this was replaced by a college with four departments (philology, natural
sciences, law and surgery), the latter boasting the teaching services
of the eye doctor of European repute, I. Piuariu-Molnar. Between 1683
and 1699, Cluj was occupied and put under Austrian rule. After 1790,
when the residence of the Imperial Governor of Transilvania was moved
here, the political importance of the city grew. The representatives
of the Cluj population took part in the 1848 Revolution, voting in
favour of the revolutionary programme. Nonetheless, against the freely
expressed wish of the Romanian people, the Cluj Diet, – made up of
Hungarians and Transilvanian Saxons – voted on 17/29 May 1848 the
union of Transilvania to Hungary, a decision with negative results
for the Revolution and the Romanian population in Transilvania. The
struggle of the Romanian population against national and social aggression
culminated with the crucial moment of 1918 when, following the demise
of the Austrian-Hungarian monarchy, Transilvania united to Romania,
in the wake of the Referendum passed at the Grand National Assembly
of Alba-Iulia (the 1st of December 1918, Romania’s National Day).
On 16 October 1974, on the occasion of the anniversary of 1850 years
since the first documentary attestation of the municipality, the city
received the name of Cluj-Napoca. The first epigraphic mention of
the settlement of Potaissa dates back to AD 108. The then village,
with ancient Dacian roots, was to become, in AD 168, the headquarters
of the Legion V Macedonica. The stationing here of this Legion contributed
to the rapid progress in all fields of the Daco-Roman settlement on
the Aries river that became a municipium and then a colonia, towards
the end of the second century. The withdrawal of the Roman armies
under Aurelian represented an important event in the life of the town,
but did not mark the end of Roman life at Potaissa. Like throughout
Dacia, the Roman element, solidly and irreversibly rooted, survived
in its essence, as the Daco-Roman people. In a document of 1075, the
settlement was called Turda for the first time. Three nuclei, Turda
Veche, Turda Noua, and the village of Oprisani, were created in the
following centuries, out of which the present-day town came to life.
Among the numerous events occurred in this locality across time, we
can mention the assassination, in 1601, of Prince Mihai Viteazul (Michael
the Brave) on the Turzii Plain. He was the first prince to unite the
three Romanian Principalities. The Memorandum Movement of 1829-1894,
led by Dr. Ioan Ratiu, is another historical moment worth mentioning.
The timely development of the town and its important economic and
political role in the history of Transilvania prompted the building
of valuable monuments of religious and civil architecture. From
the remote Antiquity to this day, generations after generations of
locals, first the Dacians, then the Daco-Romans, and then the Romanians
(alongside whom Hungarians and Transilvanian Saxons settled later)
lived and worked here, tightly bound to their ancient hearth that
they turned ever more fertile and beautiful through their labour and
talent.
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Geographical
Outline
The County of Cluj is situated at the heart of the historic province
of Transilvania, in central-western Romania, and neighbours on the
counties of Bihor, Salaj, Maramures, Alba, Bistrita-Nasaud and Mures.
It covers 6,674 sq. km (2.8 per cent of Romania’s territory). Its
administrative seat is the Municipality of Cluj-Napoca, with a population
of 332,297 inhabitants (47.7 per cent of the county’s population).
An ancient settlement, the city recorded thriving spells in the Roman
epoch and then in the Middle Ages, as an important urban and commercial
centre. At present, Cluj-Napoca is an important cultural centre (the
Romanian National Theatre and the Romanian Opera, the Hungarian Theatre
and Opera, the Philharmonic, the Gheorghe Dima Music Academy), with
numerous educational institutions (10 higher education institutes
– six state and four private ones – with 30 departments, with 34,710
students and more than 2,200 teaching staff). The County of Cluj is
one of the most developed and well-balanced in Romania. Its economic
potential is given by the local resources, a long-standing tradition
and experience in most sectors of activity, as well as by its position
of trade leader in Transilvania, owing to its favourable location
at the cross-roads of important commercial routes connecting central
Europe to the Balkan area. The main localities are the municipalities
of Cluj-Napoca (332,297 inhabitants), Turda (61,851), Dej (41,974),
the towns of Campia Turzii (30,162), Gherla (24,572), Huedin (10,231),
the 74 communes with 420 villages (the total rural population amounts
to 234,277 inhabitants). On 1 July 1996, the population of the county
numbered 726,790 inhabitants, of whom 362,800 employed persons and
494,534 urban population. The structure of the active population is
as follows: industry – 31.0 per cent; agriculture – 29.1 per cent;
commerce – 9.9 per cent. The structure of the population • according
to nationality: Romanians - 77.59 per cent, Hungarians – 19. 85 per
cent, Romany – 2.22 per cent, Germans – 0.15 per cent, others – 0.19
per cent • according to religion: Romanian Orthodox – 69.9 per cent,
Greek-Catholic – 5.1 per cent, Roman-Catholic – 4.4 per cent, Reformed
– 14.1 per cent, others – 6.5 per cent. The county of Cluj is situated
in the contact area of three big geographic units: the Apuseni Mountains,
the Somesan Plateau and the Transilvanian Plain. The relief contours
are mainly hills (more than two-fifths of the surface) and mountains,
with no plains under 200 m altitude. The hilly relief includes the
north-western part of the Transilvanian Plain, characterised by the
existence of small, naked hills (average altitude 500 m) and the south-eastern
part of the Somesan Plateau, with somewhat higher hills covered with
forests. The Apuseni Mountains (the Bihor Mountains, the Gilau Mount,
the Big Mount and Trascau Mountain) guard the south-western part,
the maximum altitude being recorded on the Vladeasa Massif (1,842
m). The river network is represented by the Somesul Mic (running almost
throughout the county), the Crisul Repede, and lower Aries, by natural
lakes (Catina Popii I and Popii II, Geaca, Taga, etc.) and hydro-power
lakes like Belis Fantanele, Tarnita and Gilau. The county’s mineral
resources are: mineral fuels (brown coal, peat coal, natural gas),
useful minerals and rocks (quartz, feldspar, dacites and andesites,
granite, limestone and Cretaceous dolomites, calc-tufa, kaolin sands,
salt), and mineral springs.
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Touristic
Information
Situated in the North-Western part of Romania, the Cluj county
covers 2.8 per cent of Romania's surface. It has 736,000 inhabitants,
of which 77 per cent are Romanians, 9 per cent are Magyars; 2.2
per cent are Gypsies, and others are Germans. Jews, Ukrainians.
The archaeological discoveries in this county show the existence
of a civilization integrated long time ago into the European life
and culture. In the Gura Baciului zone the oldest Neolithic vestiges
known in Romania (5.000 B.C.) were discovered. In the II-nd century
B.C. there was a Geto-Dacian civilization. After the conquest
of Dacia by Roman Empire, Potaissa (Turda) and Napoca (Cluj) were
named municipalities. the last one becoming the capital city of
Dacia Porolissensis - this being its first documentary attestation.
From the far antiquity till our days, generations by generations,
Dacians firstly, Dacian-Romans later, then Romanians (and beside
them the Magyars and Germans later) lived and worked together
and had connected by thousand elements to this land which was
fertilized and embellished by their work and gifts. Here there
are two main forms of relief: hills and mountains with altitude
between 227 m up to 1, 842 m above sea level. The highest ones
are the Vladeasa (1,842 m) and Muntele Mare (1,825 m). The mountains
situated to the South-West are part of the Apuseni Mountains which
are a synthesis of the Romanian Carpathians. The main rivers are
Somesul Mic, Ariesul and Crisul Repede. The lakes are not so important
economically, but interesting as a scientific value and two of
them are natural reservations: Lacul Stancii and Lacul Legii.
The anthroposaline lakes (created by the flooding of the old salt
mines) are deep and with highly saltness curing waters. The main
salt lakes are: Turda, Cojoena, Sic and Ocna Dejului. The county
has a temperate continental climate characteristically to the
Romanian Western and North-Western regions. The landscape is a
picturesque one and attractive for tourists. The fame of the Apuseni
Mountains is given by its landscape: large pastures, volcanic
peaks, deep and narrow quays which are unique ones both in Romania
and in Europe (Cheile Turzii, Cheile Turenilor). There are also
caves with a special spealeologic value: Pestera Mare and Pestera
Piatra Ponorului. In the mountain forests the bears, wild boars,
lynxes, deers can be hunt, and in the rivulets there are a lot
of trouts. Points of tourist interest are also the more than 600
architectural monuments in all European styles from the Gothic,
baroque and Renaissance to the Secession and modern ones. This
county has three municipalities: Cluj-Napoca, the capital city
with 330,000 inhabitants, Turda and Dej; three towns: Cimpia Turzii,
Huedin and Gherla; 74 villages. Cluj-Napoca is the capital city.
The main town of Transylvania has two names: Napoca is the name
of the old Dacian fortress, and Cluj is the Latin one from Clusiurn,
a closed town. Its Magyar and German names (Koloszvar, and respectively,
Klausenburg) are based on the Latin, Rornanian one. An important
cultural, university and industrial town, Cluj-Napoca was and
is a symbol along the history. The University, Opera House, the
music and art Academy as well as the Medical and Pharmaceutics
Institute are well-known in Europe. The Magyars who live here
developed remarkably their culture (they have an opera house,
a theatre and a lot of periodicals) by their known writers, newspapermen,
artists and musicians. A downtown dominated by the gothic "Sf.
Mihai" Church tells the history of this town.
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Economy
Profile
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