Saint Michael's Church
judetul Cluj
Location: Union Square (Piaţa Unirii), Cluj-Napoca, Cluj County.
St. Michael's Church, a 14th century Gothic church, dominates the Piaţa Unirii (Union Square). The neo-Gothic tower atop the church was added in 1859. The church is considered to be one of the finest examples of Gothic architecture in Romania.
The church's three naves and vestry were the last to be completed, at the end of the 16th century. The choir vaults were originally built in the 14th century, but had to be rebuilt in the 18th century following a fire.
Daily services are held in Hungarian and Romanian and organ concerts often take place in the evening.
To the south, flanking the church, you'll find an equestrian statue (1902) of the famous Hungarian king Matthias Corvinus (Mátyás Corvinus in Hungarian), the son of Iancu de Hunedoara (János Hunyadi in Hungarian), and ruler of Hungary between 1458-1490.
Unfortunately, this statue has been at the center of a political controversy since 1993, due in large part to the efforts of the anti-Hungarian mayor of Cluj-Napoca, Gheorghe Funăr. He erased all mention of anything Hungarian on the statue's inscription and later gave the go-ahead for an archaeological dig to take place in front of the statue, perhaps to detract from the beauty of a Hungarian landmark.
In May 1997 the newly appointed director of the National History Museum called a halt to the excavation and made it clear that the statue would NOT be destroyed or removed. He pointed out that the central forum of the old Roman city, including a Roman temple of the wine god, is known to lie north of the church, not south where the mayor had requested the dig. The "scar" was still there when I toured the city, however, and is shown in one of my photos.
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County Order
Monastery sets are grouped by county (judetul) so that set and photo navigation occurs alphabetically in the following county order:
- jud. Bacau
- jud. Bistriţa-Năsăud
- jud. Cluj
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- jud. Covasna
- jud. Dâmboviţa
- jud. Hargita
- jud. Neamţ
- jud. Suceava
- jud. Unknown
