Cluj-Napoca (pronunciation in Romanian: /'kluξ na'poka/; Dacian and Vulgar Latin: Napoca; Medieval Latin: Castrum Clus / Claudiopolis; German: Klausenburg; Hungarian: Kolozsvár) is a city in northwestern Romania and the seat of Cluj County.

The name Cluj derives from Castrum Clus, first used in the 12th century to designate the city's medieval citadel. The word Clus means "closed" in Latin, and is related to the hills that surround the city. An alternative theory derives the name from German, either from the name Klaus, or from the archaic Klus (meaning mountain pass, or weir).

Today, the city is one of the most important academic, cultural, industrial and business centres in Romania. Among other institutions, it hosts the largest university in the country, "Babes-Bolyai University", with its famous botanical garden; nationally renowned cultural institutions; as well as the largest Romanian-owned commercial bank. "Monocle" magazine identified Cluj-Napoca as one of the top five places worldwide that are due their turn in the international spotlight during 2008. According to the American magazine "Information Week", Cluj-Napoca is quickly becoming Romania's technopolis.

Cluj Napoca, is located in the historic province of Transylvania and is approximately 330 km northwest of Bucharest. It is situated on the bank of the river "Somes" (the name "Somes" derives fron the ancient "Samus"),in the interfering zone between the "Apuseni Mountains" and the Somes Plateau. It ocupies a near equidistant position from the North, South, West and East of Transylvania. This urban center was born and developed himself on one of the most important communication axis linking the Occidental Europe with the East and South of the continent.

After the Roman Empire conquered Dacia in the beginning of the 2nd century, Trajan established a legion base known as Napoca. Hadrian raised Napoca to the status of a municipium, naming it Municipium Aelium Hadrianum Napoca. The locality was later raised to the status of a colonia, probably during the reign of Marcus Aurelius. Napoca became a provincial capital of Provincia Porolissensis and the seat of a procurator. However, during the Migrations Period Napoca was overrun and destroyed.

The region was eventually conquered by the Magyars and became part of the Kingdom of Hungary. King Stephen V of Hungary encouraged the Transylvanian Saxons to colonize near the Roman ruins of Napoca in 1272. Their settlement received the German name Klausenburg, from the old word Klause meaning "mountain pass."

In 1270 Cluj was given town privileges by Stephen V and began to grow quickly. The Saint Michael Church was built during the reign of King Sigismund. Cluj became a free city in 1405. By this time the number of Saxon and Hungarian inhabitants was equal, and King Matthias Corvinus (born in Cluj in 1440) ordered that the office of the chief judge should be alternating between Hungarians and Saxons.

Between 1437 and 1438 a great antifeudal uprising took place in Transylvania. The insurgent peasants defeated in June 1437 the army of the nobility, obtaining the satisfaction of some economical and political demands. In September 1437 the hostilities were resumed after the settlement of "Unio trium nationum" pact and a new agreement is achieved at Calvaria Church, close to Cluj, in October. In November Cluj was occupied by the insurgents and become the resistance center of the peasants. In January 1438 the nobility reoccupied Cluj and the uprising was defetead.

In 1541 Cluj became part of the independent Principality of Transylvania after the Ottoman Turks occupied most of the Kingdom of Hungary. Although Alba Iulia was the political capital for the princes of Transylvania, Cluj was the main cultural and religious center for the principality. Prince Stefan Batory founded a Jesuit academy in Cluj in 1581. Between 1545 and 1570 large numbers of Saxons left the city due to the introduction of Unitarian doctrines. The remaining were assimilated to Hungarians, and the city became a center for Hungarian nobility and intellectuals. With the Treaty of Karlowitz in 1699, Cluj became part of the Habsburg Monarchy of Austria.

The first Hungarian-language newspaper was published in Cluj in 1791, and the first Hungarian theatrical company was established in 1792. In 1798 the city was heavily damaged by a fire.

From 1790-1848 and 1861-1867, Cluj was the capital of the Grand Principality of Transylvania within the Austrian Empire; the city was also the seat of the Transylvanian diets. Beginning in 1830, the city became the centre of the Hungarian national movement within the principality. During the Revolutions of 1848, Cluj was taken and garrisoned in December by Hungarians under the command of the Polish general Józef Bem.

After the Ausgleich (compromise) which created Austria-Hungary in 1867, Cluj and Transylvania were again integrated into the Kingdom of Hungary. During this time Cluj was the second most important city in the kingdom after Budapest, and was the seat of Kolozs County.

After World War I, Cluj became part of the Kingdom of Romania, along with the rest of Transylvania. In 1940 Cluj was returned to Hungary through the Second Vienna Award, but Hungarian forces in the city were defeated by the Soviet and Romanian armies in October 1944. Cluj was restored to Romania by the Treaty of Paris in 1947.

The "Dormition of the Theotokos" Cathedral was built between 1923 and 1933, after the Union of Transylvania with the Romanian Old Kingdom. Nicolae Ivan (1855-1936), at the time Bishop of Cluj, had a very important contribution in suggesting the location of the cathedral and in obtaining the necessary funds for its construction, which began on 10 September 1923.

The project of the cathedral was developed by the architects George Cristinel and Constantin Pomponiu. Built in a Romanian Brâncovenesc style, a synthesis of Renaissance and Byzantine architecture, it lies on the Avram Iancu Square, together with the Cluj-Napoca National Theatre and the Avram Iancu Statue.

On 5 November 1933 the Cathedral was officially opened by Miron Cristea, the Patriarch of All Romania, Nicolae Balan, the Metropolitan of Transylvania and Nicolae Ivan, the Bishop of Cluj. The opening ceremony was also attended, among many others, by King Carol II and Crown Prince Michael I

The National Theater and the Romanian Opera opened with the first representation in Romanian on May 14, 1919 as a symbol of the spiritual rennaissence that followed the Union of Transylvania with Romania in 1918. The building was rised between 1904 and 1906 for the "Magyar National Theater", by "Helmer & Feller", on the former wood market of the town. The building was inaugurated on September 8, 1906. The first director was dr. Janovics Jenö. Since 1919 it hosted the Romanian National Theater and the Magyar Theater moved in the buiding close to the Central Park where it is functioning even today. The first director of the Romanian National Theater was Zaharia Barsan.

Hungarians remained the majority of the city's population until the 1960s, when for the first time in its long history, Romanians outnumbered Hungarians. According to the 1966 census, the city's population of 185,663 was composed of 56% Romanians and 41% Hungarians. Until 1974 the official Romanian name of the city was Cluj. It was renamed to Cluj-Napoca by the Communist government to recognize it as the site of the Roman colony Napoca. Some believe this was done to slight the Hungarian community by affirming that the ethnic Romanian community is descended from the Dacians colonized by the Romans.

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