urban cluj

Aug 15, 2009

Canalul Morii

Street along Morii (Mill's) Canal. The whole zone is planned to be renovated and transformed into a pedestrian precinct. You can see here one of the proposals.

Aug 14, 2009

Cinema

Cinema City and its surroundings seen in saturated sepia.

Aug 13, 2009

Creepy bar

Creepy no name night club in Abatorului (Slaughter's) zone, by day.

Aug 12, 2009

The BRD tower as seen from behind the white neo-Gothic St. Peter Church. A Virgin statue, in Baroque syle, and a huge billboard promoting a governmental program for the acquisition of dwellings are accompanying the two monuments.

Aug 11, 2009

O poartă în paragină

Derelict wooden gate of an old Saxon-style house on Inochentie Micu Klein street.

Aug 10, 2009

Un pod verde la Chios

Bridge to the Chios terrace in Central Park.

Aug 9, 2009

Turnul Primăriei se renovează

The City hall tower under renovation seen over chimneys.

Aug 8, 2009

Maşini şi pietoni pe Eroilor

Cars and pedestrians on Eroilor boulevard.

Aug 7, 2009

Conac în Grigorescu

Mansion in Grigorescu residential area.

Aug 6, 2009

Ce aţi pierdut

Old poster on an electric panel door: live reggae party!

Aug 5, 2009

Machete la librăria Cărtureşti

Architectural scale models exhibited in Carturesti bookstore.

Aug 4, 2009

Azil de bătrâni

Almshouse and community care center for elderly people housed in a former Franciscan monastery.

Aug 3, 2009

Colaj urban pe Napoca 15

Urban collage seen from the Napoca 15 terrace.

Aug 2, 2009

Plimbări pe Eroilor

Walking and talking on Eroilor boulevard.

Aug 1, 2009

Începe campionatul de fotbal

The new Romanian football/soccer Liga I season starts these days. The billboard says: "The Liga 1 begins! Hope, expectation, struggle... We live together the same feeling".

Cluj is the third big city in Romania considering its population, with a general number of residents & commuters in its metro area of about 400,000.

It is largely known as the capital-city of the historical province of Transylvania - land of medieval citadels, wild crags, caves and forests, and the famous figure of Dracula.

Historically speaking Cluj was settled as a colony by the Romans (Colonia Aurelia Napoca) by the 2nd century CE, from where came the name of Napoca, and thereafter developed as fortress and city by the Hungarians, Saxons and Austrians - which conferred it the cultural, architectural, and urban influences of the multicultural Central Europe. Romanians, who constantly were the dominant rural population around the city, became the city rulers in 1918, when Transylvania became part of Romania, and developed it, especially within the Communist regime, after the 1947, by constructing large industries and working-class neighborhoods.

Along its history, Cluj acknowledged periods of progress and illuminism - sustained by a notable university and the medical and legal centers developed here already since the 16th century - together with warfare, nationalistic and religious troubles and stagnation - due to medieval invasions, far-right politics encouraging hostilities between Magyars and Romanians, and religious tensions between Greek-Catholics and Greek-Orthodoxs.

Today it is considered among the major hotbeds of development regarding the human capital in the region - due to its large number of university students, vibrant culture, safe social and economic environment, and perspectives for further development.