CLUJ (Ger. Klausenburg; Hung. Koloszvar), a city of Tran sylvania, Rumania, capital of the department of Cluj, and formerly of the principality of Transylvania. Pop. (193o) 98,55o. The racial figures in 1923 were: about 34,00o Rumanians, 40,000 Magyars, 20,000 Jews, and 16,000 others. Cluj lies mainly on the right bank of the Somos Mic, among considerable hills. On the left bank is the "Bridge Suburb" and the citadel. The streets have a modern appearance. In the central square is the fine Gothic church of St. Michael (1396-143 2 ), and in front of it a statue of Matthias Corvinus (1902 ). One side of the square is formed by the Batthanyi palace, formerly of the princes of Transylvania. Other noteworthy buildings are the Reformed church, built by Matthias Corvinus in 1486 and ceded to the Calvinists by Gabriel Bethlen in 1662, containing the coats of arms of the old Hungarian dominant families, the house in which Matthias Corvinus was born , now an ethnograph ical museum, and many palaces of the Hungarian nobility. Cluj is an orthodox bishopric, also a bishopric of the Reformed and Uniate Churches ; and possesses a university, a court of appeal, a theatre, opera and several museums. Its industry includes textile, paper, sugar, candle, soap and earthenware factories, breweries and distilleries.
Cluj is believed to occupy the site of a Roman settlement named Napoca. It was colonized by Saxons in 1178, and at first enjoyed many privileges and great prosperity; but many Saxons left it in the i6th century in consequence of the introduction of Uniate doctrine, and it presently became the centre of the Mag yar element in Transylvania. It was capital of Transylvania and seat of the Transylvanian diets, also under the Habsburgs, and centre of the Magyar national movement till 1918.