November 28, 2016

2595, 2596, 2886 ROMANIA (Cluj) - Cluj-Napoca

2595 Cluj-Napoca: 1. Dormition of the Theotokos Cathedral;
2 & 3. Saint Michael's Church; 5. The Central Park;
6. Lucian Blaga National Theatre. 

Posted on 05.06.2016, 28.11.2016
Located in the Someşul Mic River valley, Cluj-Napoca is is the second most populous city in Romania, and the unofficial capital to the historical province of Transylvania. Established by Romans after the conquer of Dacia in AD 106, Napoca gained the status of a colonia in 2nd century and became a provincial capital of Dacia Porolissensis. The colonia was evacuated in 274 by the Romans, and there are no references to urban settlement on the site for the better part of a millennium thereafter.

2596 Cluj-Napoca: 1. Dormition of the Theotokos Cathedral;
2. The Central Park; 3. Iuliu Maniu Street; 3. Lucian Blaga National
Theatre; 4. Saint Michael's Church and the equestrian statue of
Matthias Corvinus; 5. Bánffy Palace.

At the beginning of the Middle Ages, two groups of buildings existed on the current site of the city: the wooden fortress at Cluj-Mănăştur and the civilian settlement developed around the current Museum Place. After the conquest of Transylvania by the Hungarians, the city became part of the Kingdom of Hungary. A castle and a village were built to the northwest of the ancient Napoca no later than the late 12th century, settled by large groups of Transylvanian Saxons.

2886 Postcrossing Cluj Meet-Up - November 24, 2016

In 1541, the citty, named then Klausenburg, became part of the independent Principality of Transylvania; a period of economic and cultural prosperity followed. For a year, in 1600-1601, Cluj became part of the personal union of Michael the Brave, and under the Treaty of Carlowitz in 1699, it became part of the  Habsburg Monarchy. In the 17th century, Cluj suffered from great calamities, suffering from epidemics of the plague and devastating fires.

Beginning in 1830, the city became the centre of the Hungarian national movement within the principality. After the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867, Klausenburg and all of Transylvania were again integrated into the Kingdom of Hungary. During this time, Kolozsvár was among the largest and most important cities of the kingdom. On 1 December 1918 Cluj became part of the Kingdom of Romania, together with all of Transylvania.

Cluj-Napoca has a number of landmark buildings and monuments. One of those is the Saint Michael's Church in Unirii Square, built at the end of the 14th century in the Gothic style of that period. In front of the church is the equestrian statue of Matthias Corvinus, erected in honour of the locally born king of Hungary. The Orthodox Church's equivalent to St. Michael's Church is the Orthodox Cathedral on Avram Iancu Square, built in the interwar era.

An important eclectic ensemble is Iuliu Maniu Street, featuring symmetrical buildings on either side, after the Haussmann urbanistic trend. The most notable park of the city is the Central Park with the Chios Casino and a large statuary ensemble. The Cluj-Napoca Art Museum is hosted in Bánffy Castle, a baroque building of the 18th century, designed by the German architect Johann Eberhard Blaumann. The Lucian Blaga National Theatre shares the same building with the Romanian Opera, built between 1904 and 1906 by the famous Austrian architects Ferdinand Fellner and Hermann Helmer.

About the stamps
On the postcard 2595, 2596
The stamp is part of the series Holy Easter 2016, about which I wrote here.

On the postcard 2886


The stamp is part of the series The Cities of Romania, Cluj-Napoca, designed by Mihail Vămăşescu, and issued on August 19, 2016:
• Dormition of Virgin Mary Orthodox Metropolitan Cathedral (3.50 RON)
• Tailors' Bastion (4.00 RON)
• Lucian Blaga National Theater and Romanian Opera (4.50 RON) - It's on the postcard 2886
• Babeş-Bolyai University (15.00 RON)

References
Cluj-Napoca - Wikipedia

Sender 2595, 2596: Ana
Sent from Cluj-Napoca (Cluj / Romania) on 18.05.2016
Sender 2886: Mihnea Răducu and the Romanian postcrossers who participated to the Postcrossing Cluj Meet-up which held in Cluj-Napoca on November 24, 2016
Sent from Cluj-Napoca (Cluj / Romania) on 25.11.2016

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