The Transfiguration Cathedral (), also known as the Minorites' Church (, ), was donated in 1924 by the Holy See to the

Romanian Greek-Catholic Church The Romanian Greek Catholic Church or Romanian Church United with Rome is a ''sui iuris'' Eastern Catholic Church, in full union with the Catholic Church. It has the rank of a Major Archbishop, Major Archiepiscopal Church and it uses the Byzanti ...

to serve as the Cathedral of the Cluj-Gherla Eparchy, after the move of the Eparchy's center from Gherla to

Cluj Cluj-Napoca ( ; ), or simply Cluj ( , ), is a city in northwestern Romania. It is the second-most populous city in the country and the seat of Cluj County. Geographically, it is roughly equidistant from Bucharest (), Budapest () and Belgrade ( ...

History

The first church of the

Minorites The Franciscans are a group of related organizations in the Catholic Church, founded or inspired by the Italian saint Francis of Assisi. They include three independent religious orders for men (the Order of Friars Minor being the largest contem ...

in Cluj was the building known today as the Calvinist Church of Farkas street. After the

Reformation The Reformation, also known as the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation, was a time of major Theology, theological movement in Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the p ...

, in 1556, the Friars Minor were expelled from the city. They were permitted to come back only in 1724 and could settle down only outside the city walls. Around 1765, the city council gave permission to the monks to settle down within the city walls. The church and the monastery were built in 1778-79, but the tower collapsed on 24 September 1779 due to mistakes made at the basement works. The re-building of the tower was financed by the empress

Maria Theresa of Austria Maria Theresa (Maria Theresia Walburga Amalia Christina; 13 May 1717 – 29 November 1780) was the ruler of the Habsburg monarchy from 1740 until her death in 1780, and the only woman to hold the position in her own right. She was the sovereig ...

. The design was made by the architect of the Bánffy Palace, Johann Eberhard Blaumann. The tower and the roof of the church burnt down in 1798, and a temporary wooden roof was constructed. The new roof was built only in the 19th century. The murals of the ceiling were painted by Ferenc Lohr in 1908. Several families offered Mass stipends to support the construction of the church. Many of them were later entombed in the church's crypt until 1834, when burials within the city walls were forbidden due to a cholera epidemic. Seven Baroque and

Empire style The Empire style (, ''style Empire'') is an early-nineteenth-century design movement in architecture, furniture, other decorative arts, and the visual arts, representing the second phase of Neoclassicism. It flourished between 1800 and 1815 duri ...

honorary monuments, mostly of wealthy Armenian families, can be found in the church. In 1924

Pope Pius XI Pope Pius XI (; born Ambrogio Damiano Achille Ratti, ; 31 May 1857 – 10 February 1939) was head of the Catholic Church from 6 February 1922 until his death in February 1939. He was also the first sovereign of the Vatican City State u ...

gave the church building to the Greek-Catholic Church to serve as the cathedral of the Cluj-Gherla Eparchy. When the Greek-Catholic Church was dissolved in 1948 by the Communist regime, the church was taken over by the

Romanian Orthodox Church The Romanian Orthodox Church (ROC; , ), or Romanian Patriarchate, is an autocephalous Eastern Orthodox church in full communion with other Eastern Orthodox Christian denomination, Christian churches, and one of the nine patriarchates in the East ...

. After the decline of Communism (1989), the Greek-Catholic Church asked for the restitution of the building, but they were refused. After a long litigation process, on 20 February 1998, the Court of Ploieşti decided in the favour of the Greek Catholic Church. On 20 March 1998 Orthodox priests held a procession in the centre of Cluj to protest again the restitution.Gaal György: Kolozsvár kétezer esztendeje dátumokban, in: Kolozsvár 1000. pp. 368

References

Sources

* , referenced as ''Kolozsvár 1000'' *

External links

Official page on the website of the Romanian Greek-Catholic Church
Churches in Cluj-Napoca Greek-Catholic cathedrals in Romania Baroque church buildings in Romania Churches completed in 1779 {{RomanianGreekCatholic-church-stub