“Uphill” Holy Trinity Orthodox Church in Cluj-Napoca: The City’s First Orthodox Church
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.8
- Popularity
- Medium
- Country
- Romania
- Primary era
- Early Modern
- External website
- Open
- Eras represented
- Early Modern, Modern
- Civilizations
- Habsburg
- Site type
- Religious
- Remains
- Cathedral
On this page15 sections
History
The “Uphill” Holy Trinity Orthodox Church in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, was built by the city’s expanding Orthodox community between 1795 and 1796. Its Baroque features, including angled corner pilasters and an octagonal interior, reflect the architectural language of the period. As the first Orthodox church in Cluj, it became an important center for the Romanian Orthodox community.
Before the church was built
Until the first half of the eighteenth century, Cluj’s Orthodox community used the church at Someșfalău, which also served as a burial place for prominent members of the community. The local Orthodox population grew in the late eighteenth century, partly because Romanian, Greek, and Macedonian-Romanian merchants from Brașov settled in the city after the Josephine edicts. These measures, associated with Emperor Joseph II, relaxed restrictions on non-Catholic Christian communities within the Habsburg lands.
In 1788, the merchants Ioan Constantin and Ienache Mavrodin petitioned the city magistrate for permission to build an Orthodox church. The request was rejected on 6 April 1789 because regulations required an Orthodox community to include at least 100 believing families. Royal commissioner Count Adam Teleki had supported the petition on 31 March 1789, seeking to have it addressed under the religious-tolerance edicts.
Authorization and construction
The community then appealed to the Aulic Chancellery in Vienna, asking to build outside the city walls, beyond the authority of the city magistrate. Authorization was granted later in the eighteenth century. A city protest dated 5 August 1790 opposed the decision because it was seen as encouraging the growth of the Romanian community, but the protest did not overturn the authorization.
Orthodox merchants purchased land near the walls of Cluj, outside the built-up urban area, and construction began in 1795. The first liturgy was celebrated at Christmas in 1796 by the priest Ilie Fulea, who had arrived in Cluj in 1792. The church was consecrated at Christmas of the same year.
Ecclesiastical and community life
Between 1919 and 1932, the church served as the cathedral and episcopal see of the Diocese of Vad, Feleac, and Cluj. A cathedral is the principal church of a diocese, while an episcopal see is the seat of its bishop. The church remained Cluj’s only Orthodox church until 1932. It belongs to the Romanian Orthodox tradition and is associated with the Diocese of Vad, Feleac, and Cluj, now within the Metropolis of Cluj, Maramureș, and Sălaj.
The parish house at number 10 in the church grounds was Cluj’s first Romanian Orthodox parish office. With the support of the archpriest Florea Mureșanu, it hosted Victor Papilian’s literary circle, whose meetings were also attended by the writer Lucian Blaga.
Repairs and preservation
Repairs or maintenance took place in 1823, 1877, during the early twentieth century, in 1937, in 1944–1945, in 1951–1958, and in 1982–1983. During the 1951–1958 work, two masonry supports and a small reinforced-concrete platform were added beside the entrance on the western façade, in front of the tower. A further restoration was carried out between 2003 and 2010.
The church is also known as the “Church on the Hill,” a reference to Hajongard Hill south of medieval Cluj’s fortress. It is listed as a historic monument in Romania’s Cluj County register under code CJ-II-m-B-07276, a status included in the 2010 national heritage listing.
Remains
Layout and exterior
Plan and setting
The church stands in a garden among the graves of an old Orthodox cemetery. It is oriented from west to east and has a plan that combines a rectangular pronaos, or entrance vestibule, with an octagonal nave and a sanctuary that is semicircular inside but polygonal on the exterior. The building is approximately 18.68 metres long. Its walls are 70–80 centimetres thick, while the tower reaches 18.95 metres in height.
Roofed porch and tower entrance
A roofed porch separates the entrance from the nave through three arches. The central opening has a basket-handle form, while the two side openings are semicircular. Above them is a masonry balustrade with a cornice along its upper edge. Two masonry supports and a small reinforced-concrete platform stand beside the western entrance, in front of the tower, following the changes made during the 1951–1958 restoration.
Interior structure
Nave and vault
The rectangular pronaos measures 4.16 by 5.60 metres. The nave reaches maximum dimensions of 6.10 by 7.90 metres, and the naos, the principal worship space, is 9.43 metres wide. A narrow area before the iconostasis measures 2.90 by 5.60 metres. Massive pilasters at the nave’s corners are set at 45-degree angles to the walls. Their varied vertical planes create the distinctive octagonal interior, a specifically Baroque feature.
The corner pilasters support two intersecting semicircular arches. These arches carry a Bohemian vault, a domed ceiling form shaped within a polygonal or rectangular space, which rises to a maximum height of 7.05 metres. The apse, or sanctuary end, is semicircular within the church and polygonal outside.
Wall paintings and façade mosaic
The interior mural painting is recent. During the restoration of 2003–2010, new wall paintings were made and a mosaic of the Holy Trinity was added to the façade.
Iconostasis and historic books
Iconostasis
The iconostasis, the screen separating the nave from the sanctuary and carrying icons, was painted in 1796 by Constantin Zograf, a deacon from Bolgar, a district of Brașov, and a noted painter of the period. He worked on commission and at the expense of merchants from Brașov. Dragoș Drăgan Hlinca restored the iconostasis during the 2003–2010 restoration.
Books and manuscripts
The church preserves old icons, books, and manuscripts, including a Liturghier printed in Bucharest in 1797. A Liturghier is an Orthodox liturgical book containing the texts and directions used chiefly by priests during the Divine Liturgy. The volume was recorded by the church’s first priest, Ilie Fulea.
Nearby sites
