Unirii Square

After visiting the National Art Museum, we moved on to the Unirii Square, which translates as the Unity Square. It is the center of the city and it is always full of life and activities like concerts, exhibitions, fairs and so on. In fact, during winter, a corner of the square is used as an ice ring. It is not wrong to consider it as the heart of the city for when every other place is asleep, Unirii is still alive.

Since Christmas is approaching, we also had the chance to visit the wonderful Christmas fair that they created on the square and so we could indulge ourselves in delicious homemade chocolates, Christmas cookies and we could window shop lovely Christmas ornaments. We first wanted to try something local and so we began with the dessert that local people call Kürtoskalacs. It is like a spiral waffle which is served with sugar sprinkles, cinnamon, sesame or vanilla on top.

While hanging around the square, the thing that catches the eye most is the statue of Matthias Corvinus who lived between 1438 and 1490 which was made in 1902 by Janos Fadrusz. Corvinus was born in Cluj but he could only stay there for a few weeks until his departure and he later became the king and a very influential figure in Romanian history. In front of his statue lies the Roman Ruins down below with a glass panel on top.

Behind the statue stands the symbol of the city the flamboyant Catholic Church of St. Michael. It is a Hungarian church and is still open for service. We went into the church and immediately felt the belittling effect of the Gothic architecture. Its glassworks were just as captivating as its interior architecture. We learned that it was made between 1350 and 1487 and its tower was added in 1862. It is thought to be the oldest building in the region and has the highest tower in Romania. The church can be considered the ultimate center of the city and we can easily interpret that the city expanded with taking the church as its

point zero.