BÁNFFY PALACE ART MUSEUM

Among the city's monuments is one whose history is closely linked to the country's nobility: the Bánffy Palace. Built between 1774 and 1785 to designs by architect Johann Eberhard Blaumann, this Baroque-style building - the largest of its kind in Cluj - served as the private residence of Count György Bánffy, a Hungarian aristocrat and former governor of Transylvania. Many people have stayed here from time to time, including Franz ^I of Austria, composer Franz Liszt and Franz Joseph, head of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The palace belonged to the Bánffy family until it was expropriated by the Communist regime in the ^{mid-twentieth} century.

Since 1956, the palace has been home to the Cluj Fine Arts Museum, founded in 1951. Its 22 rooms house two distinct galleries. The National Art Gallery features a rich collection of Romanian works from the ^19th and ^20th centuries, including paintings by Romanian painters such as Tattarescu, Tonitza and Aman, as well as numerous sculptures. The universal art gallery houses works by art schools from all over Europe. With over 12,000 items, it is one of the most important art museums in Romania. Frequent temporary exhibitions, notably of photography, make this museum a lively cultural venue. After or before your visit, you can enjoy the coolness of its arcades in summer, as well as the café and terrace in the inner courtyard.