Calvinist Episcopal Cathedral Cluj-Napoca

In 1486, on Lupilor Street, the present M. Kogalniceanu Street, near the Tailors’ bastion, the municipality offers a space to the Franciscan-Minorite order at the request of the King Matthias Corvinus. He financially supports the construction of the monastery and sends a famous monk-architect specialized in Gothic style to supervise the works. The church with the Virgin Mary patron and the adjacent buildings were finished in 1516. The reform includes Cluj, the Roman-Catholic monks and clergymen are chased away from the city and until 1580 the establishment remains deserted, being taken over afterwards by the Jesuitic order.

Starting with 1603, the majority of Catholic buildings, especially the Jesuitic ones, are destroyed by Unitarians.

In 1638, the prince Gheorghe Rakoczi decides to rebuild the church according to the initial project, for this purpose having to bring craftsmen from the area of Baltic Sea, experts in ogival arches. The church is a Gothic room-type construction, with a system of Gothic star-shaped arches.

The most important object of art of the cathedral is the pulpit dating from the 17th century. The last two princes of Transylvania - Mihail Apafi I and Mihail Apafi II, together with their spouses, are buried inside this cathedral.