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The Hidden Side of Cluj
by The Cristi
I am very happy to present you some hidden and undocumented monuments, traditions and events from Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
To begin with, Cluj-Napoca is located in the heart of Transylvania (so it should be pretty clear to you that vampires are walking perpetually on the streets and this article wants to drink your blood, just like me and any of the other people from here) and is cozily isolated from earthquakes, ugly floods and other naughty stuff, by the mountains surrounding. Anyway the vampires make it unsafe, mwa ha ha ha ha.
Transylvania is the in the north-western part in the country, and, over time, it has been (and still is) the object of a very intense dispute between Romania and Hungary.
The population is about 70-75 percent Romanian, about 20-23 Hungarian, and the other significant part is of Indian descent (which is a euphemism for gypsies).
Cluj-Napoca is one of the largest towns in Romania and is a very important University centre. It dates from ancient times, as it was founded around 100 A.D. on an already-existent Dacian settling.
The population in the book is around 320,000 inhabitants, yet it exceeds 400,000 in full University season.
Anyway, this is not what I will be focused on.
The leaning pillar:
While walking to the sports hall to see a handball match, I remarked this replica of The Leaning Tower of Pisa, an excellent low cost copy located in an nice area near the central park.
Repairs on the spot [sorry I have not been able to provide the actual image]:
We have an excellent women's handball championship, as Romania is the second best country here, and the match I saw was a derby between the 3rd in the table (hehe our side) and the 5th. (Of course we won :>)
Yet the value of the match and squads did not stop a piece of the parchment the teams were playing on to get dislocated :D. So one of the ground-keepers came to fix it. Our goalie helped - this scene was the equivalent of the stray dogs running on a football (soccer) pitch right in the middle of the match and a player "removing" it. :D
Tools on holiday
I think the local authorities started some sort of project with the local river (called Somesul Mic - an approximate translation would be The Minor Somes) which involved blocking some water, I don't really know, whatever.
What is for sure though, is that they never seemed to finish the job and they left something behind. This is somewhat sad for me because it is near the central stadium (which the No. 1 tradition team in Cluj plays matches - the other one plays better but is just a money team), the central park, the sports hall and the large swimming pool complex. The stadium is the large structure visible in the background. Note the fact that the excavator has been standing there for months.
Another tool on holiday
(this is my favourite - I hope you'll love it too)
I put the text before the photo because I kind of regard this as my masterpiece photo. Concerning the same project as written about above, there is another tool which looks like having a pretty bad time. It is another abandoned excavator, but it is kind of incredible for this kind of city. The fact that the excavator is older adds to the effect :D.
Photo taken from a nearby bridge.
Photo taken from one of the river banks.
I hope you have enjoyed this, because I feel this city is full of resources, and I feel I will come back with more :D.
I am very happy to present you some hidden and undocumented monuments, traditions and events from Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
History and location:
To begin with, Cluj-Napoca is located in the heart of Transylvania (so it should be pretty clear to you that vampires are walking perpetually on the streets and this article wants to drink your blood, just like me and any of the other people from here) and is cozily isolated from earthquakes, ugly floods and other naughty stuff, by the mountains surrounding. Anyway the vampires make it unsafe, mwa ha ha ha ha.
Transylvania is the in the north-western part in the country, and, over time, it has been (and still is) the object of a very intense dispute between Romania and Hungary.
The population is about 70-75 percent Romanian, about 20-23 Hungarian, and the other significant part is of Indian descent (which is a euphemism for gypsies).
Cluj-Napoca is one of the largest towns in Romania and is a very important University centre. It dates from ancient times, as it was founded around 100 A.D. on an already-existent Dacian settling.
The population in the book is around 320,000 inhabitants, yet it exceeds 400,000 in full University season.
Anyway, this is not what I will be focused on.
The leaning pillar:
While walking to the sports hall to see a handball match, I remarked this replica of The Leaning Tower of Pisa, an excellent low cost copy located in an nice area near the central park.
Repairs on the spot [sorry I have not been able to provide the actual image]:
We have an excellent women's handball championship, as Romania is the second best country here, and the match I saw was a derby between the 3rd in the table (hehe our side) and the 5th. (Of course we won :>)
Yet the value of the match and squads did not stop a piece of the parchment the teams were playing on to get dislocated :D. So one of the ground-keepers came to fix it. Our goalie helped - this scene was the equivalent of the stray dogs running on a football (soccer) pitch right in the middle of the match and a player "removing" it. :D
Tools on holiday
I think the local authorities started some sort of project with the local river (called Somesul Mic - an approximate translation would be The Minor Somes) which involved blocking some water, I don't really know, whatever.
What is for sure though, is that they never seemed to finish the job and they left something behind. This is somewhat sad for me because it is near the central stadium (which the No. 1 tradition team in Cluj plays matches - the other one plays better but is just a money team), the central park, the sports hall and the large swimming pool complex. The stadium is the large structure visible in the background. Note the fact that the excavator has been standing there for months.
Another tool on holiday
(this is my favourite - I hope you'll love it too)
I put the text before the photo because I kind of regard this as my masterpiece photo. Concerning the same project as written about above, there is another tool which looks like having a pretty bad time. It is another abandoned excavator, but it is kind of incredible for this kind of city. The fact that the excavator is older adds to the effect :D.
Photo taken from a nearby bridge.
Photo taken from one of the river banks.
I hope you have enjoyed this, because I feel this city is full of resources, and I feel I will come back with more :D.
ABucin |
Latest page update: made by ABucin
, Jan 21 2009, 6:18 AM EST
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