Cluj-Napoca

Cluj-Napoca (/ˈkluːʒnæˌpoʊkə/ KLOOZH-na-POH-kə; Romanian: [ˈkluʒ naˈpoka] ^ⓘ), or simply Cluj (Hungarian: Kolozsvár [ˈkoloʒvaːr] ^ⓘ, German: Klausenburg), is a city in northwestern Romania. It is the second-most populous city in the country and the seat of Cluj County. Geographically, it is roughly equidistant from Bucharest (445 km; 277 mi), Budapest (461 km; 286 mi) and Belgrade (483 km; 300 mi). Located in the Someșul Mic river valley, the city is considered the unofficial capital of the historical province of Transylvania. For some decades prior to the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867, it was the official capital of the Grand Principality of Transylvania.

As of 2021^[update], 286,598 inhabitants live in the city. The Cluj-Napoca metropolitan area had a population of 411,379 people, while the population of the peri-urban area is approximately 420,000. According to a 2007 estimate, the city hosted an average population of over 20,000 students and other non-residents each year from 2004 to 2007. The city spreads out from St. Michael's Church in Unirii Square, built in the 14th century and named after the Archangel Michael, Cluj's patron saint. The municipality covers an area of 179.52 square kilometres (69.31 sq mi).

Cluj experienced a decade of decline during the 1990s, its international reputation suffering from the policies of its mayor at the time, Gheorghe Funar. In the early 21st century, the city is one of the most important academic, cultural, industrial and business centres in Romania. Among other institutions, it hosts the country's largest university, Babeș-Bolyai University, with its botanical garden, nationally renowned cultural institutions such as the National Theatre and Opera, as well as the largest Romanian-owned commercial bank. Cluj-Napoca held the titles of European Youth Capital in 2015, and European City of Sport in 2018. In 2021, the city joined the UNESCO Creative Cities Network and was named a UNESCO City of Film.

On the site of the city was a pre-Roman settlement named Napoca. After the AD 106 Roman conquest of the area, the place was known as Municipium Aelium Hadrianum Napoca. Possible etymologies for Napoca or Napuca include the names of some Dacian tribes such as the Naparis or Napaei, the Greek term napos (νάπος), meaning "timbered valley" or the Indo-European root *snā-p- (Pokorny 971–972), "to flow, to swim, damp".

The first written mention of the city's current name – as a Royal Borough – was in 1213 under the Medieval Latin name Castrum Clus. Despite the fact that Clus as a county name was recorded in the 1173 document Thomas comes Clusiensis, it is believed that the county's designation derives from the name of the castrum, which might have existed prior to its first mention in 1213, and not vice versa. With respect to the name of this camp, there are several hypotheses about its origin. It may represent a derivation from the Latin term clausa – clusa, meaning "closed place", "strait", "ravine". Similar meanings are attributed to the Slavic term kluč, meaning "a key" and the German Klause – Kluse (meaning "mountain pass" or "weir"). The Latin and Slavic names have been attributed to the valley that narrows or closes between hills just to the west of Cluj-Mănăștur. An alternative proposal relates the name of the city to its first magistrate, Miklus – Miklós / Kolos.

The Hungarian form Kolozsvár, first recorded in 1246 as Kulusuar, underwent various phonetic changes over the years (uar / vár means "castle" in Hungarian); the variant Koloswar first appears in a document from 1332. Its Saxon name Clusenburg/Clusenbvrg appeared in 1348, but from 1408 the form Clausenburg was used. The Romanian name of the city used to be spelled alternately as Cluj or Cluș, the latter being the case in Mihai Eminescu's Poesis.

Other historical names for the city, all related to or derived from "Cluj" in different languages, include Latin Claudiopolis, Italian Clausemburgo, Turkish Kaloşvar and Yiddish קלויזנבורג Kloyznburg or קלאזין Klazin.

Napoca, the pre-Roman and Roman name of ancient settlements in the area of the modern city, was added to the historical and modern name of Cluj during Nicolae Ceaușescu's national-communist dictatorship as part of his myth-making efforts. This happened in 1974, when the communist authorities made this nationalist gesture with the goal of emphasising the city's pre-Roman roots. The full name of "Cluj-Napoca" is rarely used outside of official contexts.