Astonishing Hungarian church renovated in Romania’s 2nd biggest city

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St. Michael’s Church in Cluj-Napoca (Kolozsvár), Romania, was consecrated on Saturday, following a renovation supported with funding from the European Union and the states of Hungary and Romania.

The church, together with an adjacent statue of King Matthias, is the symbol of the city. Archbishop Gergely Kovács noted in his homily that St. Michael’s Church has “great significance” for both Transylvania and the archdiocese. At the end of the mass, Hungary’s Culture and Innovation Minister János Csák said that, without culture, society “would fall apart like a string of pearls unstrung”. “Churches and schools are the string without which our culture would fall to pieces,” he added.

The interior of the renewed church. Photo: MTI/Gábor Kiss

Attila Cseke, Romania’s minister for development and public works, said the renovation of St. Michael’s Church was an act of “genuine cooperation”, involving EU funding, fiscal contributions from Romania and Hungary, support from the local council of Cluj-Napoca and private donations.

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The renovation, which started in the spring of 2018, cost close to 7 million euros, of which 4 million came from the EU and close to 2 million from the state of Hungary.

The Gothic church was completed in the first half of the 15th century. It’s Neo-Gothic tower was finished in 1859.