Church on the Hill (Cluj-Napoca)

In the late 18th century, several wealthy Aromanian families lived in Cluj; the nearest Orthodox church, which they attended only on major holidays, was located in Someșeni. Thus, in 1788, two merchants petitioned count Ádám Teleki, royal commissioner of Joseph II in the Principality of Transylvania, asking permission to build an Orthodox church inside the city.^[1]

The following year, the town council rejected the request, arguing that only previously established denominations could build. A new petition was issued, and a census in February 1790 identified 129 Orthodox inhabitants. Upon the government's recommendation, the chancellery in the imperial capital Vienna approved the building the same month. The town council protested in vain that this would increase the local Romanian presence. Thus, the merchants purchased land in the Hajongard area.^[1]

The church was built using a Baroque style^[2] in 1795–1796, with help from the Romanians of Brașov and Wallachia. The first liturgy was celebrated at Christmas 1796, when the church was consecrated. The church is small, 19 meters long by 9 meters wide, with a spire reaching 19 meters. The vestibule is rectangular, the nave octagonal, the choir narrow; the altar is semicircular in the interior and polygonal in the exterior. The iconostasis was painted in 1796 by the well known Constantin the Painter, a deacon from Șcheii Brașovului and sent as a gift by the merchants of Brașov.^[1]