Arts and Culture
Cluj-Napoca has a diverse and growing cultural scene, with cultural life exhibited in a number of fields, including the visual arts, performing arts and nightlife. The city's cultural scene spans its history, dating back to Roman times: the city started to be built in that period, which has left its mark on the urban layout (centered on today's Piaţa Muzeului) as well as surviving ruins. However, the medieval town saw a shift in its centre towards new civil and religious structures, notably St. Michael's Church. During the 16th century the city became the chief cultural and religious centre of Transylvania; in the 1820s and the first half of the 1830s, Kolozsvár was the most important centre for Hungarian theatre and opera, while at the beginning of the 20th century, still a Hungarian city, it became the chief alternative to the cinematography of Budapest. After its incorporation into the Kingdom of Romania at the end of World War I, the renamed Cluj saw a resurgence of its Romanian culture, most conspicuous in the completion of the monumental Orthodox cathedral in 1933 across from the (newly nationalised) Romanian National Theatre. This marked an unambiguously "Romanian" centre, a few blocks to the east of the old Hungarian centre; however, the Romanian-ness of the town—like the Romanian hold on Transylvania—was by no means securely established even by the end of the interwar period. The late 1960s brought a revival of nationalist discourse, concomitant with the urbanisation and industrialisation of the city that gradually advanced the Romanianisation of the city. Nowadays, the city is home to people of different cultures, with corresponding cultural institutions such as the Hungarian State Theatre, as well as the British Council and various other centres for the promotion of foreign cultures. These institutions hold eclectic manifestations in honour of their cultures, including Bessarabian, Hungarian, Tunisian, and Japanese. Nevertheless, contemporary cultural manifestations cross ethnic boundaries, being aimed at students, cinephiles, and arts and science lovers, among others.
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