Kincses Kolozsvártól - romlott Kolozsvárig
From a “Wealthy Kolozsvár” to a “Deteriorated Kolozsvár”

Summary/Abstract: The citizens of Kolozsvár, which became a city at the beginning of the 14th century, then a free royal city in 1405, lead a wise and diligent life, due to the privileges given to it by the Hungarian kings. As a result, the city was named “Transsilvaniae civitas primaria”, respectively “metropolis Transsilvaniae” in the 16th century, and the contemporaries called it “wealthy Kolozsvár”. However, the flourishing, growing city had to share the fatal destiny of the country lead to ruin by the unlucky Polish campaigns of II Rákóczi György. Thus, at the end of the 17th century, the wealthy Kolozsvár was only a memory for its citizens; the leaders of the city once subscribed their letter in the name of the “deteriorated Kolozsvár”. The author presents the process that lead to the assessment of the city as a “wealthy” one, and then describes the catastrophe that reached the country, as a result of which Kolozsvár lost its free royal city status, together with its “wealthy” title, and eventually occupied a lower status in the hierarchy of the settlements: it became a noble city. The author also presents the growing fortunes of the guild merchants, the vineyard owners, the farmers, together with the documents certifying this fact. It also describes the influences of the Renaissance in the Transylvanian architecture, interior decoration, clothes, culture, as well as in the lifestyle of the citizens. Eventually, being a result of the entire country’s deterioration, we witness the deterioration of the city, its damages and losses of population

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