Monument Of The Memorandum Signatories Cluj-Napoca

In 1892, the main Romanian personalities from Transylvania draw up a memorandum for the imperial court from Vienna through which they protest against the situation of Romanian ethnic groups from Transylvania who represented the majority population, requesting the observance of their natural rights. In 1892 a Romanian delegation tried to hand in the memorandum to the Emperor Franz Joseph but he did not receive them.

In 1894, the memorandum signatories were sued in Cluj, the trial taking place in Reduta room, in the current building of the Ethnographic Museum from Transylvania. They were sentenced to imprisonment and the activity of the Romanian National Party was prohibited. After the diplomatic intervention of the Romanian King, Carol I of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, the authorities pardon the convicted persons.

At the anniversary of 100 years of this event, in 1994, the local authorities decided to place in the centre of the city, in Piata Unirii (Union Square), at the beginning of Eroilor Boulevard, a monument in the memory of those who represented the Romanian community in those times. The monument is the work of the sculptor Eugen Paul, has a height of 18 metres and the words of Ioan Ratiu are written on the pedestal: ”The existence of a nation is not discussed, it is affirmed!”.