“Convictus nobilium” or the House of Piarists is a historical building at no 7 on Universităţii street, right across the headquarters of Babeş – Bolyai University of Cluj. „Convictus nobilium” had been the boarding house of the Jesuit College and later of Piarists’ College.
Built in a baroque style the building surrounds a rectangular inner courtyard. Right above the entrance there’s a Jesuit emblem with an inscription saying “CON(victus) NOB(ilium)”. The House of Piarists forms an architectonic ensemble together with The Church of Piarists and the Saint Virgin Mary Statue.
Due to the growing number of young nobles coming from other places to complete their studies in Cluj, the accommodation the town could offer these students soon became insufficient. That is why, shortly after the works at the Bathory Seminary had been finished, a new boarding house was built across the Jesuit College. The new building known as Convictus nobilium (Convictus of the nobles) was built in several stages around the inner courtyard.
The massive walls of the building sustain both on the ground floor as well as on the upper floor many rooms and pavilions divided by deep sphero-cylindrical arches. At the middle of the 18th century the building was extended with another pavilion and a refectory.
The most beautiful room is the refectory – the dining room – due to its flat top cylindrical arch with relatively classic decorations. This was the place where the students accommodated in the building would meet for their everyday meals. There were only tables in the room with no chairs so the students had to stand and eat. The accommodation in this boarding house was not cheap at all, that is why many students were fighting to obtain scholarships. Romanians who studies at the Piarists’ College had to either live in rented rooms like Avram Iancu did or to try to obtain one of the Maior Scholarships granted by Petru Maior or Bob scholarships given by the Greque-Catholic Archibishop – Ioan Bob. Nowadays the building hosts several cultural centers.
Text preluat de pe visitclujnapoca.ro.
