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Cluj-Napoca is the oldest and one of the most important university centers in Romania. The history of medical education in Cluj spans 250 years, rooted in a long institutional and cultural evolution that began in the 16th century. Following the fall of the medieval Kingdom of Hungary (1526) and the establishment of the autonomous Principality of Transylvania under Ottoman suzerainty (1541), Cluj experienced significant growth as one of the principality's principal craft centers. Stephen Báthory invited the Jesuit Order to Cluj and in 1581 founded the Major Jesuit College — one of the most effective educational systems in Europe.
The Habsburg Reforms and Medicalization
After the mid-18th century, the Habsburg Empire underwent a process of medicalization, through which public health became a state priority. This transformation developed under the reforms initiated by Empress Maria Theresa with the support of her personal physician, Gerard van Swieten, and later continued by Emperor Joseph II. The promulgation of the Generale Normativum in Re Sanitatis (1770) marked the most important medical reform of the era. From that point onward, surgeons, midwives, and pharmacists were required to undergo formal training and pass examinations before a medical board.
An important historical clarification concerns the distinction between physicians and surgeons, who held distinct professional statuses for a long period. Surgery — often associated with bloodshed (Ecclesia abhorret a sanguine) — was considered incompatible with ecclesiastical status. Consequently, surgery was practiced by barber-surgeons organized in guilds.
D. Laurentii Heisters, Chirurgie, in welchem alles, was zur Wund-Artzney gehört, Nürnberg, 1743 — a surgical illustration from the leading surgical treatise of the Habsburg era
The Medical-Surgical Institute (1775)
In Cluj, these developments took institutional form in 1775, when Empress Maria Theresa informed the Transylvanian Government (Gubernium) that Joseph Laffer of Vienna had been appointed professor of surgery, anatomy, and obstetrics. On 7 November 1776, Maria Theresa officially ordered the foundation of the Faculty of Medicine, promising its gradual expansion. The medical school project evolved into a Medical-Surgical Institute, functioning within the Royal Academic Lyceum (Lyceum Regium Academicum). After 1849, it became an independent institution.
The Royal Lyceum (Piarist Főgimnasium) in Cluj, where the Medical-Surgical Institute operated
The chief physician (protomedicus) of Transylvania served as director of the institute. Professors were appointed by the Imperial Court following public selection. The training program for surgeons lasted between two and three years; the midwifery course lasted several months and was taught in Romanian, Hungarian, and German.
János Maizner, Professor of Obstetrics at the Medical-Surgical Institute in Cluj
A Pioneer: Ioan Molnar von Müllersheim
Cluj was the first city to establish a separate department of ophthalmology in 1791, with the appointment of Ioan Molnar von Müllersheim as professor of ophthalmology — the first Romanian physician with formal academic medical training. In 1792, he was ennobled by the emperor in recognition of his achievements. His inaugural lecture is considered the first scientific medical work published by a Romanian author.
Practical training took place at the Carolina (Karolina) Public Hospital, the city's first modern hospital, opened in 1818. Named in honor of Empress Carolina Augusta, it housed separate departments of internal medicine, surgery, obstetrics, and ophthalmology. In 1851, a maternity ward was inaugurated.
The Karolina (Karolina) Public Hospital — the city's first modern hospital, opened in 1818, named in honor of Empress Carolina Augusta
The University of Cluj (1872)
A major turning point came in 1867, when the Austro-Hungarian Compromise established the Dual Monarchy. In the Kingdom of Hungary — of which Transylvania became part in 1868 — there was only one university, in Pest. Cluj had a major advantage: its strong academic tradition, with three important colleges, a Law Academy, the Medical-Surgical Institute, and the Transylvanian Museum Society.
In 1872, the University of Cluj was officially founded (from 1881, "Franz Joseph" University of Cluj), comprising four faculties: Law, Medicine, Mathematics and Natural Sciences, and History, Philosophy and Letters. The Faculty of Medicine inherited both the infrastructure and the teaching staff of the former Medical-Surgical Institute, ensuring continuity. Hungarian became the language of instruction.
The central building of "Franz Joseph" University in Cluj (Kolozsvár – F.J. Egyetem)
The University Clinics Complex
The first decades of the university's existence were marked by an ambitious programme of infrastructural development. The construction of the University Clinics represented the largest architectural project undertaken by the institution — a pavilion-style complex built on a slope and arranged across three terraces, following the most advanced hygienic principles of the period.
By the eve of the First World War, when the complex was fully completed, it covered more than 10,000 square meters and included over 800 rooms, approximately 600 beds, 28 laboratories, facilities for dissection, autopsy, and vivisection, 11 libraries, and several museums. Built at a cost of four million crowns, the clinical complex met the highest European standards. By 1918, eighteen clinics and institutes were already operating within this medical campus.
The University Clinics Complex (1909) — general view, with the pavilion-style buildings arranged across three terraces
Mikó Street (today Clinicilor Street) — the Clinic of Gynaecology and Obstetrics and the medical campus of the University of Cluj
The Anatomy Collections
A landmark in this development was the inauguration of the Anatomy Pavilion in 1888, designed in the Neo-Renaissance style. It housed three major institutes: Anatomy, Pathological Anatomy, and Forensic Medicine. Professor Leó Davida played a decisive role in creating the space and in transforming the faculty into a modern centre for education and research. In addition to designing the Institute of Anatomy, he also founded an anatomy museum.
The Didactic Collection of Human Anatomy remains one of the oldest and most valuable collections of the university. The more than 150 anatomical preparations — preserved through dry techniques, injection methods, and corrosion casting — were created by Davida himself. Some of these specimens received awards at the Exposition Universelle in Paris. Several anatomical models produced by the renowned Parisian Tramond workshop have also been preserved.
The Beauchêne skull (Exploded Skull) — from the Didactic Collection of Human Anatomy, Museum of the Cluj Medical School
A display cabinet from the Museum of the Cluj Medical School — pharmaceutical and medical instruments, early 20th century
Wax anatomical models from the collections of the Museum of the Cluj Medical School, showing dermatological conditions
Objects and instruments from the collections of the Museum of the Cluj Medical School
Distinguished Professors
The prestige of this medical centre grew steadily through an exceptionally rich teaching and research activity. Among the most distinguished professors were László Udránszky, internationally known for his work on the physiology of vision; Endre Hőgyes, associated with the discovery of the vestibulo-ocular reflex; and Károly Lechner, founder of the local school of psychiatry. In terms of mother tongue, the majority of students were Hungarian, followed by Romanian and German speakers.
Károly Lechner — Rector of "Franz Joseph" University in Cluj (1897–1898), Professor at the Clinic of Mental Diseases and Neurology (1889–1919)
Portrait of a professor of the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Cluj
In terms of mother tongue, the majority of students were Hungarian, followed by Romanian and German speakers — reflecting the multiethnic character of Transylvania itself.
1918: A New Beginning
The end of 1918 brought the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and a fundamental reconfiguration of higher education in Cluj. Following the proclamation of the union of Transylvania with Romania on 1 December 1918, the new Romanian authorities requested that the teaching staff of the Hungarian university swear an oath of allegiance to King Ferdinand I of Romania. Upon their refusal, the Hungarian university withdrew first to Budapest and, from 1921 onward, to Szeged.
During 1919 and 1920, the University of Cluj was reorganized under Romanian authority. A University Commission was established, chaired by Professor Sextil Pușcariu, the first rector of the newly established Romanian university. Its mission was to select the academic staff for what became in 1927 "King Ferdinand I" University of Cluj — the direct institutional ancestor of today's "Iuliu Hațieganu" University of Medicine and Pharmacy.
The University Commission established in 1919–1920 to reorganize the University of Cluj under Romanian authority, chaired by Professor Sextil Pușcariu
Portrait — Iuliu Hațieganu, professor and rector, after whom the university is named today
Portrait — a founding professor of the Romanian Faculty of Medicine in Cluj after 1919
The Romanian University Era and Today
After 1919, the University of Cluj was reorganized as a Romanian institution. In 1927 it became "King Ferdinand I" University of Cluj, with a Faculty of Medicine that rapidly established itself as a leading centre of medical education and research. Through the 20th century, the university continued to evolve — surviving the upheavals of the Second World War, the communist regime's restructuring of higher education, and the post-1989 period of renewal — emerging as the "Iuliu Hațieganu" University of Medicine and Pharmacy that exists today.
"King Ferdinand I" University of Cluj — the Romanian university reorganized from 1919 and officially named after the king in 1927, direct successor to the earlier institutions
Students in a chemistry laboratory at the Faculty of Medicine, mid-20th century
Medical consultation in a clinic of the University of Cluj, mid-20th century
Surgical procedure performed at one of the university clinics, demonstrating the practical training tradition that has characterized the faculty since its earliest days
A hospital building of the university medical campus, reflecting the significant infrastructural development of the second half of the 20th century
Faculty and students at a graduation ceremony, late 20th century — continuing the 250-year tradition of medical education in Cluj
The modern building of "Iuliu Hațieganu" University of Medicine and Pharmacy (UMF Cluj-Napoca) — the contemporary successor to 250 years of medical education
Modern campus of UMF "Iuliu Hațieganu" Cluj-Napoca — combining historic heritage with contemporary infrastructure
International graduation ceremony of UMF "Iuliu Hațieganu" Cluj-Napoca — graduates from dozens of countries, reflecting the global reach of one of Romania's most prestigious medical universities
Modern surgical training and simulation laboratory at UMF "Iuliu Hațieganu" Cluj-Napoca — state-of-the-art equipment for 21st-century medical education
