Cluj-Napoca Bánffy Palace

Bánffy Castle is a baroque building of the 18th century in Cluj-Napoca, designed by the German architect Johann Eberhard Blaumann. Built between 1774 and 1775 it is considered the most representative for the baroque style of Transylvania. The first owner of the palace was the Hungarian Duke György Bánffy (1746–1822), the governor of Transylvania. Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor and his wife Caroline Augusta of Bavaria were hosted in the palace during their visit in Kolozsvár, between 18 and 27 August 1817. This was the first occasion when a ruler from the Habsburg family visited the city. Franz Joseph I of Austria was also the guest of the palace between 2–4 August 1852 and 22–24 September 1887. The palace (along with the Răscruci castle of the Bánffy family) features in the reminiscences of an English governess, Florence Tarring, who worked for one of the branches of the Bánffy family during the First World War (1914–1919). In February 1951 the council of the city decided to empty the palace to establish an Art Museum there; the works were finished in the summer of 1954.