Inaugurated in the spring of 2018, David Prodan Memorial Museum represents both a dynamic space for organizing and hosting cultural events, as well as a place of remembrance dedicated to one of the most important Romanian historians. Academician David Prodan was a distinctive personality of the Transylvanian cultural environment in the second half of the 20th century. The destinies of some important institutions of Cluj are connected with his name: Babeș-Bolyai University, State Archives, the George Barițiu Institute of History, Lucian Blaga Central University Library, and Romanian Academy Library. It seems like everything that was part of the cultural infrastructure of post-war Cluj has been touched by his spirit. The value of his contributions to the research of history was confirmed not only at national level (through the obtained prizes and his membership in the Romanian Academy) but also internationally (in 1986, he was invited to become a member of the Society of American Historians, a prestigious forum including first-rank personalities of historiography worldwide).
Following an agreement between Babeș-Bolyai University, represented by the Academic Cultural Heritage Department, and Cluj-Napoca Town Hall, the house in which David Prodan lived, located in the Academician David Prodan Street, no. 1, has become an apart museum space. Due to the fact that the city of Cluj offers visitors relatively few such memorial museums, the initiators’ endeavor represents also an assumed challenge for imposing this cultural space on the market of touristic objectives.
David Prodan Memorial Museum is organized as follows:
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The permanent exhibition represents in fact the laboratory of historian David Prodan. His study maintains the exact atmosphere in which monumental works were put on paper, i.e. Supplex Libellus Valachorum, Horea’s Uprising (Răscoala lui Horea), The Problem of Serfdom in Transylvania 1700-1848 (Problema iobăgiei în Transilvania 1700-1848), etc. Beside the personal objects that belonged to the historian, this exhibition offers the opportunity of encountering a beautiful collection of photos, correspondence, and manuscripts of David Prodan.
This exhibition consists of several sections: curriculum vitae, the work and its metamorphoses, signs of social prestige, intellectual affinities.
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Temporary exhibition room. This is the place for all the events and temporary projects of this museum that was envisioned also as a space for cultural encounters. It is meant to host a series of events like debates, workshops, musical evenings, book releases, etc.
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The library of historian David Prodan can be consulted on request by all those interested in the field of history (researchers, doctoral students, etc.).
David Prodan Memorial Museum organizes free thematic guided tours for different age groups, in several languages (Romanian, Hungarian, English, and French) on previously scheduled appointments. On request, the museum staff provides specialized assistance to the public interested in the issues of social history and intellectual history (bibliographic support, research of Museum collections, etc.)
Also as part of this action for recuperating and celebrating the personality of historian David Prodan, Babeș-Bolyai University decided to launch a David Prodan Scholarship, addressed to Romanian and foreign researchers who became known in the fields of medieval and modern history and are authors of original scientific papers. Beside the lodging in the establishment in which the Memorial Museum is located and the access to the generous library of historian David Prodan, the scholarship holder will benefit from access to the entire research network provided by Babeș-Bolyai University and the Center for Transylvanian Studies. He/She will be encouraged to publish the results of his/her research work in prestigious journals. For more details on this competition, please see http://news.ubbcluj.ro/bursa-david-prodan-instituita-de-universitatea-babes-bolyai/