The Bácsi-Münich house was one of the typical merchant houses of pre-modern Cluj, characterized by an open space attic facing the square, designed for storing goods. The building was located on the north side of the city's Central Square (today Union Square no. 21). It was built in the former defensive moat of the Old Castle at the beginning of the 16th century following the completion of the construction of the city’s second fortification enclosure, when the walls of the Old Castle completely lost their defensive role. The house was rebuilt in 1571 by the two heirs of the building, Péter Bácsi and Peter Münich (Barát), resulting in a typical Cluj Renaissance dwelling house, built on three levels, with vaulted rooms, a main façade decorated with Renaissance-style carved frames, marked with Péter Bácsi’s monogram and a porch facing the courtyard, fitted with a row of balusters. In 1909, the building was bought by the merchant Miklós Püspöky, who decided to demolish the building and sell the sculpted elements to the Numismatic and Antiquities Collection of the Transylvanian Museum Association. Of the preserved architectural elements, the most outstanding is the carriage gate with an inscription quoting one of Lucius Annaeus Seneca’s sentences and a central relief, suggesting the building’s original function as an inn. The windows of the main façade of the building are similar to the courtyard-facing windows of the Wolphard-Kakas house, commissioned by Stephan Wolphard and executed by the Cluj stonemason János Szécsi Seres.
(Illustration) István Sárdi, Piața Centrală a Clujului, detaliu (The Central Square of the town of Cluj, detail), oil on canvas, 1849 (National Museum of Transylvanian History)
(Illustration) North side of Union Square, unidentified photographer, second half of the 19th century (“Octavian Goga” County Library, Special collections)