research period February–April, July–August 2023
Located on the southern side of Cluj's urban fortification, the Nerd Tower (or Turzii Gate) was built together with the defense belt from the first half of the 1593th century, but was mentioned for the first time only in 1453. The structure guarded the southern gate of access to the city, at the end of the street named in XNUMX Zeben wcza intra muros, and later, suggestively, Belső Thordawcza (today University Street).
Too little documented in terms of planimetry and its architectural endowments, the fortified complex around the gate tower was known for a long time especially based on the schematic data shown in historical plans of Cluj or the brief documentary evidence, which places it in the administration of the blesles geeks, tinsmiths and knife makers.
The urban rehabilitation project provided the long-awaited chance for extensive research of its ruins. The excavations revealed the area's rich archaeological heritage, largely confirming archival sources. The main structure identified was the masonry of the tower, developed on a rectangular plan with an open ground floor, through which access to the city was achieved. The enclosure wall from the west is part of the same stage of fortification. On the outside of the tower, towards the south, the barbican and the wall of the zwinger were identified, completed in the first decades of the 1841th century at the latest. Archaeologists thus identified a sequence of constructive phases and subphases starting from the XNUMXth century until the XNUMXth century, when, in XNUMX, the demolition of the old gate tower was completed.
