The modern history collection has a number of over 20.000 cultural assets that illustrate the history and civilization of the multi-ethnic and multi-confessional space of Transylvania, but also of the entire European continent, in the XNUMXth century and in the first decades of the next century. Among these cultural assets are a whole series of objects from document collections, weapons, decorative art, science and technology, engravings, old books and other prints.

Of particular importance in the collection are the personal objects of some political, military or cultural personalities of the era, such as those of the Romanian and Hungarian revolutionaries from 1848 (Avram Iancu, Lajos Kossuth, Sándor Petőfi, etc.), those related to the personality of Alexandru Ioan Cuza, of the sovereigns of Romania, Carol I, Ferdinand I and Queen Maria, of the memorist Ioan Raţiu, of counts Imre Mikó and Géza Kuun, of countess Ottilia Wass.

The modern history collection also includes an impressive number of documents related to the Romanian national movement, such as the printed copy of Memorandum, manuscripts, documents related to the history of the museum.

Among the main types of artefacts we can mention white and firearms, seals, flags, badges and decorations, as well as various pieces of uniform and military equipment from the Revolution of 1848 and the First World War.

Among the material treasures of the modern history collection are pieces of furniture and textiles, clockwork pieces, as well as several hundred decorative objects in porcelain, earthenware, glass, silver or base metal, dating from the 19th century and beginning of the 20th century, belonging mainly to European production centers (German, Czech, French, Austrian or Hungarian). An important number of cultural assets of this nature come from the donations of Countess Ottilia Wass and Count Géza Kuun, supporters of Cluj's cultural and museum life, who through their donations to the former Ardelan National Museum, made at the turn of the 19th-20th centuries, gave us bequeathed true cultural treasures.

Other important cultural assets in the modern history collection are those that illustrate the economic development of Transylvania, but also the urban life, culture and science of this historical province. Thus, the modern history collection includes glass objects from Transylvanian glassworks (Porumbacu, Pădurea Neagră, Bicsad, Cucuiş), ceramics produced in the main manufactures and profile factories in Transylvania (Batiz, Cluj, Brașov), but also coins, banknotes, financial yearbooks, shares, representative of financial and banking activity, objects that illustrate the field of transport and communications, postal seals, passports.

The achievements of Transylvanian culture and science are mirrored by musical instruments, seals of cultural associations, theater posters, cameras, the experimental flight device built in 1896 by the Cluj professor Lajos Martin, velocipedes, sound playback and recording devices, etc.

Last but not least, the modern history collection holds an important number of 1500th century engravings, postcards and vintage photographs, as well as over XNUMX glass clichés made by Cluj photographer Ferenc Veress.

A large part of these collections of pieces with an artistic or functional character from the heritage of the modern history compartment have a homogeneous character, due either to initial donations (historical collections) or to a systematic acquisition activity, carried out by the Cluj History Museum from over time. Among the historical collections, we mention those of the former Ardelean National Museum, the Museum of Relics of the 1848 Revolution, the "Francisc Iosif I" Industrial Museum in Cluj or the Ardelean Carpathian Society in Cluj.