Lovers of Cluj-Napoca

The Lovers of Cluj-Napoca are a pair of human skeletons discovered in 2013 by archaeologists in the cemetery of a former Dominican convent in Cluj-Napoca.[1][2] The couple are believed to have lived between 1450 and 1550 - between the year the convent was established and the year the graveyard was secularised.[2] Analysis by archaeologists confirmed that the skeletons belong to a man and a woman around 30 years of age. The couple were buried facing each other, and with their hands interlocked.[3][4]

The Lovers of Cluj-Napoca holding hands. The male is on the right, and the female is on the left.

The male skeleton appears to have died due to a fight or an accident as his sternum is broken, caused by a blow from a blunt object.[5][6] Another archaeologist places the blame for the man's death on a broken hip.[1] The cause of death of the female is unclear from her skeleton. Archaeologists compared the couple to Romeo and Juliet, and explained that the woman may have died of a “broken heart” brought on by the death of her partner as both of them were buried at the same time. It is unlikely that she committed suicide, as that was considered a sin at the time and would have excluded her from being buried.[7]