//
The media of the time recorded the inauguration - on 23 August 1950- of a "Central Library" owning 7000 Roman and Hungarian books. Among other personalities, Rodica Fanateanu, Elena Fanateanu, Karl Kun and many others were present. The collections comprise very old books like Petrarca's "De remediis" (1649). In 1952 it became District Library, coordinating all the Salaj county libraries. In 1957 took the name of the Salaj scholar Ionita Scipione Badescu. It became County Library" in 1968. Throughout the times it functioned in the Municipal Cultural House building, in the former Museum location, in the building of the today's Bookstores Centre and since 1971 in the building on the Iuliu Maniu Square no. 13. It has more than 160.000 books.
Art and History Museum Zalau
In 1926, the first exhibition was organized, demonstrating the oldness and continuity of the inhabitants in these places. The museum was inaugurated in 1951 and it developed throughout the years, owning today more collections and more than 90,000 items exhibited: coins, Roman-Dacian statues, Middle Age, Modern and Contemporary documents and items of Romanian popular art, sculptures and paintings. The history department consists mainly of archeological collections (20,000 items), showing almost all the stages of a human living in the area (cave painting 100,000 years old, Bronze Age, the Dacian and Roman time). Among other sculptures the lapidary contains the statue of the Carracalla Emperor. The ethnographic department contains wooden, textile, glass pottery items, folk costumes in the Salaj area, etc. The arts department contains painting, graphic and sculpture collections belonging to the artists Aurel Ciupe, Romulus Ladea, Petre Abrudan, Nagy Imre
The ancient Roman city of Porolissum is one of the largest and best-preserved archaeological sites in modern-day Romania. In 2024 the site was added to UNESCO's world heritage list as "Frontiers of the Roman Empire - Dacia".