Being a municipal town of the county, Zalau is also its cultural centre. The cultural events take place in the Union Culture House, the Municipal Cultural House, The "Ionita Scipione Badescu" LIbrary, the History and Arts Museum, "Ioan Sima' Gallery as well as in the cinema hall of the town. Zalau also possesses a Documentary Library created in 1646 within the Reformed College. Today the library owns more than 40.000 books of which a good part are very rare or even unique. Among the writers one could mention the ancient Greeks- Homer, Platon, Aristotel, Plutarch, Dyionisus of Halicarnas, Ptolemeu and Plinius Secundus or the writers Erasmus of Rotterdam, Calvin, Descartes as well as other writers of the time. Latest research has revealed 7 Dutch sole exemplars, documents belonging to the 17th and 18th centuries.

     Artistic Activities

     The XVIIth century (1646) mentions the first artistic activities but the most important took place in the beginning of the 19th century (1810 the Male Choir of the Artisans Association). Choral activities are an important part in the cultural life of the Zalau citizens, the most important being the girl's choir (1924-1936) and the Choir of the Popular Athenaeum (after 1945). Very active are today the folk ensemble "Rapsodia Salajului" (1958), " Mesesul "folk music orchestra, the choirs "Cameratta Academica Porolissenssis", "Gloria Dei", "Tara Silvaniei"- the ensemble of the House of Unions, "Porolissum"- the professional ensemble, " Columna"- the youth folkloric ensemble and " Mugur"- the children ensemble. Financed by the city -hall, the ensembles " Porolissum " and " Columna" are very famous in Romania and abroad.

     Cultural institutions

• The Zalau Municipal Cultural House
• The Zalau Cultural House of Unions
• The Salaj County Centre of Art and Culture
• The Zalau County Arts and History Museum
• The "Ionita Scipione Badescu" County Library