CCD photometry in Johnson UBV and Stromgren uvby systems and medium-resolut
ion spectroscopy of the galactic open cluster NGC 7128 are presented. Spect
ral types of the brightest 12 stars in the cluster field were determined ba
sed on equivalent widths of the Hac and the HeI 6678-Angstrom line. The spe
ctroscopic observations also revealed two obvious and one probable Be-type
stars showing H alpha emission. The analysis of the photometric diagrams ga
ve a colour excess of E(B - V) = 1.03 +/- 0.06 mag, a distance modulus DM =
13.0 +/- 0.2 mag and an age above 10 Myr. Time-resolved photometric observ
ations obtained on one night resulted in the detection of short time-scale
light variations of seven new and three already known variable stars in the
cluster field.