Citadels

A network of fortresses was built in the medieval Moldova to protect it from enemy attacks. Some fortresses date back to the period before the establishment of the sovereign Moldovan state; others were constructed on special orders of the Moldovan rulers. The building material for some of the fortresses was stone and bricks, and their remains have lived to these days; others were constructed from wood so no trace is left of them. Moldovan fortresses were mainly small in size, with walls of up to 5m thick.

The most famous fortresses are: Fortress in Belgorod-on-the-Dniester (Cetatea Alba), Soroca and Khotin fortresses on the banks of the Dniester, Kilia Fortress on the Danube, and inland fortresses of Tsetsinskaya, Romana, Suceava Throne, and Neamt.

Fortress in Belgorod-on-the-Dniester is a medieval fortress located in a place which is now part of Ukraine. It is one of the largest fortresses in Ukraine and in an excellent condition. At present the fortress is a museum and its grounds are an architectural preserve.

Suceava Throne Fortress dating back to the 14th century is located on the territory of the modern Romania in the place called Suceava. That fortress was the place of coronation ceremonies for the Moldovan rulers. Fortress in Belgorod-on-the-Dniester and Suceava Throne Fortress used to be surrounded with a water moat.

Soroca Fortress is a major Moldovan sight and architectural monument because it has been preserved till nowadays exactly as initially constructed back in the 15th century. A small army chapel located above its central entrance is similarly preserved. The fortress is on the right bank of the Dniester in the town of Soroca, approximately 160 km north from Chisinau. that fortress was visited by Bogdan Khmelnitsky, Timush Khmelnitsky, Alexander Suvorov, etc. during different periods in its history.

Unfortunately not all fortresses managed to survive that well. For example, Tsetsinskaya Fortress located in the vicinity of Chernovtsy had been almost completely destroyed as early as by the 15th century.

One more architectural sight located on the territory of the modern Moldova is Bender Fortress built by the Turks, and a part of the Dniester defense line (a line of fortresses) established by the Russian Government in the late 18th century to protect the then newly established Russian settlements. Bender Fortress is the architectural monument dating back to the 16th century. It is located on the right bank of the Dniester in Bender. Since 1996 the fortress and the grounds adjacent to it have been the station place for the Transnistrian military troops. The scheduled reconstruction work started in the fortress in 2008.