Citadel of Suceava - Romanaia ???????? Cetatea de Scaun a Sucevei

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Citadel of Suceava, is located on the eastern edge of the medieval city of Suceava (north-eastern Romania ). It is located on a terminal spur of a plateau located at a height of 70 m above the valley Suceava. From here, you can see the entire valley of Suceava.

Citadel of Suceava was part of the fortification system constructed in Moldova in the late fourteenth century, during the Ottoman threat. The medieval fortification system was composed of fortified settlements (princely courts, monasteries with high walls and fortresses of strategic importance) for defense, strengthened with stone walls, earth walls or having deep grooves.

The citadel was built in the late fourteenth century by Peter I Musat and fortified in the fifteenth century by Stephen the Great.

Citadel of Suceava is composed of four objectives:

Fort Musatin - dates from XIV.
External enclosure - dates from 1476-1478.
Ditch defense - from the end of XV.
Wall - dates from the second half of XV.

Ruler Stephen the Great (1457-1504) realized the need to build better fortified buildings to defend the Principality of Moldavia against Turks, Tatars, Hungarians or Poles attacks. He built the first fortified monasteries of Moldova and strengthened the existing cities.

In the summer of 1476, Citadel Suceava was besieged by Turkish army led by Sultan Mehmed II. Soldiers from the citadel, led by Hetman Sendrea, were defended the citadel heroically and Ottoman armies were forced to retreat.

The citadel was besieged again in 1485 by the Ottoman armies and from 26 September to 19 October 1497 by the Polish army led by King John Albert. All attacks failed.

In 1538, the Ottoman army (150.000 to 200.000 soldiers) led by sultan Suleiman the Magnificent himself rushes in Moldova wishing to occupy it.

Meanwhile, the Crimean Tatars attacked eastern border, while Romanian and Hungarian armies attacked westerly.

Petru Rares (son of Stephan the Great) is retreating in Transylvania. At 14 September 1538 Suleiman the Magnificent enters into the citadel, with great pomp, without encountering resistance.

At the end of the sixteenth century, the Citadel of Suceava became resided of the rulers Aron Voda (1592-1595), Stefan Razvan (1595) and Jeremiah Movila (1595-1606), who fought against the Ottoman Empire. In 1596, the old citadel walls are fortified by Jeremiah Movila.

In May 1600, Michael the Brave undertake a military campaign in Moldova and on 16 May, Suceava Citadel defenders opened its doors and surrendered without a fight. Brave Michael left a garrison in the city.

Polish and Kazakh army led by Jan Zamoyski and Stanislaw Zolkiewski, with a staff of nearly 24.000 soldiers pass Dniester on September 4, 1600, and to September 6 faces Suceava Citadel. Garrison left here by Michael the Brave after his departure from Alba Iulia fails to confront enemy forces, and Jeremiah Movila was again Ruler of Moldavia.

In 1673 the Turkish army managed to expel the Poles and commanded to ruler Dumitrascu Cantacuzino (1673, 1674-1675) to demolish the citadel.

In 1951, at the initiative of the Romanian Academy , it was organized the first school site of medieval archeology in Romania, under Professor John Nestor of the Faculty of History in Bucharest.

In the period 1961-1970 were undertaken extensive work to protect, enhance and restore parts of the citadel.