Neamț Fortress

Close to the city of Tîrgu Neamţ there is the Neamţ Citadel, a really impressive medieval citadel. Built in the period of the Moldavian ruler Peter I Mușat of Moldavia, the Neamţ citadel witnessed the most blooming period during the reign of the great Moldavian ruler, Stephen the Great.

In what concerns the beginnings of the construction of the Neamţ Citadel, a series of historians and philologists, some of which have a great prestige, like A.D. Xenopol, B.P. Haşdeu, D. Onciul, have started their interpretations from the Papal Bull from 1232, where a piece of information was leaked: that during their stay in Ţara Bârsei, between 1211 and 1225, the Teutonic knights built a castrum muntissimum on the eastern side of the Carpathian mountains. Based on this consideration, they thought that this can be no other but the Neamţ Citadel.

In the sixth decade of the past century, when the lack of written historical information was replaced by precious information offered by rich archeological diggings, the opinions on the beginnings of the citadel could be reconsidered.

Thus, the material from the lowest layer of inhabitance of the citadel, discovered by the developed systematic investigations, and which can be dated, represent an indubitable proof that the Neamţ Citadel was built in the second part of the reign of Peter I Mușat, a period when Moldavia met a continuous economic and political development.

It is very likely that the document from the 6th of May 1387, where Peter I Mușat made the formal vassalage oath towards King Vladislav Iagello of Poland, also refers to the Neamţ Citadel, documentary established several years later, in 1395.

The Neamţ Citadel is situated near the highest mountain peak of Culmea Pleşului.
It watches over the valleys of the Moldova River and the Siret River, and also over the road which goes beyond the mountains, in Transylvania, starting from Tîrgu Neamţ towards Pipirig village, across Petru Vodă village, through Poiana Largului village and towards the pass of Tulgheş village.

As it is one of the best reinforced strongholds that the medieval Moldavian state had, the Neamţ Citadel was present in the events of primary importance that Moldavia took part of.

The place of the Neamţ Citadel was fortunately chosen, because Culmea Pleşului provides, through its natural position, large possibilities of defense. Stânca Pleşului looks like a spur attached to the Cerdac peak. It is situated at 480 meters high above sea level and 80 meters high above Neamţ River level.

The citadel’s plan has the shape of a quadrangle with unequal sides, adapted after the field. Specific to the Neamţ Citadel is the fact that the defensive towers from the four corners were not placed outside the walls, like the citadels Suceava and Scheia which were built during the same period. At Neamţ Citadel the defense towers were directly framed into the wall frame, and this is because the natural fortifications from the three sides didn’t allowed their construction on the exterior.

The Neamţ Citadel reentered the national and international tourist circuit on the 4th of July 2009. 21 rooms were set up as a museum, among which the council and judgment hall, the weapons hall, the prison, the provisions room, the mess hall and the chapel.