City of Suceava

In Suceava city we can visit the medieval churches, the museum complex and the citadel:

Suceava is one of the oldest town in Romania, there is evidence that this city was inhabited even in the century II-III.The city of Suceava was for long time the capital of the Moldavian state and main residence of the  princes. The city was the capital of the lands of Stephen the Great, one of the main figures in Romanian history, who died in Suceava in 1504. He built a church every time he defeated an enemy army. During the rule of Alexandru Lăpuşneanu, the seat was moved to Iaşi in 1565. Michael the Brave captured the city in 1600 during the Moldavian Magnate Wars in attempt to unite Wallachia, Moldavia and Transylvania to form the grat Romania, but he was defeated the same year and Suceava failed to become the capital again.

Together with the rest of Bukovina, Suceava was under the rule of the Habsburg Monarchy (later Austria-Hungary) from 1775 to 1918; the border of Habsburg domains passed just south-east of the city. At the end of World War I, it became part of Greater Romania.

During the communist period in Romania, Suceava was heavily industrialized.

The most important sights in the town date from the time as a princely capital:

Medieval churches in Suceava:

Mirǎuti Church
Founded in 1390 by Petru I of Moldavia, it is the oldest church in Suceava, and established the city as a see of the church. Stephen the Great was crowned in this church in 1457 and the church remained the coronation church of Moldavia until 1522.

Church of Saint George, part of the Monastery of Saint John the New
Founded by Bogdan the One-eyed in 1514. It has frescoes painted on the outside, typical of the region, and is one of the seven churches listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site (see Painted churches of northern Moldavia). Saint John the New was a Moldavian monk who preached during Turkish occupation and was subsequently martyred in Cetatea Alba, present-day Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi in Ukraine. Alexander the Good brought his relics to Moldavia in 1415. The monastery serves as the seat of the Archbishop of Suceava and Radauti.

Church of Saint Demetrius
this church was founded by Petru Rareş in 1534, with a bell tower added in 1561, and the frescoes inside restored recently

Church of Saint John the Baptist
Build by Basil the Wolf in 1643

There are numerous museums in the city: the Bucovina History Museum, the Bucovina Village Museum, the Bucovina Ethnographic Museum (housed in an inn from the 17th century), and the Natural History Museum. Furthermore, there is the Cetatea de Scaun or Princely Citadel, like the Mirǎuti Church founded by Petru I of Moldavia when he moved the capital from Siret to Suceava. Alexander the Good and Stephen the Great expanded the citadel, and it became strong enough to hold off an attack by Ottoman sultan Mehmed II (the conqueror of Constantinople), in 1476 .

Bucovina's museum complex:

The Bucovina museum complex was established in 1895 and it is composed from

* Museum of History
* Ethnographic Museum (Ethnographic museum)
* Museum of Natural Sciences
* Fortress of Suceava
* The Princely Court of Suceava
* Bucovina's Village Museum
* Planetarium
* Cultural Memorial Fund includes:
Nicolae Labiş a memorial house of Malini
Simion Florea Marian Memorial House in Suceava
Eusebius Camilar a memorial house of Udeşti
Solca a memorial house
Memorial house museum of Bilca
Ciprian Porumbescu museum complex in Stupca

Image: Scene from the History Museum, the illustrates are in natural size, it is presented an act where Moldavia has to stand up for it's independence and to eliminate the enemy(Otoman Empire). You can easily drop some conclusions from this picture, and the first one is that this of Moldavia was having a strong faith in God and always ask for the church help or for the priest help in everything he was doing.

The Citadel from Suceava:

Fortress of Suceava, is located on the eastern edge of the city Suceava (northern Romania). It is located on a spur of a plateau terminal located at a height of 70 m from the meadow Suceava, from here, you can see the whole valley of Suceava.


Suceava Fortress was part of the system of fortifications built in Moldova in the late fourteenth century, the time of the Ottoman threat. The settlements included fortified medieval fortification (royal court, monasteries with high walls and fortresses of strategic importance), the purpose of defense, fortified with walls of stone, waves of land or having deep grooves.

The fortress was built in the late fourteenth century by Petru I Musat, was fortified in the fifteenth century by Stephen the Great and destroyed in the eighteenth century (1675) of Dumitrascu Cantacuzino. The Citadel is in ruins Suceava.

Fortress of Suceava was included in the list of historical monuments in Suceava County in 2004 and consisting of the following 4 goals:

* Fort Muşatin - dates back centuries. XIV
* Outdoor enclosure - dates from 1476-1478
* Ditch defense - dates from the end of the century. XV 
* Wall of contraescape- dates from the second half of the century. XV

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