Under the threat of the Ottoman Empire’s aggressive
\nexpansion in the Middle Ages, the Romanian principality of Moldavia started
\nfocusing on building defence fortresses. Some of them developed further in
\ntime, turning into massive defence strongholds, which lasted for centuries. One
\nof these is Neamt Fortress, whose walls have made it to this very day, on the
\noutskirts of the town of Targu Neamt, in north-eastern Romania. The fortress
\nwas erected during the reign of Petru Musat I, the first ruler of the Musatin
\nDynasty, which Stephen the Great was also a member of. The building was first
\ndocumented in February 1395, during a military expedition carried out by
\nSigismund of Luxembourg, King of Hungary, to Moldavia. Here is custodian Ioan
\nButnariu telling us more about the history of the place:<\/p>\n
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Other rulers followed in the footsteps of Petru
\nMusat I. During the reign of his brother, Stephen I, the Neamt Fortress was
\ngiven the baptism of fire when the Hungarian troops headed by Sigismund of
\nLuxembourg crossed the Carpathians to turn Moldavia into a Hungarian province.
\nThe fortress managed to resist the siege and the Hungarian troops were caught
\nand defeated by Stephen I. Stephen was followed by Alexander the Good, Stephen
\nthe Great’s grandfather, who had a long a prosperous reign.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
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Stephan the Great’s reign started in 1457 and ended
\nin 1504, and was one of the longest and most prosperous in medieval Moldavia.
\nAlso during that period, the Neamt Fortress kept developing, as Ioan Butnariu
\ntold us:<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
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The first thing that Stephen the Great did was to
\nstrengthen the existing fortresses and build new ones where necessary. Here, at
\nNeamt Fortress, Stephen decided to replace the original moat surrounding the
\nfortress and the drawbridge. He built another line of defence walls, on the
\noutside, which were half the height of the walls of the fortress proper. Their
\nrole was to protect the stronghold against the cannon balls shot by the
\nenemies. There are four round-shaped bastions whose role was to deflect cannon
\nballs. Also during Stephen the Great’s rule a strategic bridge was built on 11
\npillars, the highest of them measuring 40 meters. The pillars were presumably
\nlinked by stone arcades that have collapsed in time. At present, the bridge
\nsits on a modern concrete structure. The north-eastern gate, also built during
\nStephen the Great’s rule, was made by craftsmen from Transylvania, from the
\ntowns of Bistrita and Rodna. At the entrance, there is a Gothic-style archway
\nwith Catholic influences. The small bridge in front of the entrance was also
\nmobile. <\/p>\n
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During the reign of Stephen the Great’s successors, Neamt Fortress
\npreserved its defence role. As was the case with the other fortresses, with the
\nrise of the Ottoman Empire’s influence in the Romanian principalities the
\nimportance of this stronghold declined. During the reign of Alexandru Lapu\u015fneanu,
\nin mid-16th century, the ruler ordered to have the interior yard
\nfilled with wood, which was then set on fire. In spite of the fire and the
\nconsequent damage, the stronghold remained standing. The 3-meter thick walls
\nresisted the fire. Nevertheless, the fortress faced many more fires. The last
\nand the largest of them, in 1717, eventually destroyed it. It occurred during a
\nRussian-Turkish war, when Moldavia was the theatre of operations for the
\nconflict. Ever since, the Neamt Fortress has fallen into disrepair and ruin. It
\nwas in the inter-war period that restoration works began. Ioan Butnariu is back
\nat the microphone with more details: <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
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During the communist period, between 1968 and 1972,
\nlarge-scale refurbishment works were undertaken. This is when the outer wall
\nwas rebuilt up to ground level, on the ruins of the original wall. The pillars
\nwere rebuilt on the ruins of the old bridge and thus the bridge was completely
\nrecreated. The fortress walls were repaired and its cornice consolidated.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n
After 2007, with the help of EU funding, the fortress
\nwent through a large-scale refurbishment process, following which 21 halls were
\nopened for visitors. And as of 2009, when the fortress reopened to the public,
\nit has also hosted a museum showcasing a permanent exhibition of old, vintage
\nitems. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Located in north-eastern Romania, Neamt Fortress is a 14th century structure whose walls have survived to this day.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":125,"featured_media":168685,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[45210],"tags":[45401,19347],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-168684","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-rri-encyclopaedia","tag-neamt-fortress","tag-romania"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n