Suceava Citadel
The Suceava Citadel, situated in the Eastern side of the town was built 70 m high from the meadow, offering the possibility to keep an eye on the entire area. The citadel was part of fortification system built at the end of the 14th century because of the Ottoman threatening. The citadel built by Petru 1 Musat had stoned walls and deep ditches. The first mentioning of the citadel dates from 10th of February 1388, in a document of the Moldovian emperor Petru I, document through which the King of Poland was asking for a borrowing and was offering as a guarantee the Pocutia province.
To protect the entering in the citadel of the attacks, Alexandru the Good built in the Southern side a wall that was parallel to the citadel wall and paved the interior court and the access ways to the citadel. Also Stefan cel Mare built a wall that surrounded the fortification in order to protect the citadel on the fightings against the Turkeys, Hungarians and Plish.
In Summer of 1476 the citadel was attacked by Mahomed the 2nd’ s armies and was damaged, but because of the bravery of the Moldovian army the Ottomans had to retire. As a result of this attack Stefan cel Mare ordered the beginning of a new stage of fortifying of the citadel.
The decadence of the citadel was caused by the succesors of Stefan cel Mare, Bodgan the 3rd and Stefanita Voda, who stopped according the attention to its fortification, but also to Petru Rares who, because of the authoritarian politics lost the support of the Moldovian Nobles, offering the possibility to Soliman the Magnificent in his incursion in Moldova, in 1538. The traitor nobles have a meeting on the Royal Court from Badeuti and decide to give the citadel to the sultan. Therefore, Petru Rares refugees in Transilvania and finds his shelter in the Ciceu Citadel and on 14 September 1538 Soliman the Magnificent occupies the citadel without getting any opposition and for a few days, together with the tartars, they plunder Moldova.
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