Fortress Of Neamt

The fortress of Neamt was build in the time of Petru I Musat (1375-1391), in the consolidation period of the feudal state Moldova. The first documentar attestation is dated in 1395, the year in which the king of Hungary, Sigismund of Luxemburg, before being defeated by the army of Petru I Musat at Hinday(today Ghiodaoani, Neamt), emits a papers of chancellery ante castrum nempch.

In it's original form, composed mainly of a central fort that was closing an inner chamber guarded by the four towers situated at the corners, the fortress of Neamt fulfilled honourable it's attribution until the middle of the XVI century, when more efficient fire arms began to be used.

The glory period of the fortress was during the reign of Stefan cel Mare (1457-1504). He understood the importance of fortress in the plan to defeand the country. This is why Stefan cel Mare rebuild the fortresses left by his forefathers and also builed new ones, making Moldova a well guarded country (see fortresses like Suceava, Hotin, Orhei, Tighina,Cetatea Alba, Chilia).

Stefan cel Mare did some improvence to the Neamt fortress: The aggradation of the old walls, the built of the four bastions of the exterior courtyard and the bow shape bridge, that was resting on elevn pillars of stone. This is why in 1476 the fortress survived through the siege of Mahomed the Iind, after the battle at Valea Alba- Raboieni. Angiolello, the secretary of the sultan wrote that Ð'„the people in the fortress weren't willing to talk, they were all defending".

As the turkish occupation was getting worse and better weapons were being developed everyday, the efficiency of fortresses decreased starting with the second part of the XVI century. After it is partially destroyed during the reign of Alexandru Lapusneanu and it's rebuild at the orders of Ieremia Movila, the fortress of Neamt opened it's gates in 1600 to the man that made the first unification of all