# Neamț Citadel Museum > The fortress on Timuș rock, built by Petru I in the late 14th century and strengthened by Stephen the Great, held out against Sultan Mehmed II's siege in 1476. Today 21 restored rooms are open to visitors. - Aleea Cetății nr. 1, Târgu-Neamț - GPS: 47.214174, 26.34327 - Contact: 0733 981 798, secretariat@cmnn.ro - https://cmnn.ro/muzeu/muzeul-cetatea-neamt/ - Part of: Complexul Muzeal Național Neamț (https://neamt.tesseramo.com/) ## Opening hours Tuesday–Sunday: 10:00–18:00 (April–September), 09:00–17:00 (October–March); extended hours Tuesday–Sunday 09:00–18:00 from 15 May to 31 August; Monday: closed. ## Prices - Adult: 24 lei - Student / adult group: 12 lei - Child / pupil: 6 lei - Photography fee: 20 lei - Filming fee: 25 lei ## Accessibility Access on foot along a sloping path of about 400 m, then over the bridge and stairs. ## Visit - [Neamț Citadel Museum](https://museu-cetatea-neamt.neamt.tesseramo.com/index.md?lang=en) - [Tickets online](https://museu-cetatea-neamt.neamt.tesseramo.com/bilete.md?lang=en) - [Audio guide](https://museu-cetatea-neamt.neamt.tesseramo.com/ghid.md?lang=en): 12 stops - [Indoor map](https://museu-cetatea-neamt.neamt.tesseramo.com/harta-interioara.md?lang=en) - [Versiunea în română](https://museu-cetatea-neamt.neamt.tesseramo.com/llms-full.txt) ## Audio guide ### 0. Welcome - Audio: 0:11 https://museu-cetatea-neamt.neamt.tesseramo.com/ghid/cetatea-neamt-bun-venit?lang=en ### 1. The bridge on eleven piers - Where: The access bridge - Period: 1475–1476 (Stephen the Great); rebuilt 1968–1972 - Material: Stone piers; modern deck - Audio: 1:04 https://museu-cetatea-neamt.neamt.tesseramo.com/ghid/cetatea-neamt-podul-pe-11-piloni?lang=en Welcome to Neamț Citadel, one of the strongest fortresses of medieval Moldavia! You are now stepping onto the access bridge. It rests on eleven stone piers and was built under Stephen the Great, probably between the battle of Vaslui in January 1475 and the battle of Războieni in July 1476. Notice that the bridge does not run straight to the gate but follows a curve, almost parallel to the bastions. That is no accident. An attacking enemy was forced to spend a long time within range of the archers. It is even thought that the bridge's direction made attackers switch their shields from the left hand to the right, which hampered them. The last section, next to the bastion, was movable and could be raised with pulleys. The bridge you walk on today was rebuilt on a modern structure during the 1968–1972 restoration, preserving the look of the medieval original. ### 2. Stephen the Great's bastions and the gate - Where: The bastions and the gate through the north-east tower - Period: 1475–1476 - Material: River stone and quarried stone, hydraulic lime mortar - Audio: 1:05 https://museu-cetatea-neamt.neamt.tesseramo.com/ghid/cetatea-neamt-bastioanele-lui-stefan-cel-mare-si-poarta?lang=en Before you rise the bastions added by Stephen the Great. In the fifteenth century, bombards could hurl heavy stone or cast-iron balls, and straight walls had become vulnerable. Stephen reacted quickly: he raised the old walls by six or seven metres, dug a new, deeper and wider ditch to the north, and flanked it with four semicircular bastions up to 30 metres high, with battlements and narrow firing slits. The entrance was through the north-east tower, with double gates and a drawbridge. Look at the door frames: their Gothic style points to Transylvanian craftsmen, probably from Bistrița and Rodna, towns with which the prince had close ties. At the entrance to the outer courtyard there were two trapdoor snares known as mousetraps. The building material is mostly river stone, bound with mortar so good that in places it has outlasted the stone itself. The usual garrison may have numbered around 300 men. ### 3. The inner courtyard and the old well - Where: The inner courtyard and the well - Period: 14th–18th century - Material: Stone and brick masonry - Audio: 1:14 https://museu-cetatea-neamt.neamt.tesseramo.com/ghid/cetatea-neamt-curtea-interioara-si-fantana-veche?lang=en You are now in the inner courtyard of the fort built by Peter I Mușat. All around are the garrison's rooms, today the museum's 21 exhibition spaces on several levels. The fort is an irregular quadrilateral with sides between 37 and 47 metres, and the original walls were 12 to 15 metres high and almost three metres thick. Unlike at Suceava, the corner towers do not project outside the walls but are built into them, because the steep rock left no room otherwise. Water was vital in any siege. The chronicles tell us that in 1717, during the Austro-Turkish war, an Austrian force occupied the citadel and reopened the old, deep well. After the Austrians were defeated, the army of Prince Mihai Racoviță took the citadel without a fight, set fire to the supplies and buildings, and filled in the well. From then on the citadel lost its military role, and for a long time local people used it as a stone quarry. We now begin the tour of the rooms with Room 1, in the north-west tower. ### 4. Room 1 – Origins and the siege of 1395 - Where: Room 1: The north-west tower - Period: Late in the reign of Peter I Mușat (1375–1391); first recorded 2 February 1395 - Material: Archaeological finds, maps, plans - Audio: 1:17 https://museu-cetatea-neamt.neamt.tesseramo.com/ghid/cetatea-neamt-originile-cetatii-si-asediul-lui-sigismund-1395?lang=en We are in the north-west tower, where the citadel's story begins. For a long time it was believed that the fortress had been built by the Teutonic Knights or by Saxons, because of its name, which sounds like the Romanian word for German. Archaeology proved otherwise: the finds from the oldest layer resemble those at Suceava, dated by coins from the reign of Peter I Mușat. The citadel was therefore built by the princes of Moldavia, in the second part of Peter I's reign, between 1375 and 1391. The name most likely comes from the Neamț river flowing at the foot of the mountain. Its baptism of fire came soon. In the winter of 1395, King Sigismund of Luxembourg of Hungary invaded Moldavia. On 2 February 1395 he issued a charter "ante castrum nempch", before Neamț Castle, the first certain written mention of the monument. The Moldavian chronicle says Prince Stephen I defeated Sigismund at Hindău, today Ghindăoani, about 12 kilometres from here. The citadel had held. ### 5. Room 2 – The Council and Justice Hall - Where: Room 2: The Council and Justice Hall - Period: 14th–17th century - Material: Weapons, banners, armour; replica documents, stove tiles and seals; replica furniture - Audio: 1:22 https://museu-cetatea-neamt.neamt.tesseramo.com/ghid/cetatea-neamt-sala-de-sfat-si-judecata?lang=en You have entered the Council and Justice Hall. Picture the castellan of the citadel seated here, hearing the disputes of people from the district. Castellans, called pârcălabi, were at once military commanders, administrators and judges for the whole district of Neamț. The furniture is made after period models. In the showcases you can see weapons, banners and a suit of armour, alongside replicas of documents, stove tiles and seals. Stove tiles, the decorated ceramic plates of tiled stoves, are among the loveliest witnesses of Moldavian medieval art, showing knights, fantastic beasts and the country's coat of arms, the aurochs head. The panels sum up the citadel's great moments: Sigismund's siege of 1395, the resistance against Sultan Mehmed II in 1476, its surrender to Michael the Brave in 1600, Vasile Lupu's refuge, the episode of 1691 with the King of Poland and the destruction of 1717–1718. The next room, the Iatac, explains the Princely Council. Further on is the Secret Chamber, with a monumental stove recreated after the one at Suceava. ### 6. Room 6 – The Armoury and the Ottoman siege of 1476 - Where: Room 6: The armoury - Period: 1476 - Material: Reconstructed soldiers of the small host, weaponry - Audio: 1:15 https://museu-cetatea-neamt.neamt.tesseramo.com/ghid/cetatea-neamt-sala-armelor-si-asediul-otoman-din-1476?lang=en In the Armoury you can see reconstructed soldiers of the oastea mică, the prince's standing force, together with their weapons. This is the place to tell the citadel's most glorious story. In July 1476, Sultan Mehmed II, conqueror of Constantinople, defeated Stephen the Great's army at Valea Albă–Războieni, about 25 kilometres from here. Believing Stephen had taken refuge in Neamț Citadel, the sultan marched on it. The Italian eyewitness Angiolello wrote that the Turks set up seven bombards and for eight days tried to take the fortress, but two bombards burst, and those inside "would not parley and all defended themselves with artillery." The chronicler Ion Neculce tells how the citadel's gunners struck the mouth of a Turkish cannon and shattered it, and even hit the sultan's tent. The Moldo-German chronicle adds that the Ottoman artillery commander was shot. The sultan withdrew. A small garrison had stopped the greatest army of its age. ### 7. Room 7 – The 'Black Dungeon' - Where: Room 7: The 'Black Dungeon' - Period: 15th–17th century - Material: Three-level reconstruction with prisoner figures - Audio: 1:07 https://museu-cetatea-neamt.neamt.tesseramo.com/ghid/cetatea-neamt-neagra-temnita?lang=en We now descend into the Black Dungeon, a space that extends over three levels. The name says it all: darkness, damp and walls almost three metres thick. The prisoner figures you see were created with the help of a professional make-up team from the Youth Theatre in Piatra-Neamț, to make the atmosphere as convincing as possible. Medieval fortresses were not only places of defence but also prisons for enemies, traitors and prisoners of war. According to the museum's historians, in 1476 the citadel seems to have held Turkish prisoners taken at the battle of Vaslui, whom Stephen the Great put to work on the fortifications. Documents show that the great building sites of fortresses drew on peasants from the surrounding villages, townspeople, soldiers and prisoners. So some of the walls you are touching may have been raised by the very people locked up here. At the end of the tour you will also see Room 21, the two-chamber prison. ### 8. Room 10 – Saint Nicholas Chapel and Prince Vasile Lupu - Where: Room 10: Saint Nicholas Chapel - Period: 17th century (Vasile Lupu, 1634–1653) - Material: Restored iconostasis - Audio: 1:15 https://museu-cetatea-neamt.neamt.tesseramo.com/ghid/cetatea-neamt-paraclisul-sfantul-nicolae-si-vasile-lupu?lang=en We enter the Chapel of Saint Nicholas, one of the most beautiful spaces in the citadel. Its centrepiece is the iconostasis, restored by the museum's specialists. The chapel's story is tied to Prince Vasile Lupu, who reigned from 1634 to 1653. After the campaign of Michael the Brave, the Ottomans viewed any fortification in Moldavia with deep suspicion. To avoid arousing it, Vasile Lupu built the Church of Saint Nicholas here, on the site of an older chapel, and the citadel's rooms took on the look of monastic cells. The Catholic missionary Marco Bandini described the dome of Saint Nicholas, "built with remarkable art, adorned with golden images of Christ and his Mother," yet noted that the place "looks more like a fortress than a monastery." Indeed, the citadel remained a refuge for the princely family and a place to keep the treasury. In 1650, when the Tatars raided Moldavia, Vasile Lupu sent his wife here, together with the families of his boyars. ### 9. Room 12 – The north-east tower and the events of 1691 - Where: Room 12: The north-east tower - Period: 1691 - Material: Exhibition on two levels - Audio: 1:17 https://museu-cetatea-neamt.neamt.tesseramo.com/ghid/cetatea-neamt-turnul-de-nord-est-si-momentul-1691?lang=en We climb into the north-east tower, which spans two levels and is devoted to one of the citadel's best-known episodes. In the autumn of 1691, King John III Sobieski of Poland, the hero who had saved Vienna from the Ottoman siege, marched into Moldavia with a heavy army. On the way back, the Poles attacked Neamț Citadel. Inside were only a handful of plăieși, the mountain guards. According to the accounts, they held out for several days under fire from mortars and cannon before surrendering. When they came out, the Poles were astonished to see how few the defenders had been. The story of their courage became legend and was turned by Costache Negruzzi into the novella Sobieski and the Romanians. The chronicler Ion Neculce notes that the king then left troops with supplies in the fortresses and monasteries of the area: at Neamț, Suceava, Agapia, Secu, Câmpulung and Hangu. Only the Peace of Karlowitz in 1699 obliged the Poles to leave the fortresses of Moldavia. ### 10. Room 13 – The Princesses' Chamber - Where: Room 13: The princesses' chamber - Period: 17th century - Material: Reconstructed interior with figures - Audio: 1:08 https://museu-cetatea-neamt.neamt.tesseramo.com/ghid/cetatea-neamt-camera-domnitelor?lang=en The Princesses' Chamber reminds us that the citadel was not home to soldiers alone. In troubled times, princesses and noblewomen took refuge here with their wealth. One of the saddest stories of the citadel concerns Ruxandra, daughter of Vasile Lupu. She had been married to Tymish, son of the Cossack hetman Bohdan Khmelnytsky, and had lived a life full of hardship. In 1686, during King Sobieski's campaign, a band of Poles and Cossacks got into the citadel, by surprise or by trickery. The chronicler Nicolae Costin writes that they found Lady Ruxandra, tortured her to learn where her fortune was, and then beheaded her on the threshold with an axe. It was said that 19,000 gold coins were found with her. The reconstruction in this room tries to capture the everyday life of women from princely families. Look at the costumes and imagine how far this room was from the glittering world of the court in Iași. ### 11. Rooms 17–19 – Kitchen, storeroom and mint - Where: Room 17: The kitchen - Period: 15th–17th century - Material: Original ethnographic objects; reconstructed period stove - Audio: 1:08 https://museu-cetatea-neamt.neamt.tesseramo.com/ghid/cetatea-neamt-bucataria-camara-de-provizii-si-monetaria?lang=en These three rooms show the practical side of life in the citadel. A garrison of about 300 men had to be fed every day, and in a siege the supplies had to last for weeks. The kitchen is reconstructed with original ethnographic objects and an ordinary stove of the period, made by the restoration laboratory of the History and Archaeology Museum in Piatra-Neamț. Next door, the storeroom reminds us that a fortress's resistance depended as much on grain, smoked meat and water as on walls and cannon. Then comes the mint. Throughout the Middle Ages the citadel played an important role in protecting the trade routes that followed the valleys of the Moldova and Neamț rivers. The town of Neamț, first documented on 8 October 1408, had customs posts, fairs and craftsmen, and trade required a substantial circulation of coins. The reconstruction shows how such a workshop might have looked. ### 12. Room 20 – The Castellan's Chamber - Where: Room 20: The castellan's chamber - Period: 15th–17th century - Material: Reconstructed interior with figure - Audio: 1:13 https://museu-cetatea-neamt.neamt.tesseramo.com/ghid/cetatea-neamt-camera-parcalabului?lang=en The last major stop is the Castellan's Chamber. The castellan, or pârcălab, was the commander of the citadel, appointed by the prince, and at Neamț his role extended far beyond the fortress walls. The town on the Neamț river, which locals also call the Ozana, was for a long time the political centre of the region, and the castellans were its chief administrators, military commanders and judges. From the name of the river and the citadel, the name Neamț spread to the whole district and later to the county. Even the town of Piatra became Piatra-Neamț after the middle of the nineteenth century. For long periods after Stephen the Great, documents mention the citadel almost only through the names of its castellans. The reconstruction shows a space for work and daily life, with sober furniture and period objects. After the prison in Room 21, the visit ends. Thank you for climbing all the way up Pleșu Ridge, and do take a look from the walls at the valley the citadel guarded for three centuries.