Soroca Fortress
A perfectly circular stone fortress of the 1540s guarding a Dniester ford, restored and open to visitors.
Soroca Fortress stands on the right bank of the Dniester, where a ford once carried the trade route between the Moldavian lands and the steppe. Stephen the Great raised a timber and earth fort on the spot in 1499 as one of a chain of strongholds along the river. Between 1543 and 1546, under Petru Rareș, it was rebuilt in stone to an unusual and strikingly regular plan: a circle roughly thirty metres across with five towers set at equal intervals, four of them round and the gate tower square, and walls about three metres thick.
The curved masonry was designed to deflect cannon shot, and the towers were arranged over four levels, the lower ones for artillery. The fortress held out during the Great Turkish War and sheltered Peter the Great's army during the Pruth campaign of 1711, before falling to Russian forces in the following century's wars. It is listed as a monument of national importance. A major restoration completed with European Union support has reopened the walls, courtyard and towers to visitors, with a lift fitted in one tower and displays on the fortress's history.
Highlights
- Circular plan with five towers, rare in European fortification
- Walls about three metres thick, curved to deflect cannon fire
- Built for Petru Rareș between 1543 and 1546
- Restored courtyard, wall-walk and tower interiors open to visitors
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