Soroca Fort: Difference between revisions

| name = Soroca Fort

| native_name = Cetatea Soroca

| partof =

| location = [[Soroca]]

| caption = The fort in 2018

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| coordinates = {{Coord|48|9|40.38|N|28|18|19.72|E|display=inline, title}}

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| built = {{Start date|1499}}

| builder = [[Stephen III of Moldova| = [[Stephen the Great]], [[Petru Rareş]]

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| demolished =

| condition = Renovation in processcompleted

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| garrison = From 200 to 250 men

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The '''Soroca FortressFort''' ({{lang-ro|Cetatea Soroca}}) is a historic [[fort]] in the [[Republic of Moldova]], in the modern-day city of [[Soroca]].

The original wooden fort, which defended a [[Ford (crossing)|ford]] over the [[Dniester]] (Moldovan/Romanian: ''Nistru''), was an important link in the chain of fortifications which comprised four forts (e.g. [[Akkerman]] and [[Khotin]]) on the Dniester, two forts on the Danube and three forts on the north border of medieval Moldova. Between 1543 and 1546 under the rule of [[Petru Rareş]], the fortress was rebuilt in stone as a perfect circle with five bastions situated at equal distances.

The current building displays the most elaboratedelaborate characteristics of late [[Medieval stronghold|medieval fortifications]]. This observation conveys the idea that the fort was builtperhaps maybebuilt by expertexperts from [[Western Europe]] or [[Transylvania|Transylvanian]] people whomwho traveled in Western Europe and brought architectural ideas back into [[Moldova]] :

*The walls are not built straight but in a curved shape to resist better toresist projectileprojectiles, soas are the 4four outer towers.

*WeOne can notice also notice round towers which allowed the defensorsdefenders to shoot from better angles and thus protect the base of the walls.

The entire building has a diameter of 30 meters, and 4 meters for theeach towerstower. Each tower has 4 levellevels, of which the first two lower ones were used for artillery. The walls are 3 meters thick and we can find signs of a previous ditch. The main entrance tower had 3 doors, amongst them a portcullis which werewas closed during battles,. thus theThe space saved at the upper level allowed the garrison to pray in a small chapel.<ref>{{cite book|language= ro|last= BULAT|first= Nicolae |title= Județa Soroca, file de istorie|location= Chisinau|publisher= Editura ARC|year= 2000|isbn = 9975-61-139-7|pages= 22–23}}</ref>

Despite all these strong features the fort was obsolete after the end of the 14th century because of the more widespeadwidespread use of [[gunpowder]].<ref>{{cite book|language= ro|last= BULAT|first= Nicolae |title= Județa Soroca, file de istorie|location= Chisinau|publisher= Editura ARC|year= 2000|isbn = 9975-61-139-7|pages= 20–21}}</ref>

* [https://web.archive.org/web/20071010105208/http://www.molddata.md/Cultura/cetat/ctsoroca.html Molddata.md: Cetatea Soroca] {{roin iconlang|ro}}

File:Soroca Fort, Main Tower & Entrance, from the otsideoutside..JPGjpg