Short history of the Suceava Citadel

The city of Suceava was for long the capital of the Moldavian state and main residence of the Moldavian princes (between 1388 and 1565). The city was the capital of the lands of Stephen the Great, one of the pivotal figures in Romanian history, who died in Suceava in 1504. He built a church every time he defeated an enemy army. During the rule of Alexandru Lăpuşneanu, the seat was moved to Iaşi in 1565. Michael the Brave captured the city in 1600 during the Moldavian Magnate Wars in attempt to unite Wallachia, Moldavia and Transylvania, but he was defeated the same year and Suceava failed to become capital again. Together with the rest of Bukovina, Suceava was under the rule of the Habsburg Monarchy (later Austria-Hungary) from 1775 to 1918; the border of Habsburg domains passed just south-east of the city. At the end of World War I, it became part of Greater Romania. During the communist period in Romania, Suceava was heavy industrialized.