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Stop 10Room 13: The princesses' chamber
Room 13 – The Princesses' Chamber
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.
- Period
- sec. XVII
- Where it is
- Room 13: The princesses' chamber, the fort
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Narration text
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.