The inner courtyard and the old well

Narration text

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.