Suceava

Suceava
County capital
Coat of arms
Location of Suceava
Country	Romania
County	Suceava County
Status	County capital
Government
• Mayor	Ion Lungu (Liberal Democratic Party (Romania))
Area
• Total	52 km2 (20 sq mi)
Population  (2011 census)
• Total	86,282
• Density	1,659/km2 (4,300/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+2 (EET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+3 (EEST)
Website	http://www.primariasv.ro/

Suceava (Romanian pronunciation: [suˈt͡ʃe̯ava]; Template:Lang-de, Template:Lang-pl, Template:Lang-uk, Template:Lang-yi [ʃɔts]) is the Suceava County seat, in Bukovina region, in north-eastern Romania. The city was the capital of the Principality of Moldavia from 1388 to 1565.

History

Suceava Castle Plan as in 1901

Dimitrie Cantemir in his famous work Descriptio Moldaviae gives the origin of the name as Hungarian: Szűcsvár, meaning city of furriers.

For nearly 200 years the city of Suceava was 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 the 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 heavily industrialized.

Demographics

Historical population

Year	Pop.	±%
1912	11,229	—
1930	17,028	+51.6%
1948	10,123	−40.6%
1956	20,949	+106.9%
1966	37,697	+79.9%
1977	62,715	+66.4%
1992	114,462	+82.5%
2002	106,138	−7.3%
2011	86,282	−18.7%
Source: Census data

As of 2011 census data, Suceava has a population of 86,282, a decrease from the figure recorded at the 2002 census (105,865), making it the 23rd largest city in Romania. The ethnic makeup was as follows:

• Romanians: 97.76%
• Roma: 0.69%
• Germans: 0.16%
• Ukrainians: 0.25%
• Poles: 0.12%
• Lipovans: 0.1%
• Other: 0.3%

Tourism

View of downtown Suceava, from the fortress

In the past few years Suceava started to evolve more rapidly. The most important sights in the town date from its time as a princely capital.

• Mirǎuti Church

Founded in 1390 by Petru I of Moldavia, it is the oldest church in Suceava, and established the city as a see of the church (which later moved to the). Stephen the Great was crowned in this church in 1457 and the church remained the coronation church of Moldavia until 1522.

• Church of Saint George, part of the Monastery of Saint John the New.

Founded by Bogdan the One-eyed in 1514. It has frescoes painted on the outside, typical of the region, and is one of the seven churches listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site (see Painted churches of northern Moldavia). Saint John the New was a Moldavian monk who preached during Turkish occupation and was subsequently martyred in Cetatea Alba, present-day Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi in Ukraine. Alexander the Good brought his relics to Moldavia in 1415. The monastery serves as the seat of the Archbishop of Suceava and Radauti.

• Church of Saint Demetrius

This church was founded by Petru Rareş, the son of Stephan the Great, in 1534, with a bell tower added in 1561, and the frescoes inside restored recently

• Church of Saint John the Baptist

Built by Vasile Lupu in 1643

There are numerous museums in the city: the Bucovina History Museum, the Bucovina Village Museum, the Bucovina Ethnographic Museum (housed in an inn from the 17th century), and the Natural History Museum.

Furthermore, there is the Cetatea de Scaun or Princely Citadel, like the Mirǎuti Church founded by Petru I of Moldavia when he moved the capital from Siret to Suceava. Alexander the Good and Stephen the Great expanded the citadel, and it became strong enough to hold off an attack by Ottoman sultan Mehmed II (the conqueror of Constantinople), in 1476 .

Schools

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National College "Petru Rares" Suceava

• Named after the voievod of Moldavia, Peter IV Rareş
• Main study offers are: English, Philology, Mathematics and Informatics.

National College "Stefan cel Mare" Suceava

• Named after the prince of Moldavia between the years 1457 and 1504, Stephen III of Moldavia
• Main study offers are: Philology, Mathematics and Informatics.

Economical College "Dimitre Cantemir" Suceava</ref>master.cedcsv.ro/cedc</ref>

• Named after the twice Prince of Moldavia and the famous writer of the Descriptio Moldavie, Dimitrie Cantemir.

It is the only economical high-school In Suceava.

• Main study offers are Tourism, Gastronomy, Alimentation, Economy, Countability and Trade.
• The main profile which the school promovates is the Technical profile.

Transportation

Air

Suceava is served by the Suceava "Ştefan cel Mare" Airport (SCV), located 12 km (7.5 mi) east of the city centre, it is also called "The Salcea Airport".

Natives

• Dimitrie Barilă (Dosoftei) (1624–1694), Moldavian Metropolitan, scholar, poet and translator
• Petru Bălan (1976 -) Romanian rugby union footballer
• Anastasie Crimca (1550–1629) Eastern orthodox clergyman
• Dorin Goian (1980 -) Romanian football player
• Norman Manea (1936 -) Romanian writer and intellectual
• Shulem Moskovitz chasidic Rebbe (? - 1958)
• Mihai Roman (1984 -) Romanian football player
• ro (1938 -) Romanian painter
• Ştefan Rusu, wrestler, won a gold medal at the 1980 Summer Olympics
• Meir Shapiro (1887–1933) Hasidic rabbi and rosh yeshiva
• Sonia Ursu-Kim (1993 -) Romanian female basketball player

See also

• Dragomirna Monastery
• Voroneț Monastery

International relations

See also: List of twin towns and sister cities in Romania

Twin towns — Sister cities

Suceava is twinned with:

• Guizhou, China
• Sosnowiec, Poland
• Chernivtsi, Ukraine

External links

• Local Authority Website from Suceava
• inSUCEAVA.ro - events guide for young people
• Suceava | images and words
• The "Ştefan cel Mare" University of Suceava
• Suceava Airport
• Monitorul de Suceava (local newspaper)
• InformatiaTa de Suceava (local news)