Tiraspol and Bender (Tighina)

Tiraspol is located in the eastern part of Moldova, on the left bank of the Dniester river. Tiraspo is the second most populated city in Moldova and is effectively the capital and administrative centre of the unrecognized Transnistria region.
It was founded in 1792 under the special order of Alexander Suvorov, after the Russian-Turkish War (1787-1791).

This disputed territory was always a battlefield between the major powers of the region.

From 1924 to 1940, it was the capital of the the Moldavian Autonomous S.S.R., established by the Soviets on Ukrainian territory east of the Dniester. Occupied by German forces in 1941, Tiraspol was retaken by the Soviets in 1944. After the collapse of the USSR in 1992, the Transnistrian region proclaimed independence from Moldova, but as a state it was never recognized.

You can visit many Soviet monuments that remain in Tiraspol since the days of USSR - the buildings of the Soviets ("Dom Sovetov"), the monument of Suvorov, Lenin, Gagarin.

Tighina Fortress, located on the bank of the Dinester River was one of the most powerful medieval fortresses of Moldova and an important point on the Moldovan Trade Route ("Tartar Road") linking Western Europe with Orient through the Danube and Dniester rivers. It was playing the role of a customs center.

In the summer of 1538, the Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent enters Moldova. Tighina becomes a vilayet (province of Ottoman Empire) and was renamed to "Bender" - in Turkish "Fortified pass".

In 1713, the fortress, the town, and the neighboring village Varniţa were the site of skirmishes between Charles XII of Sweden, who had taken refuge there with the Cossack Hetman Ivan Mazepa after his defeat in the Battle of Poltava, and Turks who wished to enforce the departure of the Swedish king. During the second half of the 18th century, the fortress fell three times to the Russians during the Russo-Turkish Wars (in 1770, 1789, and in 1806 without a fight).

In the first half of the 19th century Bender is included among first category fortresses of the Russian Empire. In 1897 Bender fortress loses the status of military objective.

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