0484 TRANSNISTRIA - Fortress of Tighina (Bender)

The first traces of a settlement on the site of the present city Tighina (Bender) dates from 1st-2nd centuries AD, during the Dacians. Subsequently, mentions about a city appear in the early Middle Ages, the shoal from Tighina being protected by a fortress from the 9th-11th centuries. During Cuman domination (11th-13th centuries), the city is already named Tighina (in Cuman language means "pass"). The city was first mentioned as an important customs post in a commerce grant issued by the Moldavian voivode Alexandru cel Bun to the merchants of Lviv in 1408. Later, Ştefan cel Mare builts a fortress of earth and wood (a palanca), conquered by the Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent in 1538. The Ottomans rename the city Bender, meaning "transient enhanced", and build here, within a year, under the supervision of the architect Koji Mimar Sinan, a fortress of stone.

0236 TRANSNISTRIA - A retired aircraft

To understand what is the deal with Transnistria (the name means Beyond the river Dniester), you should know some history of Moldavia (Moldova in romanian), and for that we must go back almost 700 years ago. Well, as is said in Chronicle from Putna, "in year 6867 from the creation of the world (1359 AD), with God willing, have started the country of Moldavia". Namely in 1352, Louis the Great, King of Hungary and Croatia, has set a mark between the Carpathians and Siret, intended to defend the Hungarian kingdom against Tartars invasions, and its leadership entrusted it to Dragoş, a romanian voievod (voivode) from Maramureş, at that time a possession of the crown.