Suceava

Suceava (Suczawa, Suczawa, Сучава, שאַץ or ) is the Suceava County seat in Bukovina, Moldavia region, in north-eastern Romania. The city was the capital of the Principality of Moldavia from 1388 to 1565.

History
Dimitrie Cantemir in his famous work Descriptio Moldavie 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
According to the last census, from 2002, there were 105,865 people living within the city of Suceava, making it the 22nd largest city in Romania. The ethnic makeup is as follows:


 * Romanians: 98.17%
 * Gypsies: 0.48%
 * Germans: 0.35%
 * Ukrainians: 0.27%
 * Poles: 0.23%
 * Lipovans: 0.2%
 * Other: 0.3%

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

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.
 * Mirǎuti Church

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 George, part of the Monastery of Saint John the New

this church was founded by Petru Rareş, the sun of Stephan the Great, in 1534, with a bell tower added in 1561, and the frescoes inside restored recently
 * Church of Saint Demetrius

Build by Basil the Wolf in 1643
 * Church of Saint John the Baptist

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
National Colege "Petru Rares" Suceava

National Colege "Stefan cel Mare" Suceava

Economical Colege "Dimitre Cantemir" Suceava

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

Natives

 * Petru Balan, (1976 -) Romanian rugby union footballer,
 * Dimitrie Barilă (Dosoftei) (1624–1694), Moldavian Metropolitan, scholar, poet and translator.
 * Eugen Bejinariu (1959 -) Romanian politician and member of the Social Democratic Party (PSD)
 * Anastasie Crimca (1550–1629) Eastern orthodox clergyman
 * Norman Manea (1936 -) Romanian writer and intellectual
 * Dorin Goian (1980 -) Romanian football player
 * Shulem Moskovitz chasidic Rebbe (? - 1958)
 * Dumitru Rusu (1938 -) Romanian painter
 * Meir Shapiro (1887–1933) Hasidic rabbi and rosh yeshiva
 * Ştefan Rusu, wrestler, won a gold medal at the 1980 Summer Olympics