Târgu Neamț

Târgu Neamț is a market town on the Neamț River, beneath a fortress commanding the valley and the routes towards Transylvania. Its name preserves the Romanian word for a market, and it is mentioned in a document of the late fourteenth century. Above it rises Neamț Citadel, built under Petru I Mușat and strengthened by Stephen the Great with new defences and a bridge across its ditch.

The fortress resisted an Ottoman siege in 1476 after Stephen's defeat at Războieni. It later witnessed another celebrated defence in 1691, when a small Moldavian garrison held out against the army of King John Sobieski of Poland. The town and citadel together recall the importance of the mountain approaches to the Moldavian principality, both as a place of exchange and as a line of defence.