1 Day:Gipsy Tour to Soroca Fortress Monastery Casauti

Soroca is a town in the north part of Moldova, located on the Nistru bank. It is well known for the most original defensive building of Moldova – Soroca Fortress. Another monument worth to be visited during the excursion is “The Candle of Gratitude”. You will also visit “the Gipsy Hill”, the unofficial gypsy capital.

The Soroca Fortress is a unique monument of medieval Moldovan defensive architecture. The stone fortress that we see today was built by a group of masons from Transylvania under the leadership of Master Iacob, who left an inscription inside the fortress: “Iacob built this castle.” Before the stone fortress was erected, there was a wooden and earthen fortification mentioned only in 1499, although it is believed to have been built earlier. Archaeological excavations in the fortress have uncovered remnants of wooden fortifications.

"The Candle of Gratitude, this monument is a tribute of respect to all the unknown heroes, to the people who have preserved the language, culture, and history of our country Moldova in the multicolor palette of human civilization. The monument also perpetuates the memory of the great unknown poet who wrote the ballad "Mioritsa."

Soroca Fortress is a historic fort in the Republic of Moldova, in the modern-day city of Soroca.

The original wooden fort, which defended a ford over the Dniester (Moldovan/Romanian: Nistru), was an important link in the chain of fortifications which comprised four forts (e.g. Akkerman and Khotin) on the Dniester, two forts on the Danube and three forts on the north border of medieval Moldova. Between 1543 and 1546 under the rule of Petru Rareş, the fortress was rebuilt in stone as a perfect circle with five bastions situated at equal distances

The Soroca Fortress was built by Stephen the Great in the last quarter of the 15th century. According to local tradition, its name comes from the fact that the ruler set a “deadline” (the term “sorok” meaning forty days) for the construction of the fortress. The Soroca Fortress was constructed as a defensive stronghold against the predatory Tatar hordes that invaded Moldova through the Dniester crossings. Soroca was not a large fortress with two rows of walls like Suceava, Cetatea Albă, or Hotin, but rather a small fortification, a castle to shelter guards against the Tatars.

This monument is a network consisting of 265 observation points, represented by stone cubes with a side of two meters, arranged on a relative trajectory between Hammerfest (Norway) and Necrasovca-Veche (Ukraine). This network was designed to evaluate terrestrial parameters, shape, and size. The Struve geodesic arch changed during the 40 years between 1816–1855. Now this arch measures 2,820 kilometers and counts 34 observation points, included in the UNESCO heritage.

In total, these points are located in 10 countries: Norway, Sweden, Finland, Russia, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Belarus, Ukraine, and the Republic of Moldova. The measurements of the Earth, carried out by Struve by means of these geodetic points, proved to be carried out with great accuracy. 27 such points were established on the territory of the Republic of Moldova. The Rudi geodetic point in the composition of the Rudi Geodetic Arc was created and measured in 1848. It 

The monastery is located north of the city of Soroca, on the bank of the Nistru river, approximately 5 km from the village of Cosăuţi. The distance connecting the Cosăuți monastery to the city of Chisinau is about 172 km, and to the city of Soroca it is 12 km.