Bendery, or Tighina so the Romanian name, celebrated recently its 600-year-anniversary. The city, located on the right bank of the Dniester, was gleaming brightly in new splendour: freshly painted historical houses, decorated streets, glossy anniversary posters all over and an outdoor museum of Bendery’s history brought new glory to the city and its 94.000 inhabitants.
Bendery, meaninig “belonging to the Turks”, always has and still does play a crucial geopolitical role in the region. First mentioned in 1408 in a Slavonic document, the city was part of the Moldavian Principality in the Middle Ages. Under Stefan Cel Mare’s control, the famous fortress was built. Within the centuries Tighina belonged to the Ottomans, the Swedish Crown, the Russian Empire, Bessarabia and the Moldavian SSR. In 1992 the conflict with the independence-claiming Transnistria caused severe clashes in the city with several hundred victims. Today Bendery is under Transnistrian administration and forms the buffer zone between Tiraspol and Chisinau.
Click here to see glorious Bendery!