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BENDERY FORTRESS IN TRANSNISTRIA
2011-11-08
In early October 2011 Gabriela and I were invited to Bendery fortress in Transnistria, also known as the Pridnestrovian Moldovan Republic (PMR), for the unveiling of a monument commemorating our ancestor, the Russian field marshal Prince Peter Sayn-Wittgenstein. Pjotr Kristianovich Wittgenstein, as he is known in the Russian world, became a hero in the 1812/13 Patriotic War when he succeeded in preventing Napoleon from conquering St. Petersburg. After the death of Kutuzov, Wittgenstein was appointed commander of the allied armies and later, in the war against the Turks, he became a field marshal.
Wittgenstein owned huge vineyards along the Dniester River were he cultivated some of the best wines of the Russian empire. All this was destroyed after the revolution. With the end of the Soviet Union the lands bordering the Ukraine became part of Moldova. After a bloody uprising in 1992 a mainly Russian population east of the Dniester founded the PMR, a state still waiting for international recognition.
In recent years the government under President Igor Smirnov has rediscovered the Russian heritage of this region. Two monuments were erected for their great “Russian hero” Piotr Kristianovich, plans are approved to rebuild the Lutheran church over the crypt where he was buried, to reconstruct the historic winery and recultivate several thousand hectares of his vineyards. On our visit we were also presented a 50-years old cognac named “Prince Wittgenstein”, the top brand of KVINT, a most famous Tiraspol distillery founded in 1897.
The presentation was also celebrated in Bendery fortress, an important part of PMR’s young cultural heritage but more so one of the only remaining medieval fortifications in the area formerly known as Bessarabia. Founded by the Moldavian hospodars in the 15th century, Tighina fortress, as it was first called, in 1538 became Turkish and was named Bender. In 1812 the fort was conquered by Russia. It belonged to Romania after the fall of the Russian empire and from the 1940s on was part of the Soviet Union.
The central castle with its two gatehouses and eight towers has been quite well restored in recent years, one tower housing a museum presenting the building’s changing history. Still awaiting restoration are the vast fortifications surrounding this impressive site on the banks of the Dniester River. Bendery, a quite unknown testimony of our common European cultural heritage could become a rewarding research project for Europa Nostra’s Scientific Council.
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