Bendery, December 24. /Novosti Pridnestrovya/. This year was busy for the Bendery Fortress. From the beginning of the season until its closure, there were held about 25 festivals of various kinds - musical, gastronomic, historical reconstruction. On the Family Day, according to the estimates of the organizers, there were about 15 thousand people who came here. In addition to traditional festivities (Maslenitsa, Easter, City Day, etc.), retro festivals and discos of the 80s and 90s were also popular. In total, there were 100-120 thousand people who visited the fortress this year.
The program of the next year is still being decided. It will be sounded a little later, but it is already known that the number of events will be approximately the same, but they will become more qualitative and interesting. New scenery and more foreign artists are promised.
In addition, the plans are to expand the area for excursions. So, now work on the territory of the former military warehouse are held. The old gallery is cleaned of more modern coatings (limes, etc.), as close as possible to the original look.
“On the old maps, there is one of the gates through which they entered the fortress marked here. On top is a casemated protective aircraft shelter. This project was developed in the 70s of the 19th century by the famous military engineer Totleben. Based on the experience of battles for Sevastopol, he put forward the idea of modernizing the fortresses on the western borders of the Russian Empire, which included the Bendery Fortress. All the most important elements of the defense were strengthened, in particular, this protective aircraft shelter was built, at the top there was an artillery battery. It was made in such a way as to withstand heavy bombs and grenades,” Alexander Bulgakov, chief specialist of the scientific department of the Bendery Fortress says.
When the gallery is spruce up, it will be possible to go down to the moat through it. Until the early 90s of the 20th century, only the military could walk in it. Civilian scientists only gained access about 30 years ago. After clearing, it is planned to let everyone come here.
“An external water moat was noted in documents of the 17th century, and stone fortifications are already closer to the 18th. This is the first line of defense. For tourists, it may be interesting, firstly, as a monument of military architecture, since there are few such objects in our region, and secondly, as a monument of architecture. Indeed, during the construction of various sections, each master made some contribution, and very often architects left their marks there. Now these are epigraphic monuments that can be viewed and studied,” the historian notes.
Some inscriptions made by soldiers who served in the fortress at different times are ill-disguised as soon as you leave the gallery.
In addition, this year Italian specialists began to work in the fortress. The European Union has allocated about 2 million euros for research and subsequent reconstruction. There are some areas that began to collapse under the influence of time. Specialists will scan the entire fortress, conduct a technical analysis, and then begin to restore the most problematic areas. The work is tentatively scheduled for April 2020. When the process is completed, all these places will be open for tourists. Now for security reasons they are closed to the public.
“We can organize several more new routes using them. Now there is only one excursion - on the territory near the fortress and inside the citadel with a visit to the museum. We want to introduce additional excursions to the lower part of the fortress, maybe we will do it separately on the towers. There are plans to open a torture museum and restore the former Turkish prison in the 6th tower on the lower tier. We also plan to open Suleyman’s memorial room at the former place of the gift shop,” Alexander Yaskov, Director of the Bendery Fortress said.
In addition, there will be new fixed photo zones in the fortress. One of them is already being equipped on the site of the former personal well of the Turkish Pasha. It was discovered in the process of improving the park and is intended to be recreated.
All this will attract not only local residents, but also foreign tourists. Each year there are more and more of them - about 25% -30%. They come to see Pridnestrovie and visit the Bendery Fortress as one of the locations of the general route.
“We conduct tours in various languages, and for each group we try to choose more historical facts directly related to their country. If these are guests from Sweden, then we talk more about Charles XII, if from Romania - about some other things, Ukraine – some other ones, etc. If they are Asians, then we tell more legends about the fortress, they are very interested in some legends, myths, fairy tales,” Alexander Yaskov says.
Most of the foreigners are from Europe, but the geography is gradually expanding, this year there were guests even from the Hawaiian Islands.
