page_title: Piatra Neamț
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Piatra Neamț / History
caption_attribution_description: Stephen's Tower in Piatra Neamţ, Romania
context_page_description: Piatra Neamț, German: Kreuzburg an der Bistritz, Hungarian: Karácsonkő is the capital city of Neamț County, in the historical region of Western Moldavia, in northeastern Romania. Because of its privileged location in the Eastern Carpathian mountains, it is considered one of the most picturesque cities in Romania. The Nord-Est Regional Development Agency is located in Piatra Neamț.
context_section_description: The area around Piatra Neamț is one of the oldest inhabited areas in Romania. The oldest traces of human civilisation in the present territory date back to the higher Paleolithic, about 100,000 years BCE. The Cucuteni culture, whose development lasted approximately one thousand years (ca. 3600-2600 BCE) was attested in the territory of Neamţ county by a remarkable number of settlements (approx. 150), archaeological diggings unearthing important museum collections of Aeneolithic artifacts. Archaeologists have also discovered objects here dating back to the Neolithic Period and the Bronze Age (about 1900-1700 BCE).
  Excavations just outside the city revealed the ruins of a large Dacian city, Petrodava, mentioned by Greek geographer Ptolemy in the 2nd century. The whole compound had its heyday between the first century BCE and the first century CE. Standing out is the citadel at Bâtca Doamnei which contains shrines resembling those identified in the Orăștie Mountains. As far as the existence of a local leader is concerned, historians tend to suggest the identification of the Kingdom of Dicomes in the very political centre at Petrodava. The complex of strongholds without peer in Moldavia and Wallachia is evidence as to a powerful political and military centre both in Burebista’s time and in the period that preceded the reign of Decebalus. The settlement was documented in the 15th century as Piatra lui Crăciun, or Camena, a market town.
  The first urban settlements, which emerged under Petru I Mușat (1375–1391), were Piatra lui Crăciun, Roman, and Neamț. The Neamț citadel, whose documentary attestation dates back to February 2, 1395, was also erected during the same consolidation period of the Moldovian principality east of the Carpathians. The Princely Court of Piatra Neamț is mentioned for the first time in a document dated April 20, 1491, to have been founded between 1468 and 1475, under Stephen the Great, the Princely Cathedral being built in 1497–1498, and the 20 m (65.62 ft) tall Bell Tower in 1499.
caption: Stephen's Tower built in 1499
exif: {"Image Make": "Hewlett-Packard", "Image Model": "HP PhotoSmart R817  (V01.00)+", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "300", "Image YResolution": "300", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image DateTime": "2005:09:21 14:30:06", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "Image ExifOffset": "760", "Image CustomRendered": "Normal", "Image ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "Image WhiteBalance": "Auto", "Image FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "39", "Image SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "Image GainControl": "Low gain up", "Image Contrast": "Normal", "Image Saturation": "Normal", "Image Sharpness": "Normal", "Image DeviceSettingDescription": "[1, 0, 15, 0, 48, 48, 48, 48, 65, 48, 48, 48, 48, 55, 65, 48, 48, 48, 48, 56, ... ]", "Image SubjectDistanceRange": "3", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "3422", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "9052", "EXIF ExposureTime": "83253/100000", "EXIF FNumber": "16/5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "50", "EXIF OECF": "[]", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2005:09:21 14:30:06", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2005:09:21 14:30:06", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "48515049", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "17/64", "EXIF ApertureValue": "13/4", "EXIF BrightnessValue": "-669/256", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "14/5", "EXIF MeteringMode": "CenterWeightedAverage", "EXIF LightSource": "Standard light A", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "81/10", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0010", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "2592", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1936", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "111/4000000", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "111/4000000", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "3", "EXIF ExposureIndex": "50", "EXIF SensingMethod": "Not defined", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed"}