SEC Discovering Suceava

After the afternoon activities at school, the group of students went to visit the city of Suceava and spent some time in the planetarium. They were given some information about the solar system, the planets and constellations.

On Tuesday, April 5th, after the workshops, we continued the discovery of the places of interest of Suceava and visitedthe fortress (Cetatea de Scaun a Sucevei), a medieval castle situated on the eastern edge of the contemporary city. It wasbuilt during the reign of Petru II of Moldavia ( 1375-1391), transformed and  expanded by Stephen the Great. A guide gave us some explanations and historical facts connected with the fortress. 

Finally, on Thursday, april 7th we all headed for Suceava historical museum. It underwent an extensive renovation a few years ago and it now presents the local history with a fresh approach and a lot of interesting exhibits from prehistoric times to  the present. Although the basis of the permanent exhibition is the local history, this cannot be understood outside the national history and general European background: for over a century and a half Suceava has been the residence of Moldavia’s rulers. When the city of Iaşi becomes ”the new capital”, it  led to the fall of Suceava’s importance and to the damage of the existing monuments. The Austrian occupation  meant the separation of the northern part of Moldavia . The union of Bukovina with Great Romania brought to other necessary changes for the consolidation of the new state. The two world wars, the communist regime meant hardships for the local population in this period. The presentation of history in the permanent exhibition ends in the year 1989 with the anticommunist demonstrations in Suceava in December 1989. At the end of the visit, the students had the opportunity to see a temporary exhibition of a Romanian painter’s works. 

The students discovered the city where their Romanian friends live, they learnt a lot about its history and traditions. Theyimproved their language skills, and widened their vocabulary as all the visits were commented in English.