Neamt fortress is a medieval fortress located in north-eastern part of Romania, near Târgu Neamț.
A number of historians and philologists, as A.D. Xenopol, B.P. Hasdeu, D. Onciul consider that – according to the papal bull of 1232 – the Teutonic Knights of Bârsa had built between 1211–1225 on the eastern slope of the Carpathians a castrum muntissimum which was later identified as the citadel. The Germanic (Teutonic or Saxon) hypothesis was acquired by many of Romanian historians and sustained by both: -the site’s onomastic “Neamt”, which in Slavonic and Rumanian languages means ” German” -and by the fortification style, typical to Imperial German military architecture of Hohenstaufen period XII-XIV centuries. The German knights “the Saxons” have been appointed to fortify the Carpathian passes against the frequent barbarian incursions into Transilvania. The Saxons have been settled in Transilvania (Siebenbürgen- seven castles) since then, 150 years before the founding of later principalities of Valachia and Bogdania(Moldova).
