Câmpulung Moldovenesc

Câmpulung Moldovenesc lies in central-western Suceava County, in the Câmpulung intramontane depression crossed by the Moldova river, at about 630 m. The town is surrounded by Obcina Mestecănișului, Obcina Feredeului, the Stânișoara Mountains and the Rarău massif, with Rarău and Giumalău to the south. At the 2021 census it had 15,642 inhabitants. It lies on European route E576 (DN 17), about 70 km from Suceava, and has two railway stations, Câmpulung Moldovenesc and Câmpulung Est, on the Suceava-Vama-Floreni-Ilva Mică line. The first documentary mention dates from 14 April 1411, when Prince Alexandru cel Bun granted Moldovița Monastery the village of Vama, „below Câmpulung”. The Ocolul Câmpulungului was a community of villages with self-governing privileges, described by Dimitrie Cantemir as a kind of republic. From 1774 the area came under Austrian rule, and the Austrian administration made Câmpulung a town in 1866. From 1925 to 1950 it was the seat of Câmpulung county, then of Câmpulung district, and in 1995 it became a municipality. The town has the Wood Art Museum, housed in the former prefecture of Câmpulung county (historic monument SV-II-m-B-05515), the Ioan Grămadă Ethnographic Museum, set in a traditional farmstead, and the wooden spoon collection in the house of history teacher Ion Țugui. Its churches include the Roman Catholic Church of the Ascension (1815), the wooden Church of the Nativity of the Mother of God (1855-1858) and the churches of St Demetrius (1883), St Nicholas (1887-1896) and the Dormition of the Mother of God (1913). Several protected areas of the Rarău massif lie within the municipality, among them Pietrele Doamnei, the Todirescu mountain hayfields, Piatra Buhei and the Moara Dracului Gorge, and the town is the starting point of the road up to Rarău.