Bender Fortress, one of the oldest structures in our region, has a unique history. In the 13th century, Genoese ships sailed up the Dniester from the Akkerman fortress to build a fortress-factory on the high right bank of the river. This structure was meant to protect their goods and the crossing.

In 1538, after the conquest of the Moldavian principality, the Ottoman Empire expanded and rebuilt the Genoese factory at the order of Sultan Suleiman I Kanuni, using Italian engineers. By 1541, an 8-towered castle, built in the Western European style, stood here. Left bank fortifications were erected to control the crossing and port facilities. In 1584, to protect the fortress from raids, Moldavian ruler Peter the Lame restored the damaged fortifications with a team of builders. A moat was dug for the protection of the citadel, and a Watchtower and Lower Fortress with three towers were built.

In 1619, Turkey, concerned about the threat of a Polish attack, began constructing a new fortress. Earthwork bastion-type fortresses replaced stone-walled castles, capable of withstanding artillery. The architect surrounded the city settlement with an earthen moat, bastions, and artillery platforms. The stone finishing was completed by 1708. The upper part of the fortress became a colossal fortification covering almost 70 hectares. The Turkish traveler Evliya Çelebi described it in this form. Charles XII, the Swedish king, spent more than three years under the walls of the fortress after his defeat at Poltava with Hetman Mazepa and his Cossacks. After Mazepa's death, Philip Orlyk became hetman, who wrote "Pacts and Constitutions of the Laws and Liberties of the Zaporozhian Army," where power was divided into three branches. Among the Russian troops under the command of Field Marshal Minich was Karl Friedrich von Münchhausen. In the summer of 1738, the Russian army approached the fortress, but Minich did not capture it. Baron Münchhausen later returned to Petersburg and became the commander of a battalion in Riga, where he met the future Empress Catherine II.

Bender Fortress witnessed three Russo-Turkish wars. On the night of September 15, 1770, Russian troops under the command of Peter Panin stormed the fortress, but left it in 1774 under a peace treaty. In 1789, Russian troops under the command of G.A. Potemkin approached the fortress, and it capitulated. According to the Treaty of Jassy, the fortress again returned to Turkey.

In 1806, when Napoleon occupied Europe, the Russian army under General Meindorf entered the fortress through bribery. The war with Turkey lasted until 1812, and according to the Bucharest Peace Treaty, the fortress passed to Russia. Ivan Kotlyarevsky described this event in his "Journal of Military Actions."

Russian engineers developed a plan to move the city to the bank of the Dniester, effectively building a new city. From 1812, more than 100 regiments of the Russian army were stationed in the fortress. The fortress became the rear of the Russian army, where warehouses and a hospital were built. In 1833, the Church of Alexander Nevsky was built. From 1822 to 1916, the city and fortress were visited by four Russian emperors. The fortress was twice under Romanian occupation: after World War I and during World War II. Since 1946, the 2nd separate heavy combined pontoon regiment and units of the Soviet army were stationed here, and the construction of modern buildings began.

Since 2008, the reconstruction of this monument of medieval fortification architecture has begun.