The first plan of the fortress from Cotnari – Cătălina was made by Gheorghe Asachi, being published in 1854. It is, by all appearances, the oldest of a fortification from the LateIron Age in Moldova. It was published in an article entitled “Catelina in Moldavia”, published in the Iasi periodical “Almanac of Teaching and Party” in 1854. If in the first part of his text Asachi focuses more on the name, which in the spirit of the time he links to Lucius Sergius Catilina and the Latinity of the Romanians, in the second part he tries to describe the fortifications. The plan made, outlines quite correctly the two precincts of the fortress, most of the marked landmarks being visible today on the field. 136 more years will pass from this sketch of Asachi’s until Alexandre Simon Ștefan will again publish a complete plan of the citadel from Cătălina with both its precincts…
