Bender, Moldova

Bender
Tighina
  • From top, left to right: Bender Fortress
  • Transfiguration Cathedral
  • Railway bridge over the Dniester
  • Bender-1 railway station
  • Fortress church
Municipality of Bender (in red)
Bender located in Moldova
Bender
Location of Bender within Transnistria and within Moldova
Bender
Bender (Moldova)
Bender
Bender (Europe)
Coordinates: 46°50′N 29°29′E / 46.833°N 29.483°E / 46.833; 29.483
Country (de jure) Moldova
Country (de facto) Transnistria
Founded1408
Government
  Head of the State Administration of BenderyNikolai Gliga
Area
  Total
97.29 km2 (37.56 sq mi)
Elevation
15 m (49 ft)
Population
 (2015)
  Total
91,000
Time zoneUTC+2 (EET)
ClimateCfb
Websitebendery.gospmr.org

Bender ([benˈder], Moldovan Cyrillic: Бендер) or Bendery (Russian: Бендеры, [bʲɪnˈdɛrɨ]; Ukrainian: Бендери), also known as Tighina (Moldovan Cyrillic: Тигина), is a city within the internationally recognized borders of Moldova under de facto control of the unrecognized Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic (Transnistria) (PMR) since 1992. It is located on the western bank of the river Dniester in the historical region of Bessarabia.

Together with its suburb Proteagailovca, the city forms a municipality, which is separate from Transnistria (as an administrative unit of Moldova) according to Moldovan law. Bender is located in the buffer zone established at the end of the 1992 War of Transnistria. While the Joint Control Commission has overriding powers in the city, Transnistria has de facto administrative control.

The fortress of Tighina was one of the important historic fortresses of the Principality of Moldova until 1812.