Soroca is a historic town located in the north-eastern part of the Republic of Moldova, on the border with Ukraine, 160 km from the country capital. It is situated on the western bank of the river Nistru (Dniester) where a meander forms abrupt banks which suited for defense in the past.

Soroca is well-known for its medieval history and the fifteenth-century fortress, one of the four preserved Moldovan border fortifications (the other three are Tighina, Hotin and Cetatea Alba). The Historic Area of the city is located on the bank of Nistru on a 121.7-hectare site and consists of an older part with narrow irregular streets, and a modern part with rectangular street grid built under the tsarist regime in the XIX-th century. Near the Soroca’s older part is situated the former Bujerauca village which is mostly built with traditional Moldovan houses. The modern town situated south of the fortress has mostly neo-classical, eclectic and neo-Romanian style buildings with one or two storeys, a number of churches, educational and administrative facilities. The city and its surrounding areas are well-known for their natural, cultural and archaeological riches.

The Moldovan chronicler Miron Costin described the beauty and the picturesque of these lands with an exquisite talent: "If the goddesses from the Greek fables knew about these lands, for sure they would have come here from their Olympus".