The Danube flows through a magnificent gorge known as the Iron Gates separating Romania and Serbia. At the beginning of this century an interesting feature was added . The rock sculpture of Decebalus, a colossal carving of the face of the last king of Dacia (AD 87–106), who fought the Roman emperors Domitian and Trajan to preserve the independence of his kingdom that was located in present-day Romania.
The sculpture is located near the city of Orșova, in Mehedinți County. It was carved between 1994 and 2004, on a rock outcrop on the river Danube, inside the Iron Gates. It is the tallest rock relief sculpture in Europe, at 180 feet in height and 82 feet in width.
It was commissioned by Romanian businessman Iosif Constantin Drăgan and it took 10 years for twelve sculptors to complete. Under the face of Decebalus there is a Latin inscription which reads “DECEBALUS REX—DRAGAN FECIT” (“King Decebalus—Made by Drăgan”).
The carving was placed opposite an ancient memorial plaque, carved in the rock on the Serbian side of the river facing Romania. The plaque, known as the Tabula Traiana, records the completion of Trajan’s military road along the Danube commemorating the final defeat of Decebalus by Trajan in 105 AD.
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