DECEBALUS - the Eastern European Mount Rushmore!

This ain't any of the presidents carved on the Mount Rushmore!

Though whose statue are you looking at?

Let me give you a clue!

This huge statue embedded in the natural rock is located in Romania. To be more precise, it's close to Orsova, in the Mraconia Bay, on the Lower Danube, right between the towns Eselnita and Dubova.

The statue of the Dacian King Decebalus is the Eastern European version of Mount Rushmore, if you want to put it that way.

It can be seen both from the road and the river. If I am not mistaken, this is the largest stone sculpture in Europe and it took close to ten years to complete it (1994 to 2004). It was literally dynamited out of the rock overlooking the river Danube at the Iron Gates.

How big it is?

It's huge! It has 42.9 m in height and 31.6 m width (131 ft high by 103 ft width). I was blown away by the sheer size of it.

As magnificent as it looks, this structure was not finished. The initial plan was to finalize it and also have another one on the Serbian shore, one of Traianus, the roman emperor that had defeated Decebalus.

To be honest it exceeded my expectations in size and skills. I have been meaning to see this from many years ago, but somehow I always postponed this trip.

A bit of history

Our boat guide was a valuable source of information and history of this place. He mentioned that King Decebalus fought against the Roman Empire who threatened his Dacian kingdom. He lost the battle and his kingdom was taken over by the Emperor Trajan. That explains the origins of Romanians, placing them as direct descendants of the Roman Empire. Did you know that Romanian is a language that derived from Latin?

Decebalus Rex -Dragan fecit

Iosif Dragan, a Romanian bilionnaire commissioned Mario Galeotti, an Italian sculptor for this massive head carved into the mountain. The work was accompanied by the inscription: Decebalus Rex - Dragan Fecit (King Decebalus - made by Dragan), a reminder of the businessman's extravaganza. The artist died before completing the work.

Spectacular views

The cost of a boat ride is around 25-30 RON, which is close to $10 USD. If you are not interested in taking the ride, then you can take some amazing shots from the bridge located just in front of the statue.

Decebalus' head does offer an interesting spectacle as you pass through the Iron Gates gorge, having on one side the southern Carpathian mountains and the NW foothills of the Balkan mountains on the other. The views are gorgeous!

I do recommend taking a cruise through the Iron Gates as it is an unique experience. You could also enjoy visiting the Great Gorges, Small Gorges and Veterani cave.

Tabula Traiana

On the Serbian shore of the Danube, you can see the 2000 years old inscription on the rock: Tabula Traiana, a symbol of the Roman Empire's final attack against Decebalus' kingdom.