Not an ancient monument
Executed between 1994 and 2004 by sculptors suspended on ropes.
Erik Cleves Kristensen — CC BY 2.0 · Bybbisch94, Christian Gebhardt — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Bybbisch94, Christian Gebhardt — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Bybbisch94, Christian Gebhardt — CC BY-SA 4.0
A face carved into a rock cliff overlooking the Danube in the Cazanele gorge, depicting Decebalus, the last king of Dacia. The carving stands about forty-five metres high and is the tallest rock sculpture in Europe. But it is not an ancient monument: it was executed between 1994 and 2004, funded by a Romanian businessman, taking ten years and the work of teams of climbing sculptors suspended on ropes. Decebalus ruled Dacia in the late first century AD and resisted Rome in two wars. After the fall of his capital Sarmizegetusa in AD 106 he took his own life rather than be captured, a scene carved on Trajan's Column in Rome. In the modern Romanian account he became a symbol of resistance and of the nation's Dacian origin. The sculpture is seen chiefly from the water: most visitors arrive by boat from Orșova or Dubova, a trip passing through the narrowest part of the gorge where the Danube is squeezed between two rock walls. Viewing from the road is free; the boat trip is ticketed.
Executed between 1994 and 2004 by sculptors suspended on ropes.
He resisted Rome in two wars and took his life rather than be captured in 106.
The boat passes where the Danube is squeezed between two rock walls.
The Danube gorge, near Orșova
The name of the gorge where the Danube cuts through the Carpathians between Romania and Serbia over about a hundred and thirty kilometres. The river here was dangerous for navigation with its rocks and whirlpools until a huge dam shared between the two countries was built in the 1970s, raising the water level and easing passage. But that drowned villages and the island of Ada Kaleh, home to a Turkish community since Ottoman times — its people were moved and its history submerged.
It is better to stay overnight in Orșova or Drobeta-Turnu Severin than to go and return in a day from Sibiu. Boat trips leave from several points and take one to two hours, usually including the Ponicova cave, the Mraconia monastery and the gorge itself. Trips are cancelled in strong wind. The riverside road by car is beautiful in itself but narrow and winding.
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