The greatness of Decebal’s (the last king of the Dacians) Statue is mingling harmonious with the Danube spectacular rushing waters that are flowing through the rocks covered by Mediterranean vegetation. The whole landscape forms a breath-taking view.
The sculpture is 55 m high and 25 m wide, bigger than the New York’s Statue of Liberty and the Monument of Christ in Rio de Janeiro. 12 sculptors have contributed to the making of this monument, which lasted 10 years (between 1994 and 2000), a relatively short time compared to other resembling sculptures. A similar project on Mount Rushmore needed 300 climbing sculptors and 14 years of work.
The work at “The Rock Sculpture of Decebalus” was difficult and extremely dangerous because of the height and because of the vipers that were crawling around. Cleaning the rock and the stones was difficult and quite complicated. After 10 years all the efforts finished into a grand work of art of remarkable beauty, a work of art that bears a huge historical and Romanian origin identity heritage.
Below the head of the statue there is an inscription dedicated to the one who had the initiative and who financed the work, Iosif Constantin Drăgan, business-man and an admirer of Romanian history and of Romanian origin: “DECEBAL REX-DRAGANFECIT” (King Decebal – made by Drăgan).
On the other side of the Danube River, in Serbia, there is an antique inscription Tabula Traiana, placed by the roman emperor Traian in order to mark his road and his many victories in Europe.
Cazanele Dunării Area are, by themselves, a touristic attraction. Here, the watercourse is making its way among the verticals rocky walls, in some places the watercourse narrows (reaching down to 230 m) and the depth of the water increases (reaching up to 75 m), which makes the water rushing, creating an image of a great beauty and grandeur.
The Statue of Decebal completes at a sublime level all this Eden-like landscape.
Elena Radu
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