Dubova, Romania: Rock Sculpture of Decebalus

Sometimes even the losers are remembered by history ... especially if a person has a benefactor a few thousand years later. 

One of the wonders of passing through the Danube's Iron Gates section is man-made. It is a giant carving of the face of Decebalus. He is remembered as the last king of Dacia - which essentially was what we call Romania. Decebalus and his forces fought bravely against three different Roman invasions, and eventually in 106 A.D. the Romans won the ultimate victory. Decebalus decided to avoid the indignity of capture by committing suicide.

This looks like it has been around for a while, but actually it was created between 1994 and 2004. It took years to do the initial work with dynamite, and four more to finish the job. 

Decebalus checks in at 40 meters high and 25 meters high, so he's hard to miss on the riverfront. Let's take a quick look at it: