Decebalus Rex cliff carving in the Iron Gates gorge on the Danube River between Romania and Serbia
The Iron Gates is a gorge on the Danube River. It forms part of the boundary between Romania and Serbia. In the broad sense it encompasses a route of 134 km (83 mi); in the narrow sense it only encompasses the last barrier on this route, just beyond the Romanian city of Orşova, that contains two hydroelectric dams, with two power stations, Iron Gate I Hydroelectric Power Station and Iron Gate II Hydroelectric Power Station. The gorge lies between Romania in the north and Serbia in the south. At this point, the river separates the southern Carpathian Mountains from the northwestern foothills of the Balkan Mountains. The Romanian, Hungarian, Slovakian, Turkish, German and Bulgarian names literally mean "Iron Gates" and are used to name the entire range of gorges. An alternative Romanian name for the last part of the route is Defileul Dunării, "Danube Gorge". In Serbia, the gorge is known as Đerdap (Ђердап), with the last part named Đerdapska klisura. The Romanian side of the gorge constitutes the Iron Gates natural park, whereas the Serbian part constitutes the Đerdap national park. The Statue of Dacian king Decebalus is a 40-m high statue that is the tallest rock sculpture in Europe. It is located on the Danube's rocky bank, near the city of Orşova, Romania. The idea belonged to Romanian businessman and historian Iosif Constantin Drăgan and it took 10 years (1994–2004) for twelve sculptors to finish it, at a cost of over one million dollars.
Size: 2531px × 3786px
Location: Danube River between Romania on the north bank and Serbia on the south bank
Photo credit: © Dimitry Bobroff / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: balkan, blue, carpathian, carving, cliff, dacian, danube, decebalus, gates, iron, king, mountains, rex, river, rock, romania, sculpture, serbia
