Mehedinti County
Site of Trajan's 1,135-meter bridge—world's longest arch span for 1,000 years—at the Iron Gates gorge
In 105 AD, Emperor Trajan's architect Apollodorus of Damascus completed what would remain the world's longest arch bridge for a millennium: 1,135 meters spanning the Danube on twenty masonry pillars at Drobeta. This engineering marvel opened Dacia to Roman conquest, each end guarded by forts so crossing required passing through the camps. Only the entrance pillars now remain visible, though 12 underwater pillars were mapped in 1982. Mehedinti County inherits this crossing-point destiny where the Danube leaves the Iron Gates gorge—192 kilometers of the great river defining the county's southern boundary. The Iron Gates Nature Park, Romania's second largest, protects species like the Yellow Tulip of the Gorges blooming each May on the steep sides of Ciucarul Mare.