He was central to the nationalist protochronism movement, which identifies Romania as the cradle of east-European civilisation. During the 1990s, a team of sculptors carved a 40-metre-tall rock sculpture of Decebalus from a stone outcrop overlooking the Danube near the city of Orşova, Romania. It was devised and funded by Iosif Constantin Drăgan, a supporter of the protochronism movement. He is quoted saying, "Anyone travelling towards 'Decebal Rex Dragan Fecit' Decebalus made by Dragan is also travelling towards the origins of east-European civilization and will discover that a United Europe represents the natural course of history".