Monumento a Trajano

Monumento a Trajano stands beside Seville’s riverside promenade as a bronze statue of the Roman emperor Trajan. Created by Romanian sculptor Vasile Corduz, it rises 2.15 metres above a marble pedestal and entered the city in December 1993.

Romania gave the sculpture to Seville after its participation in the 1992 Universal Exposition. Trajan holds the Capitoline Wolf, whose head joins a dragon’s tail, bringing Roman mythology together with the Dacian war standard. This detail represents the Roman and Dacian roots associated with modern Romania, while an inscription on the pedestal quotes Cassius Dio on Trajan’s bridge across the Danube. Trajan was born at nearby Itálica, linking the riverside work to Seville’s Roman past.

The statue’s concrete history reaches beyond Spain: Corduz created related sculptures for Bucharest and Rome, forming an artistic connection between three cities. Look closely at the marble base, where the inscription recalls an engineering achievement that supported Rome’s campaigns against the Dacians.