Statue of Trajan and the She-wolf, Bronze sculpture at National Museum of Romanian History steps in Bucharest, Romania.

The Statue of Trajan and the She-wolf is a bronze sculpture by Vasile Gorduz on the steps of the National Museum of Romanian History. It stands 2.15 metres tall and weighs about 500 kilograms. The nude emperor holds the Capitoline Wolf, whose head joins a Dacian Draco tail; the wolf appears to levitate above his cupped hands.

The statue was initiated by the Bucharest City Hall as part of its "Calea Victoriei – Cultural Trail" programme, on the recommendation of academician Răzvan Theodorescu. Gorduz died in 2008, so his plaster model, held by Artmark Galleries, was cast in bronze by Ioan Bolborea for 200,000 lei. It was installed on the museum steps in November 2011, wrapped in plastic foil, and unveiled on 29 April 2012 by mayor Sorin Oprescu.

The wolf's head joins the tail of a Dacian Draco, the Dacian war standard, so the animal fuses Rome's founding she-wolf with Dacian military imagery. Gorduz named the work "Dorul după o victorie care, dacă ar fi existat, ar fi însemnat neființa noastră" (Longing for a victory that, had it existed, would have meant our non-existence).

The monument sits on the museum steps along Calea Victoriei, one of the city's main streets and easily reached on foot. You can view the sculpture freely from outside and use the expansive steps as a vantage point for observing the street and surrounding area.

Gorduz's widow, sculptor Silvia Radu, said he called the work "Longing for a victory which, had it existed, would have meant our non-existence". The Bucharest public nicknamed it "a monument to Romania's stray dogs", asking why the wolf levitates and wears a scarf while the emperor has no underwear.