Michael the Brave (1558–1601) was the ruler of Wallachia from the Basarab princely dynasty, a military leader who made the first attempt to create a unified Romanian state by bringing the three Danubian principalities — Wallachia, Transylvania, and Moldova — under his rule. After liberating Wallachia from the Turks and allying with the Habsburgs, in 1599 Michael invaded Transylvania, achieved victory, and became the Prince of Transylvania, soon after also taking control of Moldova. For a brief period, he was titled "ruler of Wallachia, Transylvania, and all Moldavian lands." However, within months, Michael's forces suffered a crushing defeat from the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The voivode was expelled from Moldova and Wallachia, and his representatives were later driven out of Transylvania. After losing power, Michael traveled to Vienna to seek help from the emperor, and with the support of imperial troops, he regained control of Wallachia. However, imperial general Giorgio Basta later accused Michael of conspiring with the Turks and organized a plot against him. According to eyewitnesses, Basta ordered his soldiers to surround Michael's tent, capture him alive, or kill him. Michael defended himself desperately, injuring one of the attackers with his sword, but another struck him in the stomach with a spear, knocking him to the ground, and then beheaded him. Michael's body was left on the plain next to his dead horse for all the soldiers to see that their leader had perished. Later, an obelisk was erected on the site. Michael's head was stolen by his supporters, taken to Wallachia, and placed in Dealu Monastery. Since then, it has been kept there alongside the skull of another great voivode — Radu the Great. Centuries later, Michael the Brave was recognized by Romanians as a national hero. In 1847, during restoration work at the church, the graves of Michael the Brave and Radu the Great were opened, and the skulls of the two voivodes were placed in glass cases for public viewing. During World War I, Michael's skull was taken out of the church and even made its way to Russia, but in November 1918, it was returned to the monastery, where it remains to this day in a sealed marble sarcophagus. In 2016, a project was launched to reconstruct the voivode's appearance. Specialists were provided with research materials from a 1920 study conducted by anthropologist Francisc Rainer, who had measured the skull and taken several photographs. Scientists attempted to obtain Michael's skull for 3D scanning, but the monastery refused to provide the relic. Additionally, an attempt to invite foreign specialists failed: for just the first stage of the work, they requested 90,000 euros, a sum the enthusiasts could not afford. As a result, the project was undertaken by young Romanian anthropologist and sculptor Radu Panait. Using photographs and documents, he created a copy of the skull and then reconstructed the voivode's appearance based on it. Latex was used to model the skin, human hair was used to recreate the hairstyle, and yak wool was used to make the beard. The portrait was completed with princely garments — a kaftan, a cloak with a hood, and a hat adorned with pheasant feathers. The reconstructor studied the voivode's lifetime portraits. Four are known, but they differ from each other, and it's unclear which best represents the military leader's true appearance. In 2021, 422 years after Michael the Brave was beheaded, his sculptural portrait was exhibited at the Suțu Museum in Bucharest.