The Heroes' Cross on Mount Mic is a monument erected in 1936 and rebuilt in 2001-2004 to commemorate the Banat heroes who fell in World War I.[2] The cross, at an altitude of 1,670 metres, is currently made of rolled steel and has a height of 27 metres. Due to its size and height, in 2018 it ranks second in Romania after the Heroes' Cross on Mount Caraiman.[3] Access to the plateau on which it was erected is from the village of Borlova, Turnu Ruieni commune, by the road that winds through the fir forests for about fifteen kilometres.[3]
The original cross from 1936 was located exactly in the same place,[4] it was 25 metres high and consisted of eight fir trunks, each grouped in pairs.[3] The fir trunks were selected from the forest on Muntele Mic and transported to the construction site with the help of horses. The axis of the old cross was fixed in a metal platform embedded in the rock.[4] The cross was equipped with a siren and four projectors powered by a micro-hydroelectric power plant.[4] In the moments when the sky was clear, the cross was visible from Timișoara at night, but above all from the dome under the cross of the cathedral.[4]
Due to the erosion of the wooden structure due to natural causes, the old cross has deteriorated considerably, so on the initiative of the engineer Cristian Mățu and the professor Cornel Hamat from Timișoara, under the supervision of the Mitropolia Banatului and Laurentiu Streza, Bishop of Caransebeș, it was replaced by another new one. The newly erected steel cross was consecrated on September 14, 2004.[3]
Since 2006, the local community has organized pilgrimages to this monument every year on the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross on September 14. Over time, the Hero's Cross on the Small Mountain became the symbol of the Banat Mountains.[3]