Palace of the Parliament

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Palace of the Parliament Palatul Parlamentului
The Palace of the Parliament at dusk
Building information
Town	Bucharest
Country	Romania
Architect	Anca Petrescu (chief architect)
Construction start date	1983
Style	none (a combination of many different styles)
Size	270 m by 240 m, 86 m high 92 m under ground 1,100 rooms 12 stories tall with four additional underground levels currently available and in use (another four in different stages of completion)

The Palace of the Parliament (Romanian: Palatul Parlamentului) is the home of the Romanian Parliament in Bucharest, Romania. It currently holds three records homologated by the Guinness Book of World Records: for the largest civilian administrative building, the heaviest building and the most expensive administrative building in the world.^[1]

It was designed and almost finished by the Ceauşescu regime as the seat of political and administrative power. Its initial official name was House of the Republic (Casa Republicii), given on June 25, 1984 by Nicolae Ceauşescu, but it was best known as People's House (Casa Poporului),^[2] a name still used by many Romanians. After the Romanian Revolution of 1989 the (comparatively) little work^{[citation needed]} that remained to be done advanced slowly, so that some parts of the building are still unfinished. However, the building already hosts (among others) both chambers of the Romanian Parliament.

[edit] Description

The structure combines elements and motifs from multiple sources, in an eclectic neoclassical architectural style.

It measures 270 m by 240 m, 86 m high, and 92 m under ground. It has 1,100 rooms and is 12 stories tall, with four additional underground levels currently available and in use, with another four in different stages of completion.

The building is constructed entirely of materials of Romanian origin. Estimates of the materials used include one million cubic meters of marble from Transylvania, most from Ruşchiţa; 3,500 tonnes of crystal - 480 chandeliers, 1,409 ceiling lights and mirrors were manufactured; 700,000 tonnes of steel and bronze for monumental doors and windows, chandeliers and capitals; 900,000 m³ of wood (over 95% domestic) for parquet and wainscotting, including walnut, oak, sweet cherry, elm, sycamore maple; 200,000 m² of woolen carpets of various dimensions (machines had to be moved inside the building to weave some of the larger carpets); velvet and brocade curtains adorned with embroideries and passementeries in silver and gold.^[3]

Constructing the Palace and Centrul Civic required demolishing much of Bucharest's historic districts, including two neighborhoods with 19 Orthodox Christian churches, 6 synagogues and Jewish temples, 3 Protestant churches (plus eight relocated churches), and 30,000 homes.^{[citation needed]}

The grand hall, the large space in the wall was intended to host a large painting of Ceauşescu but was never brought in due to the Revolution.

[edit] Construction

Built on the site of a hill variously known as Spirii Hill, Uranus Hill, or Arsenal Hill, which was largely razed for the project, the building anchors the west end of Unirii Boulevard and Centrul Civic. Construction began in 1983; the cornerstone was laid on June 25, 1984. The building was originally known mainly as the House of the People (Casa Poporului), and sometimes as House of the Republic (Casa Republicii), and was intended to serve as headquarters for all four major state institutions (similar to what the Houses of Parliament operated like): Presedintia Republicii (the Presidency of the Republic), Marea Adunare Nationalã (The Great National Assembly, the parliament), Consiliul de Ministri (the Government) and Tribunalul Suprem (The Supreme Court) ; this is why the building is of rectangular shape. The project was just nearing completion at the time of Nicolae Ceauşescu's 1989 overthrow and execution. The building's structure and design was complete but many of the furnishings were never brought in. The last three basement levels and a large clock tower (that would have displayed the official Romanian time) were never finished. During the regime change, the new leaders of Romania referred to the building as the House of Ceauşescu, using it as an example of the excessive luxury in which Ceauşescu would have been living, a stark contrast to the squalor and poverty endured by many people living in the surrounding neighbourhoods.

[edit] History since 1989

Since 1997, the building has housed Romania's Chamber of Deputies, which had previously been housed in the Palace of the Patriarchy; the Romanian Senate joined them there in 2005, having previously been housed in the former Communist Party Central Committee building. The Palace also contains a massive array of miscellaneous conference halls, salons, etc., used for a wide variety of other purposes.

In 2002, Costa Gavras shot scenes of Amen. in the Palace to represent the Vatican palaces.

In 2003-2004 a glass annex was built^{[citation needed]}, alongside external elevators. This was done to facilitate access to the National Museum of Contemporary Art (MNAC) opened in 2004 inside the west wing of the Palace of the Parliament, and to the Museum and Park of Totalitarianism and Socialist Realism, also opened in 2004.

The cafeteria for use of the legislators has been refurbished. Also in the building is the headquarters of the Southeast European Cooperative Initiative (SECI), an organization focused on regional cooperation among governments against cross-border crime.

Parts of the building (some of the west wing, some of the east wing, parts of the second floor, basement 3 and everything below) are yet to be completed. Currently, a new underground car-park is being built inside a former stadium, currently used as a warehouse, which was covered during the construction of the palace. Tunnels linking 13 Septembrie Avenue with the basement of the building will be built.

There are public tours organized in a number of languages.

In 2008, the Palace hosted the 20th NATO summit.

[edit] Picture gallery

Palace of the Parliament	Night view of the Palace of the Parliament	Night view from the Union Boulevard	Palace from Union Boulevard
Inside the palace	Inside the palace	Inside the palace	Inside the palace
Inside the palace	Stairs	View from the building towards the Union Boulevard	The Palace of the Parliament from above
		During the construction in 1986

[edit] References

• Romanian Chamber of Deputies page about the Palace
• Cristina Hanganu-Bresch, People's House - The Building and Rebuilding of Romanian National Consciousness (PDF)
• http://www.helium.com/tm/495758/adolf-hitler-josef-stalinthe

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Palace of the Parliament

• Photo gallery on the Chamber of Deputies website
• Photo collection - numerous photos of various parts of Romania, including an extensive set with the Palace of the Parliament. Captioned in a mix of Japanese and Romanian people.
• The Palace on satellite photo from Google Maps

Coordinates: 44°25′39″N, 26°5′15″E

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