People's House (Parliament Palace)

Starting from an older idea, the building of the Parliament Palace was built in the time of Nicolae Ceausescu in a period of great economic deprivation. The dictator's tendency was, on the one hand, to concentrate in a single building all the central organs of the state, and on the other hand, Ceausescu wanted a safe house from a seismic point of view, which would withstand a possible nuclear attack.

From an architectural point of view, the Parliament Palace is one of the most controversial buildings in Romania: Anca Petrescu1 identifies it with Buckingham Palace in London and Versailles Palace in France, and the architects of the time with "little Pyongyang", having an eclectic style, full of elements contradictory2.

The building, in Anca Petrescu's vision3, is divided into 3 main registers: the first register - the area of the main halls, galleries and cabinets; the second register - the office area; the third register - belvedere, with three rooms on each floor.

The building has an area of 365,000 square meters and occupies in the Book of Records the 1st place in the world in terms of administrative buildings (for civil use), respectively the 3rd place in the world in terms of volume; it is the heaviest and most expensive in the world4.

Other dimensions of the building: length - 270 m, width - 245 m, height - 84 m (above elevation 0), depth 16 m (below ground level), built-up area - 73,615 sqm.

The building was built with almost entirely Romanian materials, including: 1,000,000 cubic meters of marble, 550,000 tons of cement, 700,000 tons of steel, 2,000,000 tons of sand, 1,000 tons of basalt, 900,000 cubic meters of wood essences , 3,500 tons of crystal, 200,000 cubic meters of glass, 2,800 chandeliers, 220,000 sqm of carpets, 3,500 sqm of leather.

The entire construction is the result of the effort of over 100,000 people, with almost 20,000 workers working in three shifts 24 hours a day, during peak periods. Also, between 1984 and 1990, 12,000 soldiers participated in the construction.

Following the urbanization campaign, shortly after the earthquake of 19775, and the friendship with Kim Ir Sen, the North Korean leader, Ceausescu initiated the plan to build a new political-administrative center, on the Uranus hill area, the high part of the Dâmboviţa ridge. confirmed by specialists as safe for the construction of monumental buildings.

Starting with 1980, an area representing the fifth part of Bucharest (4.5 km long and 2 km wide) was demolished, an area equivalent to several boroughs of Paris or to the area of Venice6.

Although the initial project had 80,000 sq m, the People's House had an area 5 times larger.

20 churches were destroyed, 8 were relocated, 10,000 homes were demolished, and more than 57,000 families were evacuated. The following were demolished: Văcăreşti Monastery, the sacred Hill for the history of Bucharest from Mihai Vodă, Brâncovenesc Hospital, the first medico-legal institute in the world, Union Hall, Operetta from Senate Square, Army Arsenal and Central Military Museum.

Because the Ceausescus did not understand the architectural plans, models were built of polystyrene on a scale of 1/1000 of the whole of Bucharest, with streets, squares, blocks of flats, houses and monuments, rendered in relief and with certain details. Over this model, there was a crane, on which the Ceausescus walked and gave directions. The layout was modified after each visit of the two (almost weekly) 7.

At the time of the 1989 Revolution, 60% of the building was completed. Work continued between 1992 and 1996, but at a slower pace.

In 1993, by a Decision of the Chamber of Deputies8 it was established to move the activity of the Chamber from the Patriarchate Palace to the House of the Republic. One year later, on May 6, 1994, by another Decision of the Chamber of Deputies, the International Conference Center was established in this building.

In 2004, on the occasion of the 140th anniversary of the establishment of the First Senate of Romania and of the establishment of the bicameral system in our country, the new Plenary Hall was inaugurated.

27 years after the Revolution, the building that wanted a construction that glorified socialism, communism and totalitarianism is today a symbol of democracy through the institutions it hosts (Chamber of Deputies, Senate, Legislative Council, Constitutional Court).