Bucharest Ceausescu Palace. Palaces, peacocks and golden baths of dictator Ceausescu

04.02.2016

Bucharest. Palace of the Romanian Parliament

This building is a famous architectural structure and a beautiful capital city. Palace of Parliament(Palatul Parlamentului) is the result of the efforts of more than 20,000 people who worked 24 hours in three shifts a day for several years, and at peak periods, in addition, 12,000 soldiers were involved in construction work. The result was a building with an area of ​​365,000 m², which ranks 1st in the Guinness Book of Records as the largest administrative building for civil use and the third largest in the world in terms of internal volume (2,550,000 m³); it is the heaviest administrative complex in the world.

The construction of the Palace of Parliament began during the existence of the Socialist Republic of Romania in Romania on June 25, 1984, and the construction was mostly completed by 1989, but to this day some deficiencies remain in the palace.

After the 1975 earthquake, Nicolae Ceausescu initiated a plan to build a new political and administrative center in the area of ​​Spirius Hill, which was recognized by experts as seismically safe for the construction of monumental buildings. The dictator's tendency was, on the one hand, to concentrate all the main government bodies in one building, and on the other hand, to create safe place for the work of the administrative apparatus and the political elite, which could withstand even a nuclear strike.


Total area of ​​buildings that have been demolished since 1980 to build People's House, as it was then called, is the equivalent of a fifth of Bucharest (4.5 km long and 2 km wide), corresponding to several districts of Paris. Many residential buildings were destroyed at the construction site, and hundreds of families were evicted.

Although the area of ​​the original building design was 80,000 m², the People's House was built with an area almost 5 times larger. Since Ceausescu could not understand the architectural plans, a model of the entire city of Bucharest, including streets, squares, houses and monuments, was made 1000 times smaller. The model dictator gave instructions on how to carry out the work. Almost every week, after Ceausescu’s visit to the construction site, the model changed.

When the 1989 revolution began in Romania, the building was almost completed. But construction work was carried out later, but at a much slower pace. In 2004, on the occasion of the 140th anniversary of the creation of the first chamber of the Romanian Senate and the beginning of the bicameral system of the Romanian Parliament, the new Plenary Hall was officially opened. Now the building houses public institutions: the Chamber of Deputies, the Senate, the Legislative Council and the Constitutional Court of Romania.

Dimensions and appearance the buildings amaze the imagination of any tourist. The height of the palace reaches 86 meters, and its underground part goes 92 meters deep. The dimensions of the palace are 270 by 240 m. The building consists of 12 floors and 1100 rooms. A lot of marble, crystal, bronze and precious wood were used in the construction of the building. There are various tours throughout the Palace, during which you can stroll through the massive staircases and huge marble halls.






Official website of the Palace of Parliament (in Romanian)

http://cic.cdep.ro/

Strada Izvor 2-4, Bucureşti. Coordinates: 44.427280, 26.092400, Nearest metro stations:

Piaţa Unirii, lines M1, M2 and M3, and Izvor, lines M1 and M2.

Work schedule.

Every day from 10:00 to 16:00 (last tour at 15:30)

Ticket prices.

Adults: overview of the palace - 25 lei (€ 5.60), climb to the observation terrace - 15 lei (€ 3.50), dungeon - 10 lei (€ 2.50)

Students (18-26 years old): overview of the palace - 13 lei (€ 3.00), ascent to the observation terrace - 8 lei (€ 2.00), dungeon - 5 lei (€ 1.20)

Children under 7 years old and students under 18 years old (with a student card) - free;

The cost of photo or video shooting is 30 lei (€ 7.00)

While in Bucharest, I had the opportunity to visit the most monumental of palaces. This is truly one of the most grandiose buildings in the world.

2. The palace has dimensions of 280 x 220 meters and 13 floors in the highest part. Initially, the building was crowned with a spire. And all this carries the power and pathos of the palaces of European monarchs, significantly surpassing them in scale, but not inferior in beauty.

3. In the evening the palace lights up, but the lights turn on much later than the city lighting, at 10 p.m.

4. Let's go inside. Small hall. The size is comparable to our Verkhovna Rada. The diameter of the dome is more than 30 m.

5. Of particular interest is the chandelier, inside of which there are special passages for replacing light bulbs.

6. One of the corridors of the 1st floor. Nowadays exhibitions are held here. The interior resembles the Palace of the Soviets.

7. Another corridor. The abundance of scenery is amazing. More than 13 thousand carloads of marble were spent on finishing work. I don’t know the total cost of construction, but I suspect that these are fantastic figures.

8. Initially, the palace was conceived as the Palace of the People. Ministries, the Supreme Council, concert hall, the government house and also the residence of Ceausescu. Therefore, it is incorrect to generalize this building to a personal residence. Nowadays the Parliament building is located here.

9. During the overthrow of Ceausescu, the palace was fortunately 97% ready, so it was much more fortunate than the Radio House, the National Library and some other monumental buildings that were destroyed and mutilated 20 years later.

10. Some of the halls are designed in the style medieval castles Romanian kings. Although Ceausescu was a communist, he liked to associate himself with kings. The closest he came to achieving this was when the British Queen Elizabeth II gave him a ride around London in her carriage - unprecedented generosity. You will go to great lengths for political gain.

11. Another room. Ceausescu did not recognize air conditioning, so all ventilation in the palace is natural.

12. Marble is the most different colors and shades.

13. Foyer on the second floor.

14. Chandelier and ceiling lighting.

15. The beauty of the staircase is not inferior to the palaces of European monarchs. The height of each step is exactly 15 cm; this was one of the requirements of the customer, who sometimes came to the construction site several times a day throughout the 7 years of construction.

16. And above us there is a rosette and a glass roof.

17. From the foyer you can get into another room, where you can see ventilation grilles in the ceiling.

19. View from the balcony. A multi-kilometer green avenue with new buildings was built on the site of old city blocks.

20. One of the courtyards.

21. Another hall in the castle style, there is a round negotiation table. Translator booths are visible on the left.

22. Another hall, like a transition between halls.

23. During all this time we visited only 7% of the palace area. The Great Hall of Parliament is not visited by tourists, which is a pity. It's huge. In addition, the palace has a huge amount of unused space. After all, in addition to the above-ground floors, there are at least 3 underground ones. And this entire incredible area (let me remind you, the dimensions of the palace are 220 by 280 meters) is empty.

24. The largest hall of the palace (not counting the meeting rooms). According to rumors, at one end of the hall there was supposed to be a portrait of Ceausescu from floor to ceiling, but opinions differ about the opposite wall. Some say that his wife Elena should have been there, while others say that there should have been a mirror there.

25. The hall is covered with a glass roof.

26. But that's not all. We get out to the high-altitude part. The elevators in the building are equipped with concierges - elevator operators, each of whom has a desk, chair and telephone. And all this inside a very spacious elevator.

27. Roof of the 10th floor. Below you can see the glass roofs of various halls and foyers.

28. Some kind of colonnades on the infinity of the roof of this building.

29. View from the north wing to the south.

30. Front view of Unirii Boulevard. All the buildings along the contours of the boulevards were built under Ceausescu as part of his grandiose plan to rebuild the city. Particularly evil rumors say that before construction he demanded the construction of life-size models of all buildings.

31. Across the river on the right is the mutilated building of the national library.

She used to look like this. But someone really didn't like the classic 1989 façade.

32. The concept of rebuilding Bucharest appeared after the 1977 earthquake, when many buildings were declared unsafe and demolished. In addition to the demolition of truly unsafe houses, space was cleared for new avenues and the People's Palace. Churches were lifted with jacks and moved into the courtyards of future houses. We see the domes of one of them in the photo.

33. In total, Bucharest has lost a quarter of its historical buildings. A lot of space has been cleared around the palace to create perspective. And there are still many vacant lots around the palace, some of which have been replaced by parks.

34. The roof of the palace is wonderful observation deck. In addition to the height of 10 floors, and, as we have seen, not simple, but very high, the palace itself stands on an artificial hill.

35. View of the cable-stayed bridge.

Original taken from

Do you know what is the largest building in the world after the Pentagon? This is the Palace of Parliament in Bucharest. Today it is the main attraction of Romania. In the past, it was a symbol of despotism and oppression, hated by the inhabitants of the country. Why didn’t you like this magnificent architectural structure? What place does it occupy in the life of the city and country? modern Palace Parliament?

His place is ruins and tears...

The decision to build the palace was made in 1980. The bright idea of ​​​​erecting a government district - a symbol of the communist regime - belonged to the Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu. It was planned to build not only the palace building, but also other government institutions, from the Ministry of Defense to a hotel. According to Ceausescu's ambitious plan, the "Civic Center" (the name given by communist propaganda) was supposed to symbolize his unlimited power.

Construction began in 1983. To make room for work, it was necessary to destroy the old part of the city, destroy several churches and architectural monuments, and resettle more than 40 thousand people. In addition, only Romanian materials were suitable for the palace. So Ceausescu decided to prove the self-sufficiency and power of the country.

Such a global construction project could not but affect the economic situation of Romania, where people lacked food. More than four hundred architects and twenty thousand workers worked at the construction site, among whom were mainly conscript soldiers and military builders. The construction of the palace cost the Romanians several hundred lives.

By the time of Ceausescu's overthrow and execution (1989), the Palace of Parliament had not yet been completed. They even wanted to demolish the symbol of the hated system. But they decided to continue construction. And although even today the work is not 100% completed, the Palace of Parliament is open to visitors.

Why was the Palace of Parliament included in the Guinness Book of Records?

Today, the palace building houses the seat of the Romanian Parliament, branches of several universities, the Constitutional Court, the Museum of Modern Art, restaurants and libraries. The area of ​​this landmark in Bucharest is 330,000 m2. The length of the main facade is 270 m. There are two courtyards, 12 floors above ground, 8 floors underground. It will take several days to walk through all the rooms. The appearance of the palace is a typical example of the communist worldview. The goal is to suppress everyone around you. It is for these oppressive dimensions that the Palace of Parliament is included in the Guinness Book of Records.

Beautiful city and beautiful architecture- this is all about the capital of Romania, the city Bucharest . Bucharest was once deservedly called “little Paris”. Today the city is a mixture of old and modern. Bucharest has a lot to see in terms of attractions. One of the attractions of Bucharest is the unique palace built by Romanian President Nicolae Ceausescu in 1965.

The largest building in Europe is located right there in Bucharest, and is called “Palace of the People” (“Casa Poporului” ). This building is second in size only Pentagon and has 1100 rooms. Under number one there was the office of the leader himself, and under number two - his wife Elena. At that time she was the head of the Romanian Academy of Sciences.

On the same scale, the Ceausescu couple built their own residence on Vesna Street ( Primaverii Blvd.) and named "Palace of Spring" - "Palatul Primavarii".

In 2014, the Romanian government attempted to sell this beautiful structure, but it did not work out. And today, for the first time in many years, this palace is open to visitors. After the execution of the presidential couple in 1989, the palace was closed for more than 26 years and was not used in any way during all these years.

The interior of the rooms has been preserved in its original form. Now there is a palace with 80 rooms, land plot 14000 sq.m., included in tourist routes Romania. Guests of the Romanian capital are shown luxuriously furnished apartments, bathrooms with golden taps, a cinema, a swimming pool, a wine cellar and a greenhouse with peacocks. By paying about 10 euros you can explore this beautiful and very famous palace.

The owner of the palace was famous for his love for everything peasant and throughout the palace there are paintings and carpets with scenes from the life of the peasants of Romania. Nicolae Ceausescu himself was the ninth son in a large peasant family.

Being friends with the leaders of many countries, he, of course, received many interesting gifts, most of them are stored here. Ceausescu did not like to spend currency outside the country, so all the beauty was made from local materials and by local craftsmen. Valuable tree species from the local Carpathians were used to decorate the walls with wooden carved panels.

Also, everything that glitters like gold throughout the palace is not real gold, which so excited the minds of those times.

The interiors of many rooms are said to have been designed by Elena Ceausescu herself. Many are clearly inspired by the East, which the couple often visited.

Descendants of Ceausescu’s favorite peacocks still roam around the palace. He bred them into large quantities not only in the garden, but also on the walls of your residence.

His wife Elena loved collecting expensive porcelain figurines of people and scenes from their lives. You can see a lot of them in all the rooms. It is curious that Elena Ceausescu's clothes and shoes are still preserved here. You can see the style and fabrics of those times.

Everything in the palace was equipped with the latest technology at that time: water massage, underwater massage, sauna and other devices to maintain the shape and health of the leader of the nation. For Bucharest in those years, all this was new.

All the decoration of this work of art was made as much as possible from local materials and by Romanian enterprises and craftsmen. The exception was the mosaic brought to Bucharest from abroad.

It is worth visiting this beauty and evidence of an entire era. Who knows how long this palace will be available to tourists, and whether there will be a buyer for it.

Photos courtesy of Sevastian Ilasco.

The palace is considered the world's largest civil administrative building, the largest parliament building, and also the heaviest administrative building in the world. The dimensions of the palace are 270 by 240 m. Height is 86 m. The underground part of the palace goes 92 m deep. The palace has 1100 rooms and 12 floors.

Let's find out more about it...

Photo 2.

The reign of Nicolae Ceausescu left a deep imprint on the architecture of the city of Bucharest. Of course, one of his controversial projects is the Palace of Parliament, a gigantic creation of the former dictator of Romania.

It is alleged that during the reign of Nicolae Ceausescu, the capital of Romania, Bucharest, changed its appearance by 30-35% and, unfortunately, not always for the better. The construction of the Palace of Parliament is part of an extensive urbanization program approved by the Romanian Communist Party and started in 1976.

They say that the idea for this project came from Ceausescu after his visit to North Korea and a visit to the capital Pyongyang. The large-scale communist buildings of Pyongyang probably impressed the dictator and he decided to build something similar in Bucharest. In 1977, there was a strong earthquake in the city of Bucharest, from which many buildings, including administrative ones, were damaged. This event also served as the reason for the start of a new megalomaniac construction plan new city center.

Photo 3.

Called at that time the House of the People, and today sometimes called the Ceausescu Palace, it was conceived as the core of the new city center of Bucharest, the so-called “Civic Center”.

Around the building of the Palace of Parliament there are huge buildings of the Academy of Sciences, the Ministry of Defense of Romania, the Guest House - the current Marriott Hotel and other ministries.

And in front of the main entrance of the palace, there is a large square, the current Square of Constitutions (Piata Constitutiei), from where the long (3 km) and wide (90 meters) Boulevard of Unification begins, which during Ceausescu’s time was called “Victory of Socialism.”

In Romania, it is jokingly called the “Romanian Champs Elysees”. There is an anecdote regarding Ceausescu's megalomania that supposedly the dictator ordered his engineers and architects to build a large boulevard in front of the building, maybe in beauty it would be similar to the Champs Elysees, but most importantly, it should be wider than the Champs Elysees!

Photo 4.

Along this long artery, the “Genius of the Carpathians” ordered the construction of the Palace of Culture, the Tribunal, the National Library, the Palace of Pioneers and Falcons of the Motherland :) and many residential high-rise buildings, high-rise buildings with a North Korean accent. A lot!
And in the center of the boulevard are fountains, symbols of the counties of Romania, the most big fountain– on the Union Square (Piata Unirea), symbolizing the capital, Bucharest.

On the site of this new microdistrict, there used to be ancient elegant quarters, medieval buildings, mansions, churches, valuable for their architectural styles. With sadness, we can mention some destroyed architectural masterpieces: the New Princely Court, the Palace with Archives, the Mihai Voda Monastery of 1589, the Alba Postavari Church 1564, Military Museum and Army Theater, Church of St. Friday 1645, Brancoveanu Hospital 1837, Hospital and Monastery of Pantelimon 1750. One of the main and valuable monuments, barbarically destroyed is the Vacaresti Monastery (early 18th century), which many considered the personification of the Romanian medieval art, without exaggeration, one of the most beautiful monuments Orthodox world.

Photo 5.

The area of ​​the entire destroyed and rebuilt territory is equal to the city of Venice! In such a sad way, Bucharest gradually lost the title of “Little Paris” and changed its face. What fires, earthquakes and wars did not do, the leaders of that era did. And unfortunately, all this is irrevocable!

The Palace of the Parliament of the city of Bucharest was built on the highest and most earthquake-resistant place in the city of Bucharest, Spira Hill or Arsenal Hill, as it was previously called because of the military barracks located on this hill. The maximum height of the hill before construction was 18 meters, but from the side of Constitution Square the hill is artificially elevated.

Photo 6.

The Palace of Parliament Bucharest is the second largest administrative building in the world, after the Pentagon. The building is also noted in the Guinness Book of Records as one of the most expensive administrative buildings in the world; in 2006, the cost of the building was estimated at 3 billion euros. The entire area of ​​the Palace of Parliament occupies 330 thousand square meters and the volume is 2.5 million cubic meters, 2% more than the Cheops pyramid in Egypt.
The length of the main facade of the building is 270 meters, the side side is 240 meters. The height of the building, from the foundation to the top, is 178 meters, of which 86 meters above ground level and 92 meters underground. The built-up area above ground level is 66 thousand square meters.

Photo 7.

To build the building they used:
1,000,000 cubic meters of marble
5,500 tons of cement
7,000 tons of steel
20,000 tons of sand
1.000 tons of sand
900,000 cubic meters of wood
3,500 tons of crystal
200,000 cubic meters of glass
2,800 candelabra
220,000 square meters of carpets
3.500 square meters of leather

Photo 8.

By order of Ceausescu, all building materials were only from Romania, engineers and architects were Romanians. Allegedly, the dictator wanted to show the whole world what Romania has Natural resources and that Romania is capable of carrying out even such gigantic projects.
About 300 architects and about 30 thousand workers worked on the construction of the building, 24 hours, changing in 3 shifts. All work was supervised by the chief architect of the building, a young girl, Anca Petrescu. She was 28 years old when work officially began.

According to the stories of other architects, the fact that Anca Petrescu was an obedient, modest girl from a simple peasant family, pleased Nicholas and Elena Ceausescu, who did not like intellectuals and self-confident scientists and architects, although Elena Ceausescu herself was the so-called “luminary of science” and headed the Academy Sci. Anca Petrescu tried in every possible way to please the dictator, some even began to say that she was a young relative of Elena Ceausescu (Elena’s maiden name was also Petrescu) and in the end it was she who was entrusted with such an important project, although initially, according to the plan, other architects were supposed to lead.

Photo 9.

The ceremonial ceremony of laying the first foundation stone took place on June 25, 1984, but work actually began already in 1980, when about 40 thousand residents were forcibly overpowered and the neighborhoods where they previously lived were razed to the ground to make way for the Palace of Parliament.

Until 1989 (the year when the revolution against Ceausescu took place) more than 3 billion Romanian lei were spent! And this was at a time when, thanks to the ill-considered economic policy and the policy of repaying the state's external debts, the standard of living of the inhabitants of Romania dropped to its lowest point. The Palace of Parliament was built mostly military, soldiers of the Romanian army. The exact number of deaths during heavy and high-risk construction work is still unknown.

Photo 10.

The work is not 100% finished even now. Before the Revolutions, the interior decoration was completed only in a few halls; in general, the construction and interior decoration of most rooms was completed after the overthrow of the Ceausescu dictatorship.

If you look vertically, you can discern that the building is divided into three registers and looks like a pyramid but with a flat top. There are 12 floors above ground level, and 4 more underground.

The building has about 1000 rooms, of which 440 are offices, 30 halls for conferences and receptions, 4 restaurants, 3 libraries, 2 underground parking lots, a concert hall, and other service premises. The palace has 2 courtyards.
The names of the halls were chosen after 1989, most are named after famous Romanian personalities.

Photo 11.

The building houses the Romanian Parliament, there is a large meeting room for the Deputies' Room, as well as the Senate Hall.
The Museum of Contemporary Art is also open to visitors in the Palace of Parliament.

Every year, international or national conferences, seminars, congresses, exhibitions, and negotiations are also held in the halls of the palace. The halls are rented out for numerous events.

The Palace of the Bucharest Parliament is often included in tourist routes; several halls are visited by tourists. Particularly impressive are the Unification Hall, the Hall of Human Rights, the Main Entrance and the Main Gallery. Tourists have the opportunity to go out onto the balcony of the Cuza Protocol Hall from where an interesting panorama of the Constitution Square and the “Romanian Champs Elysees” opens. Fields" Boulevard Uniriy (Associations).

Photo 12.

Front Gallery

This is a long corridor, 150 meters, with a width of 18 meters. Divided into three parts by sliding oak doors with crystal. The ceiling is covered with gypsum plaster with colored ornaments in the Romanian Brancovan style.
The central floor, in front of the official entrance, consists of 4 types of Romanian marble: white, beige, red and black, from the area of ​​Rusca or Moneasa. The vaults of the Front Gallery are supported by 34 octagonal columns, 17 on each side, made of white marble, with decorative ornaments.

The gallery is illuminated by natural light, 14 windows and 67 crystal candelabra. This gallery intersects with the main Official Entrance, from one of the largest squares in the city of Bucharest, Unirea Square (Piata Unirea).
Here you will also see 2 monumental staircases that lead to the Senate Hall and the Cuza Hall. Each staircase has a window with a height of 16 meters, which are covered with curtains. The weight of each curtain is 250 kg! The height of the steps is 14-16 cm, made specifically for the height of Nicholas and Elena Ceausescu, so that they do not get tired when walking up the stairs.

Photo 13.

It is named in honor of the Prince of Wallachia and Moldova, Alexandru Cuza. This hall was to be called: the Romania hall and was intended for protocols, for negotiations and the signing of agreements at the highest level, between countries. The height of the hall is 20 meters. It is the second largest hall with an area of ​​2040 square meters.

Photo 14.

Unira Hall

Intended for balls and banquets. Height 15 meters, area about 2000 sq. m.
The carpet in this hall weighs 3 tons, 1100 square meters and covers the central part of the hall, under the ceiling. The ceiling patterns are reflected on the carpet. There is a very strong echo in the hall.

Photo 15.

Rosseti Hall

Here is the largest candelabra (chandelier?), which contains 5 tons of crystal!

Photo 16.

Hall of Human Rights

It was intended as a meeting room for the Central Committee of the Communist Parties of Romania. The interior decoration was completed before 1989. In the center of the hall there is a large round table with original chairs for members of the Committee. The Ceausescu chair was in the stages of production at the time of the Revolutions. The beauty of the second heaviest candelabra, 3 tons of crystal, is impressive. The candelabra model is reflected on the carpet.

Photo 17.

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