Claiming superlative as the world's second-largest building by surface area (after the sneakily spacious US Pentagon), The People's House - now the Palace of Parliament - is one of Romania's biggest tourist attractions in Bucharest.
Meant to be the crowning achievement of 'Centrul Civic' or 'Civic Centre' - Communist leader Nicolae Ceausescu's ambitious urban development plan - the Palace of Parliament represents one of the most extravagant and expensive building projects in the history of mankind;
Ceausescu conceived the palace as a great legacy for his Golden Epoch. It was meant to last forever; it is indestructible and was built to resist a nuclear attack.
The Palace measures 270 m by 240 m; 86 m high and 92 m below ground level. Astonishing - a building which is taller underneath the ground, we’re talking about 12 floors above level zero, and about eight, underneath (plus foundation and parking lots).
Some bewildering statistics:...- 1,100 rooms
- 3,500 tonnes of crystal
- 700,000 tonnes of steel and bronze
- 200,000 m² of woolen carpets (the largest one weights about 4 tonnes and has 600m²)
- 1,000.000 cubic meters of marble
- 5,500 tonnes of cement
- 7,000 tonnes of steel
- 20,000 tonnes of sand
- 1,000 tonnes of basalt
Address: Palatul Parlamentului, 2-4 Izvor, sect.5, Bucureşti
