HOUSE OF THE PEOPLE

House of the People in Bucharest, also known as the Palace of the Romanian Parliament is the second largest administrative building for civilian use in the world, after the US Pentagon. It is the heaviest building on Earth, made from 1.5 billion lb of steel and bronze for doors, capitals and windows, all of them monumental, 7,7 million lb of crystal glass for 480 chandeliers and more than 1,400 ceiling lights and mirrors and 35,3 million ft of marble. In the House of People in Bucharest, the parquet and wainscoting were made from 900,000 cubic meters of wood. There are also in the Romanian Parliament building, velvet and brocade curtains with embroideries in silver and gold. Only the floor area is 360,000 square meter and the underground parking is large enough for 20,000 cars.

UPDATE August 2021: NEW TARIFFS FOR VISITING PALACE OF PARLIAMENT!

BUCHAREST PALACE OF PARLIAMENT WORLD RECORD

That is no surprise. It is the World Record Academy. The House of the People measures 270 m by 240 m, 86 m high and 92 m under the ground. Total costs were estimated at 3.5 billions euros. Thus the Palace of Parliament in Bucharest is, according to World Record Academy, the most expensive administrative building in the world. It has 1,100 rooms, four underground levels and it was built by 200 architects and 20,000 people. They worked 27/7 since 1989 when Nicoale Ceausescu and his wife were executed during the Great Revolution that break down the Communist Party and the 50 years dictatorship. Ceausescu ruled for almost 25 and it is interesting to see where he lived and how his private life was. Read HERE!

ARCHITECT ANCA PETRESCU MADE PLANS FOR HOUSE OF PEOPLE

The House of the People was part of a gigantic project, called The Civic Center, a copy of Pyongyang city in North Korea. Nicolae Ceausescu decided to build this state within a state in 1978, after the 7.2 earthquake that devastated Bucharest on March, 4, 1977. The capital had to be rebuilt and the Civic Center was part of the plan. Ceausescu wanted The House of the People, or The House of the Republic, a new Minister of Defense, a new Museum of the Communist Party, a Guests House( now Marriott Hotel), a huge park near the House of the People( Izvor Park) and a boulevard called The Victory of Socialism Bd. ( actual The Unification Bd). A very young architect won the national contest with her plan for the Civic Center and House of People: Anca Petrescu, 28 years old. In 1982, soldiers and ordinary workers began to put down all the buildings in the area. 400,000 people had to find new homes, many of them committed suicide, 18 churches were destroyed, 8 synagogues had the same fate, a hospital and a stadium were also knocked down. One of the oldest churches in Bucharest, MIHAI VODA CHURCH was moved in this period. In June, 25, 1983, Nicolae Ceausescu and his wife, Elena Ceausescu, officially inaugurate the site were the House of the People was to rise on the so-called Arsenal Hill.

HOUSE OF PEOPLE IN BUCHAREST ARCHITECTURE

In late 1989 only a few rooms and the exterior were completed. That work continued until 1997. The House of the People is built in New-constructivist architectural style of the 1960s, inspired by the Stalinist model of Lomonosov University in Moscow. The square in front of the palace (today Constitution Square), where were to be brought in half a million people for various communist festivities, is inspired by the Pyongyang Central Square and Tiananmen Square in Beijing.
The building has housed the Romania’s Chamber of Deputies or the Parliament. The Senate joined them in 2005. This part of the Legislative Power had been housed by the former Communist Party Central Committee building in Revolution Square.

The Palace of Parliament housed the largest NATO summit ever. The meeting took place in the Union Hall, the largest room in the building and which features a sliding glass ceiling that could support the weight of a helicopter.
There are public tours organized in different languages. Reservations needed.

ROMANIAN PALACE OF PARLIAMENT MAP