Architecture Instant Love
0 Comments Published by Cedric Benetti on Tuesday, July 17, 2007 at 7/17/2007 04:25:00 PM.
Palace of the Parliament, Bucharest, Romania
1984
Anca Petrescu +700 other architects
Anca Petrescu +700 other architects
This is one of the buildings that has fascinated and followed me for at least the last 7 years, doing research and finding pictures of it.
Intended to serve as headquarters for all the major state institutions. However, the project was just nearing completion at the time of Nicolae Ceauşescu's 1989 overthrow and execution. During the 1989 regime change, its leaders refered to the building as the House of Ceauşescu, using it as an example of the excessive luxury in which Ceauşescu would have been living.One of the world's largest buildings. Its original name was the House of the People (Casa Poporului), but it was renamed in the post-Communist era during the 1989 Revolution with the derogatory name of "House of Ceauşescu" and then as the "Palace of the Parliament".
"The combination of cultural and aesthetic illiteracy, rigid Marxist-Leninist orthodoxy and an innate taste for gigantism was… devastating "for the architecture of the edifice. (Edward Behr)
The palace has 1100 rooms and is 12 stories tall, with 4 additional underground levels currently available and in use, with another 4 in different stages of completion. Estimates of the materials used include one million cubic meters of marble from Transylvania, 3500 metric tons of crystal - 480 chandeliers, 1409 ceiling lights and mirrors were manufactured; 700000 tons of steel and bronze for monumental doors and windows, chandeliers and capitals; 900000 cubic meters of wood for parquet and wainscotting; 200000 square meters 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.
1 out of 480 chandeliers
It is the second largest administrative building in the world by surface area of its floors (with a floor area of 350000 m²), just behind the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. It is 10% larger by volume than the Great Pyramid of Giza.The building is constructed entirely of materials of Romanian origin; it is reported that during the latter years of construction, this building and Centrul Civic created such a massive demand for Romanian marble that tombstones throughout the country had to be made from other materials.
Effectively, the building, due to its immense size, cuts the city into two—an urban planner's nightmare. Constructing the Palace and Centrul Civic required demolishing about one-fifth of the historic districts of Bucharest. The two neighborhoods with 19 Orthodox Christian churches, 6 synagogues and Jewish temples and 3 Protestant churches (plus eight relocated churches) were razed to make way for the behemoth are remembered to this day.BTW, the main architect, Anca Petrescu won the competition for this building after graduating from architecture school, and was 28 at the beginning of the construction. She still is in charge of the building, as many parts are still under construction
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