# The Palace of the Parliament, Bucharest, Romania



## Bogdan (Oct 31, 2020)

*The Palace of the Parliament*

Not sure if this thread belongs here, I let the mods decide.

Some quotes from the Wikipedia article:

"The building was designed and supervised by chief architect Anca Petrescu, with a team of approximately 700 architects, and constructed over a period of 13 years (1984–97) in Socialist realist and modernist Neoclassical architectural forms and styles, with socialist realism in mind."

"The Palace is located in Sector 5 in the central part of Bucharest, at the top of Dealul Spirii (Spirea's Hill), also known as Dealul Arsenalului (Arsenal Hill). It is situated at the west end of the 3.5 kilometer (2.2 mile) Bulevardul Unirii (Union Boulevard), constructed simultaneously with the Palace, and is framed by Izvor Street to the west and northwest, United Nations Avenue to the north, Liberty Avenue to the east and Calea 13 Septembrie to the south "

"The Vrancea earthquake of 4 March 1977 gave Ceaușescu a pretext to demolish parts of old Bucharest. "

"The construction of the Palace began in 1984 and initially should have been completed in only two years. The term was then extended until 1990, but even now it is not finalized. Only 400 rooms and two meeting rooms are finished and used, out of 1,100 rooms.

The building has eight underground levels, the last one being a nuclear bunker, linked to the main state institutions by 20 kilometres (12.4 mi) of *catacombs*. Nicolae Ceaușescu feared nuclear war. The bunker is a room with 1.5-metre (4.9 ft) thick concrete walls and can not be penetrated by radiation. The shelter is composed of the main hall – headquarters that would have had telephone connections with all military units in Romania – and several residential apartments for state leadership, in the event of war."

The photo in question is this supposed construction photo dated 1986:






That's a big pile of dirt... I'm not sure if this is grass or some bushes growing on that hill. At first glance it looks like the displaced material, from these eight ground levels they are mentioning. Maybe somebody can find a higher resolution image somewhere, that might clear things up.





2018:





Google Earth:





What's up with this building? Is the above photo really from 1986? There are other weird construction photos, but I can't find decent resolutions on a specific one:





Find this weird. Was it built ontop of ruins from a previous, medieval palace? What are those catacombs really? Was this medieval palace or castle built ontop of another type of ruin? Maybe a pyramid? So many questions...

















That's some old brick yo! Some of those "catacombs" look like they had more headroom at some point.





Article: The medieval and modern undergrounds of Bucharest- between legend and truth

Dealul Spirii. According to this painting, the previous construction looked something like this:





Something to ponder  Curious to hear what your thoughts on this are.

Cheers!


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## JWW427 (Oct 31, 2020)

Are all palaces and governmental capitols built upon energetic Ley Line high ground?
One wonders.


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## Citezenship (Oct 31, 2020)

This is a very intriguing building in a city that has not yet come to my star fort map, 20 mins later and we have this,





I am sure this city has much more to give but i know very little about it, i do love the wiki description though, Totalitarian, Neoclassical!

Any guesses to what is in the center!

If anyone can't hear that sound it is the sound of the narrative crumbling!


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## Jd755 (Oct 31, 2020)

Going underground.


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## Bogdan (Nov 1, 2020)

@Citezenship :

Awesome stuff!! I haven't checked those markings of yours yet, but I'm sure there's alot of old ruins. I am not familiar with the city at all, but stumbled over this building, with lots of oddities around it which kinda drew me in. It's especially strange, because it's not so distant history... I'm curious if there's somebody from Bucharest or Romania, who knows more about the historic aspect...

Also interesting from Wiki:

"The building has a developed area of 365,000 square metres (3,930,000 sq ft), making it the world's third-largest administrative building, after The Pentagon and Long'ao Building, and in terms of volume, with its 2,550,000 cubic metres (90,000,000 cu ft), it is among the most massive. For comparison, it can be mentioned that the building exceeds by 2% the volume of the Great Pyramid of Giza along the Nile River in Egypt, and therefore some sources label it as a "pharaonic" construction."

Here are some rediculous interior shots:



 

 




 

 



Here some more construction photos:



 




 




 



Some old footage, still in constrution, also some interiors:


_View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0gCHhMXm7XI_


*This* article talks about Andrei Popescu's models and how the palace "could have looked like" but were refused:








Wikipedia doesn't mention the Văcărești Monastery, but says this:

"The building was also erected on the site of some monasteries that were demolished and on the site of Uranus Hill that was leveled. In this area were previously located the National Archives, Mihai Vodă Monastery, Brâncovenesc Hospital, as well as about 37 old factories and workshops. Demolition in the Uranus area began in 1982. 7 square kilometres (2.7 sq mi) of the old city center was demolished, with 40,000 people being relocated from this area. The works were carried out with forced labor of soldiers and so the cost was minimized."

All of those demolished buildings probably need a thread on their own.

The Văcărești Monastery before demolition:



 




 




 

 




 




 

 










What are you guys diggin' there'?

Same monestary after or during demolition:



 

 


 



 




*Interesting Article about that monastery.*

*Mihai Vodă Monastery:*





"The Mihai Vodă Monastery, founded by Mihai Viteazul, is one of the oldest buildings in Bucharest. It was built in 1591, surrounded by stone walls, similar to a fortress. The monastery buildings served multiple purposes over time such as residence of the country's leaders, military hospital, medical school and the site of the National Archives of Romania. The monastery was an important archeological site; inside the monastery yard used to be a Dacian archeological site, more than *3000 years old*, where old pottery and other relics were found."














"At the time of the communist regime in 1985, the church building was moved on rails 285 metres east and hidden in its present location on Sapienței street, next to Splaiul Independenței street and Izvor Park. That was to make way for a civic centre. The medieval cloisters and ancillary buildings were demolished."

Yep, that's a smoothly riding church on rails:



 

 


 



Yep, this one was important enough to keep it, while the other buildings were destroyed.

*The Brâncovenesc Hospital *Before the demolition:





View attachment SpitalulBrancovenesc_then_2.jpg

"The Brâncovenesc Hospital was built by Safta Brâncoveanu, the wife of Grigore Basarab Brâncoveanu, between 1835 and 1838, with the money of the land sold by her. The hospital was especially for people from the low class, but it also functioned as a medical school."

The building was strongly affected by a fire, necessitating reconstructions for 10 years, between 1880 and 1890.

From the Wikipedia "*Healthcare_in_Romania*" article:

"The Brâncovenesc Hospital was inaugurated in October 1838. The hospital worked on the same principle as a free clinic, offering various vaccines and medical tests free of charge. However, the urban development led to the hospital building being demolished (and therefore its activity ceased) in 1984."

Some more photos from around that Uranus area:


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## Jd755 (Nov 1, 2020)

Those men digging are preparing garden beds or lawns.

Here's another couple of video's of the thing. First one short. Second one longer.


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## air_dance (Nov 1, 2020)

The same story in Bulgaria. However, the date is different.
St. Nedelya church - Sofia.
1880 and 1922 before the Assassination.


 



16 april, 1925 the Assassination.


 

 


 


1950-1960:


 before - now 


Very interesting photo at the beginning of the construction of the Council of Ministers (1950-1960). 
How many floors are there under St. Nedelya?


 

 


Construction of the building, no photos. Photos are available only when placing the communist "red pentacle" (1950-1960).


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## JimmyK (Nov 3, 2020)

Wow. That Intrarea Principalia, looks like a lot of older middle and high schools in the US.


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