That Week I Went to Bucharest
I was on the fence about visiting Bucharest. So, as with all my major life decisions, I turned to the Simpsons for guidance. That evening’s particular episode featured Lisa Simpson attending Springfield’s Romanian Film Festival.
I booked my ticket that night.
I was also swayed by the fact the my lovely friend Hannah is living in Bucharest as an English teacher. While Hannah was busy molding young Romanian minds, I hopped on the metro to see the sights.
From post-WW II until the 1990 revolution, Romania was a communist nation ruled by Nicolae Ceauşescu, who was a wee bit of a paranoid delusional, as all good dictators tend to be. Bucharest was once known as Paris of the East — at least until Ceauşescu destroyed 75% of Bucharest’s Old Quarter. Buildings like this one:
were replaced by buildings like these:
Ceauşescu’s ultimate accomplishment, besides driving Romania to the very brink of economic ruin, was his Parliamentary Palace, which nearly completed before he was ousted from power and summarily executed in 1989.
The Parliamentary Palace cost $2 billion to build and took six years to construct. It sits regally on Blvd. Uniri (Unity Blvd) which was modeled after Paris’s Champs-Elysees, but is 1.5 meters wider. Obligatory military service could be fulfilled by working on the massive structure. A team of 700 architects designed the building, and each room is a different architechtural style. One marble staircase was rebuilt five times before it met Ceauşescu’s specifications, customized to his height and posture so that he would not have to look down as he descended the stairs to meet guests.
Ceauşescu also feared being poisoned, and saw the forced air from air conditioning as the ideal vehicle for poison. So instead the palace has a series of natural ventilation systems, cleverly hidden in each room by its architect. The 200,000 square meters of carpet, one million cubic meters of marble, and 3,500 tons of crystal in the building were all sourced from Romania.
After Ceauşescu’s death, there was much debate over what to do with this symbol of his terrible regime. Many people wanted to tear it down, but realized what a waste that would be. Today it houses the current parliament, and serves as a conference venue.
I would love to post some pictures of the spectacular interior opulance, but the Romanian authorities charge roughly US$10 in addition to the US$5.00 entrance fee to take photos inside the building. In lieu of such photos, I will post this picture of this vicious parliamentary guard dog, who happily posed for free:
