Parliament Palace
Parliament Palace or Palace of the Parliament or Palatul Parlamentului in Bucharest, Romania (known as
the House of the People before the revolution), measuring 270 m by 240 m, 86 m high and 92 m below ground. It has 12 levels to the
surface and 8 underground. The Palace of Parliament is located in the historic and geographical center of Bucharest. According to
the Guinness Book of Records, Parliament Palace is the largest administrative building in the world for civil use, the most expensive
administrative building in the world and the heaviest building in the world, entering three times in Guinness World Book of Records.
Parliament House building is situated in the center of Bucharest. It is 10 minutes away from Union Square and 20 minutes from North
Railway Station. The Palace of the Parliament is home to both Chamber of Deputies and the Senate of Romania. The name
of "Palace of Parliament" was to show how this building became a symbol of democracy.
The building has a developed
area of 330,000 hectares, As part of "Guinness World Records" in the "Administrative buildings", number 2 in the world after the Pentagon
building, and in terms of volume, with the 2,550,000 m³ of his 3rd place in the world after the missile assembly building space from
Cape Canaveral in Florida and after the pyramid of Quetzalcoat in Mexico. For comparison it is worth mentioning that this building
exceeds with 2% the volume of Cheops pyramid in Egypt.
The site itself began in the 1980s with the demolition of over 7 km ²
of the old city center and relocation of over 40,000 people in the area. The buildings demolished include the Vacaresti Monastery,
Brancoveni Hospital, National Archives, Republic Stadium and the list goes on.
In 1989 the building costs were estimated at 1.75
billion U.S. dollars and in 2006 to 3 billion Euros.
Building dimensions:
• Length - 270 meters
• Width - 245 meters
• Height -
86 meters (under quota 0)
• 92 meters depth (below ground level)
• Area built from the ground - 66,000 square feet
The materials
used to construct the building were mainly of Romanian orgin.
Resources spent on those stately buildings were used:
• 1,000,000
m³ of marble
• 5,500 tonnes of cement
• 7,000 tonnes of steel
• 20,000 tonnes of sand
• 1,000 tons of basalt
• 900,000 m³ of timber
• 3,500
tonnes of crystal
• 200,000 m³ of glass
• 2,800 chandeliers
• 220,000 meters of carpet
• 3500 meters of leather.
The building was
completed with the help of about 200 architects and 20,000 workers who worked in three shifts, 24 hours a day.
The construction
has about 1,000 rooms, including 440 offices across 30 halls and saloons, 4 restaurants, 3 libraries; two underground parking areas,
a concert hall and the rest are service rooms.
The names of the halls and salons of the Palace of Parliament were chosen after
1989, they represent events in the history of the Romanian people and personalities known worldwide. Most are related to the Romanians
aspiration for union and parliamentary history in Romania.
Entry September 13th - Includes a large hall, flanked by carved marble
columns, monumental staircase leading to the first floor, the stairwell is open to all levels, creating a spectacular space. The originality
of the entry hall is the pattern of the roof that is reflected as a mirror in the setting of the floor.
Human Rights Room - Room
has an area of 625 square meters and is the room where the meetings of the Political Executive Committee of the former regime were
to take place.
Hall of Fame and Official entry-hall is a long corridor of 150 m and 18 m wide, with sliding oak doors in three
distinct areas, with glass crystal, built on iron frames. The gallery leads to the key areas of the building. It is located in the
eastern side of the building on the side that corresponds to the exit to the Union Square.
Nicolae Balcescu Hall – the hall has
the name of the great political figure, historian, democratic and revolutionary thinker who was Romanian Nicolae Balcescu (1819-1852).
Room
named Nicolae -Iorga Nicolae Iorga (1871 - 1940), was a historian, orator, politician and writer, member of the Romanian Academy,
Prime Minister in 1930.
AI Cuza hall - hall named by the name of Country Romanian and Moldavian prince was completed before 1989,
and was intended to be hall of Protocol at the highest level: "Seminar hall of documents and negotiations” that would be called Romania.
This is one of the most impressive rooms of the Palace, with the largest height (approx. 20 m), and second in size - 2040 meters.
This room is located in the main axis of the palace, opening a large balcony to the Constitution Square and Union Blvd.
I.C.Bratianu
hall - room located in the axis of the palace, on the ground floor, is medium in size. Thanks to those that surround two courtyards,
the brightness of the rooms is exceptional reproducing vintage lights chandeliers. It was originally called the Provincial Hall in
an original theme was to symbolize by the decoration all the counties, which was not achieved.
Tache Ionescu Hall - Tache Ionescu
hall is generally used for fairs, exhibitions, cocktails, often with Union Hall, which continues this hall, has an opening of 42 m
between two colonnade.
Union Hall-On December 22, 1994 the hall was inaugurated on the occasion of the fifth commemoration of
the Romanian Revolution in 1989.
C.A. Rosetti hall- this hall is a theater of the International Conference Center which will
also host conferences, concerts, plays, and others activities.
The building, whose works started in July 1984, is structured
and divided into 6 levels of 21 building parts.
The monumental building today from Spirii Hill serves to the high and noble goal
to which it was aspired to: full and equal representative of the Romanian people - Parliament.
Bibliography
Beyond
the ruins - medieval fortresses (Author: Husar, Alexander, Publisher European Institute)
1000 palaces and castles of the world (collectively
Author, Publisher: Aquila 93, Year Published: 2007)
Cabin and royal palace ROMANIA - architecture and interior decoration (author
Marian Constantin, Publishing Company, 2007)
The travel guide of Romania - Publisher Publirom, 2008
Institutul de Memorie
Culturala "Poarta catre patrimoniul cultural românesc" 2009. Institutul de Memorie Culturala 24 Dec 2009. <
http://www.cimec.ro>
