The Palace of Parliament is the largest and heaviest administrative building on the planet used for civilian purposes, and also the second largest administrative building overall, after the Pentagon. Currently, this imposing building houses the Romanian Senate and the Romanian Chamber of Deputies, and it is also the headquarters of the Southeast European Cooperation Initiative. Also known as the “
People’s House”, it was Nicolae Ceausescu’s attempt to redesign Bucharest by constructing a series of impressive buildings meant to prove to the world how wealthy and powerful was the Socialist Republic of Romania. Today, the building has only 400 chambers and 2 large halls that can be used, out of its total of 1,100 rooms. After the Revolution, no one had the desire to complete this gigantic building. In fact, many Romanians demanded the destruction of the building which was seen as a symbol of Ceausescu’s megalomania and of the extravagant lives lead by the former communist elites. Without a doubt, the Palace of the Parliament is one of the most controversial administrative buildings in the world. Maybe Ceausescu didn’t succeed in his initial goal of redesigning the face of Bucharest, but by building it he made sure that his work will never be forgotten.
