Romania's thugz mansion

Bucharest, the capital of Romania, became known to me after Steven Segall's "Born to Raise Hell" movie. Before that, I very often confused the name with Budapest, the capital of Hungary. My sincerest apologies to all Romanians. Anyway, I decided to visit the city during my tour around Europe, not only to see how the place was recovering after Segall's mission, but to see what they told me was the world's second largest government building, right after the Pentagon in Washington, DC.

Ok, it seems right to me that the world's number one superpower built also the number one building in the world. But, with all due respect, why Romania built the second one? According to the IMF, the country's 2012 GDP of c.US$170 billion was ranked 56 in the world (GDP per capita of c.US$8,000), so it is fair to say that the country is not really there yet. So why did they want to build a €3 billion massive building while many Romanians struggle to make a living? Here is where the crazy leader comes in.

The Palace of the Parliament in Bucharest is a 1,100 rooms and 340,000 m2 building designed and nearly completed by Nicolae Ceaușescu, a Romanian Communist politician, the leader of one of the most repressive and brutal regimes of the Soviet bloc (in office from 1969 to 1989). He loved himself so much, that during his leadership, the most important day in Romania was his birthday. The construction of the building started in 1984 (finished in the late 90's) and was intended to house political and administrative institutions, as well as to be Nicolae's personal humble home. Paradoxically, it was named the "People's House" by the very same man whose politics screwed the life of many of "his people".

Before visiting Bucharest and not knowing the above facts, I tought the building was something Romanian's were proud of, it looked like a hell of a postcard. I started to suspect there was something really wrong with that huge thing after I had to ask 10 different people to take a picture of me in front of it. Everybody seemed angry about it. After some research, I understood all that indignation. It didn't surprise me that Nicolae Ceaușescu starred the only violent overthrow of a communist government to occur during the revolutions of 1989.

The crazy leader is out, but still today that absurd construction is right in the center of Bucharest, remembering everyone of the country's painfull past and representing what many Romanians are still lacking, a house to call their own.

 Picture: someone finally agreed to take a picture of me
 in front of the Palace of the Parliament

                                     

Picture: the Palace of the Parliament's modest size