Address: 2-4 Izvor Street, Sector 5, Bucharest, in the central area of the Romanian capital, on Arsenal Hill.
The People's House can be reached by metro lines M1 and M3 to Izvor station and then cross Izvor Park and after 700 meters you will find yourself at the entrance on Izvor Street, the street dedicated to the Palace's public visits. If you are coming by car or coach, the parking lot, which is free but often not very crowded, is on Izvor Street at the intersection with Hașdeu Street, 500 meters from the entrance. Facing the Palace is Constitution Square, on Libertății Boulevard, right at the intersection with Unirii Boulevard, where the Fountains of the Seasons are located, leading to Unirii Square. From here it is 750 meters to the visitors' entrance.
Basically, the main front and the two side faces of the People's House are located on 3 major arteries: the Izvor street to the west, the Libertatii Boulevard to the east and the 13 September Avenue to the south.
Coordinates: 44.4275°N 26.0875°E
To visit this museum, as we can call it, you must make an appointment. Only guided tours in organized groups are possible. At the time of our visit there were many tours with English-speaking guides and one tour with a Romanian-speaking guide. However, I know that other languages can be provided, but you have to inquire.
At the point of entry you must arrive 10 minutes before the scheduled time. Go through security check as at the airport. During the visit, the adults will wear a security check, which they hand in on departure.
The standard tour lasts about 1 hour actual visiting time. There are other longer tours, but for these you also need to inform yourself in advance.
The chief architect was Anca Petrescu at the age of just 28 when she won the competition for the mega-project People's House (today's Parliament Palace). She worked with 700 architects. The architecture is socialist realist. The People's House was part of a larger project to rebuild Bucharest, which included the Ministry of National Defense, Radio House (still unfinished), the Marriott Hotel, the Romanian Academy House, Izvor Park and Bd. Unirii, then called bd. Victoria Socialismului (the avenue with fountains), where the ministries and the residences of Ceausescu's acolytes were to be located.
20,000 workers and 5,000 soldiers took part in the construction work. Unfortunately, due to the harsh working conditions there were also casualties, the number of which is unknown, a taboo subject of the communist regime. For this architectural monster, 7 square kilometers of inhabited areas were demolished by Ceausescu's plans. 40,000 people were displaced, most of them from the former Uranus neighborhood, emblematic buildings such as the Văcărești Monastery, the Brâncovenesc Hospital, the National Archives, the 50,000-seater Republic Stadium, the second largest stadium in Romania at the time, today the underground parking lot for the Parliament Palace. A few facts about the building: the ground surface is 66,000 square meters, the developed surface is 330,000 square meters, the height is 86 m above ground and 92 m underground, the building has about 1,000 rooms, including 440 offices, 30 halls, 4 restaurants, 3 libraries, 2 underground parking lots and 1 concert hall. With 9 floors above ground and 9 basement floors, the volume is 2% bigger than the Cheops Pyramid in Egypt. It cost 4 billion euros, although it was initially estimated to cost half that amount. Construction of the People's House was started in 1980 and completed in 1997. It was inaugurated in 1994, but only opened to the general public in 1997.
Today it is used as the Administrative Building of the Parliament Palace, hence its current name. The People's House is also used for receptions, exhibitions and events.
According to World Records the Academy is the 3rd largest administrative building in the world, the most expensive administrative building and the heaviest building in the world. The palace was built on the orders of communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu to demonstrate his megalomaniacal desires, cult of personality and, in short, power. Ceaușescu's wish was to use only local materials in the construction of the edifice, which was respected with the exception of two doors in the palace, donated by the North Korean president.
They used: 1,000,000 cubic meters of marble, 5,500 tons of cement, 7,000 tons of steel, 2,000,000 tons of sand, 1,000 tons of basalt, 900,000 cubic meters of wood, 3,500 tons of crystal, 200,000 cubic meters of glass, 15,000 chandeliers, 220,000 square meters of carpeting, 3,500 square meters of leather. No more comment.
After the devastating earthquake of March 4, 1977, the president of the Romanian Republic, Nicolae Ceausescu, decided to leave a strong socialist imprint on the capital of the country, Bucharest, through architecture, both through the typical blocks that can be found in all the cities of the country and through this megalomaniac construction, 70% of which is unused. Many consider this building kitsch.
People's House
People's House
After the instruction from the guide, we are taken to the Hall of Personalities, where we receive the above information. The busts of several Romanian historical figures are displayed in this hall: Mihai Viteazul, Ștefan cel Mare, Tudor Vladimirescu, Alexandru Ioan Cuza.
We will go to the next room, and later return through the same Hall of Personalities on our route through the palace. We also learn about Sabin Balașa, the house painter of the Ceausescu family. Some of his works are exhibited in this room.
Tudor Vladimirescu
Hall of Personalities
Works of the painter S. Balașa
Works of the painter S. Balașa
Alexandru Ioan Cuza
Stephen the Great
Michael the Brave
We climb the stairs to another floor and visit the C. A. Rosetti Hall. This is actually the palace's performance hall, which hosts music concerts, theater performances and conferences. It has a seating capacity of 600 and an area of 1,420 square meters. It features architectural elements of the cubist style. The dominant color is ochre-gold. The hall is paneled. The largest chandelier in the palace hangs in the center of the ceiling. To clean or maintain it, 4 workers have access from the upper floor, through the ceiling, actually entering the chandelier.
We arrive in a huge, grand hallway. The doors at the ends of this hall are made of two types of wood, one of which is cherry.
C. A. Rosetti Room
C. A. Rosetti Room
Hol
Door
Door
Next is the Nicolae Iorga Hall. It has marble floors and columns and an area of 378 square meters. It is equipped with audo video and simultaneous translation systems in 6 languages and is suitable for conferences, with a capacity of 150 seats.
We return to the huge hallway where the floor is decorated with figures that are nothing but maps of the building.
N. Iorga Room
N. Iorga Room
map
Next is the Nicolae Balcescu Hall. It also has a padoseală and marble columns, including pink marble. It seats 150 people in auditorium mode. As it has no windows and Ceausescu didn't trust air-conditioning systems, there are hollow spaces between the decorative elements in the ceiling to provide natural ventilation of the room.
N. Balcescu Hall
N. Balcescu Hall
N. Balcescu Hall
N. Balcescu Hall
We arrive in the large hall, which corresponds to the main entrance. It is only here that it is considered to be the ground floor, although from the entrance we have gone up several floors. The place is called the Gallery of Honor and Official Entrance Hall.
On either side of this magnificent hallway are monumental marble staircases, a perfect place for photos. Between the floors, the largest and heaviest curtains, weighing 2 tons, are located next to the stairs.
We cross another hall with a huge Romanian carpet, which was assembled on the spot because of its size.
Gallery of honor
The 2-tonne curtain
Monumental staircases
Official entrance hall
carpet
We access the Take Ionescu Hall. It has 924 square meters, marble floor and columns. It can be used for exhibitions and receptions with up to 400 guests. The decorative ceiling elements are covered with gold leaf.
Take Ionescu Hall
Take Ionescu Hall
An emblematic hall in the People's House is the Union Hall. Huge, with its 2,226 square meters and large marble columns, it is used for large receptions with a seating capacity of 1,000. Its other use is as an exhibition space. The ceiling is glass and the ornaments are gilded.
Union Hall
Union Hall
Union Hall
Union Hall
The Alexandru Ioan Cuza Hall, furnished with auditorium seating for 800 - 1,200 people, is large, with an area of 1,820 square meters, marble floors and columns, covered with carpets, ceilings with glass skylights and gold leaf applied on many elements.
A. I. Cuza Hall
A. I. Cuza Hall
The visit ends with a view of the balcony in front of the People's House from Constitution Square, with a superb view of the avenue with fountains.
Balcony
There are other important halls in the palace, which were not included in the standard tour such as the Human Rights Hall, Ion I. C. Brătianu Hall. We visited only 7% of the palace's surface in the hour spent here!
People's House
People's House
Happy birthday!
I visited this museum with my daughter, Denisa (12), and I was delighted with how much she enjoyed it.
Yes! Although the Palace of the Parliament / House of the People is a contested objective of Bucharest due to the fact that it represents an achievement of the communist era and the linking of this project with the name of Ceausescu, I believe that we should not erase the traces of history and recognize it as a major tourist attraction of Romania and be happy that many foreign and Romanian tourists visit it every day.
All the best!
Steps:
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