Visiting Romania's Infamous Palace of Parliament
After Old Town, it was the Palace of Parliament for us on our first full day in Bucharest. It was very easy to reach on foot. Our hotel, the Mercure Unirii was close by. We went first thing in the morning and we arrived at the building before 10 am. We knew we had to join a tour and luckily for us , we were able to join one less than 15 minutes after we arrived. Entry was not free. We bought our tickets to enter.
Entry was strict and everyone had to give their passport to security. The passport was scanned right at the time we went through a metal detector. It was like going through the airport security screening since we had to empty all our pockets, take off our belts, and take out all electronics out of our backpacks. Then came the wait to enter. Our tour was conducted in English and our guide was a young friendly Romanian guy who spoke very well. We must have been a group of about 20 to 25 people from all over the world. Most of the people in our group though came from neighboring European countries.
The entire tour took 45 minutes. All of the rooms we were shown were either conference rooms or meeting rooms. I believe there were only four open to the public for viewing. After the tour, we stayed around half an hour more viewing the art exhibit on ground floor.
This is one of my favorite pictures!
Here's what my research on the internet about the Palace of Parliament revealed : 1. The Palace is made up of 12 floors and 8 underground levels, the last of which is an atomic bunker. 2. It was constructed as part of Nicolae Ceausescu's Project Bucharest Renovation Plan. 3. After the devastating earthquake in 1977, Ceausescu designed it to duplicate Pyongyang, North Korea's capital. 4. As a socialist country in Eastern Europe, the Palace was to represent the success of communism in Romania while also serving as the home of the Ceausescu family.
5. During the tour, a whole neighborhood, stadiium, churches, and synagogues were leveled for its construction. 6. Only Romanian materials were allowed in building the structure.
Here's a view of the Palace of Parliament from the very long boulevard of fountains.
There was a huge parking lot in front of the Parliament building. It was here where tour buses unloaded its passengers to take pictures. It was here too where we took ours.
This was the very first room we were ushered into during the tour.
A partial scene inside one of the hallways made of marble.
This was part of our group doing the tour of the Parliament building. We didn't really see people walk around the building on their own. Our guide was the guy wearing the dark shirt and green pants.
Another room we visited. Like I mentioned previously, on our tour the rooms we visited were either press rooms or conference rooms. Honestly, I was hoping to see stately rooms or private quarters of the Ceausescu's family given that they planned on living in it.
While inside the palace, lots of areas seem quiet and deserted.
I was not surprised to see a beautiful painting in the building. I actually expected to see some given that it was a palace. What surprised me was that this was not a real oil painting. It was attached to the blank wall as backdrop for a Hollywood movie shot inside the premises sometime ago. It was totally detachable and disposable!
This was a painting of the Stavropoleos Monastery in Old Town.
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The palace is now also used as the site for the city's contemporary art. During our visit, we saw an exhibit of Romanian art. This was one painting that caught my eye. I love street scenes. It depicts a local dozing off while waiting for a customer at his street stall.
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Photo Op!
A chandelier in one of the rooms we had the opportunity to see and visit.