casa poporului

"The House of People" Bucharest

Romania

“The House of People“ is the biggest building in Romania and the second

in the world, after the Pentagon, ****************************************************************************

Was erected at the will of the dictator Ceausescu, during his last years of dictatorship. He has never seen it finished, he was killed during the

Romanian "revolution" in 1989. *****************************************************************************************************

"The House of People" was built on a former hill, the Uranus hill(with old houses, churches, little and quiet merchant streets).

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Nothing escaped from demolition, not even the hill, which was leveled to ground, 8 basements were constructed, then, an artificial hill covered the

enormous infrastructure of the building.*********************************************************************************************************

The demolished area from Bucharest's historical centre is equal with the surface of Venice.

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No need to mention that the human scale, which we know from Classic and Renaissance architecture was the least thing architects took into

consideration.****************************************************************************************************

It's interesting, the largest church in Romania fits inside the largest meeting hall of the "House".

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Nowadays, the "House" belongs to the Parliament of Romania, politicians feel actually very comfortable in this huge construction and represented by

it never the less. ********************************************************************************************************

Most of Romanians were hating this symbol of dictatorship so deep that they were about to demolish it like Bastille.

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Others, like a big postmodern architect, say that the "house" and institutions that form an assembly is one of the most significant

postmodernist architecture was ever built.**********************************************************************************************

“The House of People” represents a big wound in the hearth of the city but also the most visited monument of Bucharest .

Arrangement by Ileana Godeanu