The Palace of the Parliament: The largest building you’ve never heard of If I were to ask you
The Palace of the Parliament: The largest building you’ve never heard ofIf I were to ask you where the world’s largest civilian government building stood you might suggest countries such as America or China, after all the Pentagon is the world’s largest building. However, this prestigious title goes to the city of Bucharest in Romania, and that’s not the only title they hold. In fact the Palace of the Parliament, or the People’s Palace as it is often known, is also the worlds heaviest (yup, someone worked that out) and most expensive building, with the total cost coming in at 3 billion euros.It was built under the instruction of the then communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu. He raised 1/5th of the city to the ground in order to build a new ‘civic centre’ including the construction of the largest, most decadent, palace in the world. 700 Romanian architects are thought to have come together to design the building with 12 stories on the surface and at least 8 underground, although not all are complete.The materials used within the building are purported to have all been locally sourced including 1 million cubic metres of Transylvanian Marble obtained from the Carpathian Mountains. It is estimated that 20,000 workers were used to build the palace toiling almost 24/7 in a bid to get it built on time, although official figures don’t exist (at least in the public domain).The grandeur and almost obscene size do not end with the building though. The boulevard leading up to the palace was deliberately made 1m wider and 6m longer than the Champs Elysee in Paris, and forms a formidable site when viewed from one of the buildings many balconies.So how do you pay for such an extravagant building? Well Ceausescu had to borrow money from other countries and, when they started demanding to be paid back, he ordered all of Romania’s produce to be exported to raise funds. This left very little for the Romanian people and they began to starve. Daily blackouts and food rations became part of everyday life while Ceausescu continued to live his lavish lifestyle. Unsurprisingly, as the palace neared completion the Romanian people rebelled, and in less than a month Ceausescu was captured, charged and executed by firing squad on Christmas Day, 1989.Recently the palace was host to the NATO Summit in 2008 and is still the site of the Romanian Government although they use less than half of the 1,100 rooms available.WatsonImage Credit: WatsonBuilding – Tourist Attractions: http://bit.ly/1DYZby4Reference: http://bit.ly/1zzQDpN -- source link
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