Tasteful Friends: Romania's Palace of the Parliament

Another view.

Inside.

Over-the-top. Garish.

How many bathrooms?

Bet the peasants love that.

I'm assuming that this monstrosity is one of the reasons the Ceausescus were executed?

Screams Eastern Europe.

[italic] We are loyal to Vulgaria

Vulgaria

Vulgaria

It was started during the reign of communist dictator Ceausescu, so I would figure it probably wasn't build to the best of standards. It will probably collapse one day.

Wikipedia says it was built on the site of Uranus Hill.

Blocks and blocks and blocks of historic Bucharest were destroyed so that this monstrosity could be built.

The only thing that rivals it:

The building of the Palace of the Parliament sinks by 6 millimetres (0.24 in) each year because of its weight.

In 1989, the building costs were estimated at $1.75 billion, and in 2006 at €3 billion. In 1990, Australian-born business and media magnate Rupert Murdoch wanted to buy the building for US$1 billion, but his bid was rejected.

The Palace of Parliament interiors were substituted for The Vatican, in 2018's "The Nun", at a reported cost of €5,000 an hour.

This is the only random fact I'm aware of, regarding this building.

It would make an amazing gay warehouse/sex party location. Imagine the possibilities..

I thought that was the Candy Spelling mansion.

I felt physically sick when looking at it. That part of Romania feels haunted by ghosts.

I was there ten years ago, and it did feel cold and haunted and dead. The Romanian who was with me told me about torture and orgies that went on in the underground tunnels beneath the palace.

Widely considered the ugliest monument in Europe, if one chooses to include Romania in Europe. Some very snarky comments have been written in otherwise serious scholarly articles and books.

It's not home but it's much.

R19 And fuck those two demons straight back to Hell. I would argue she was at times even worse than he was. They asked to be executed together as a last request. If it had been my decision, I'd have denied it.

They destroyed so many lives, and did all they could to eliminate any humanity within their country over the course of twenty-five years of terror, they themselves didn't deserve to be treated in a human manner. They should've been thrown into a pit to be ripped limb from limb by the people whose lives they'd ruined.

Anyway, given they were executed on Christmas Day...

This North Korean hotel is uglier.

From the outside it looks like a "fancy", enormous correctional facility.

Do they give tours?

Palace of the Parliament

Some of the interior is quite beautiful. However, due to its impressive endowments, events organized by state institutions and international bodies such as conferences, symposia, and others take place there, but even so about 70% of the building still remains empty.

Palace of the Parliament is just one of the many reasons that former Romanian president, Nicolae Ceaușescu, and his wife, Elena, were killed by firing squad on Christmas Day, 1989.

I could see Trump trying to build something like this.

Makes the huge British parliament building look tiny.

Looks like potentially lots of balconies from which a ruling despot can make their pleas to be loved and eventually dragged down upon from and slaughtered in the streets.

It would look better smaller. The annexes in the back are off. They are not needed.

R26 He'd probably try to trade Mar a Lago for it

I was in school in Switzerland with the grandson of one of Ceaușescu's ministers during the revolution. It took weeks to contact any of his relatives back home. All were terrified and in hiding

Here's the US Capitol.

Palace of Westminster, London.

Japan's Diet (legislature) building.

R20, the Ceausescus were the ones who outlawed abortion, no? Leading to back alley abortions and huge surge of kids left in appalling orphanage conditions. What was the impetus behind that great decision again?

Amy Coney Barrett, take note.

It looks soulless, i.e Soviet, yet grand. Fascinating. .

There's an event hall that looks just like that somewhere in northern NJ.

[quote] However, due to its impressive endowments, events organized by state institutions and international bodies such as conferences, symposia, and others take place there,

But did Romania ever really host that many major international conferences to warrant such a massive space?

All that money spent on the building but no real care or planning on the yard and surrounding area. Just plopped down on a grassy lawn. How very unimaginative.

r17 tell us more about the orgies. Who knew Romanians could be so fun! Maybe the "torture" was just some BDSM stuff.

r20 are we supposed to know who those two old bats are? I'm assuming they were like the Russian Tsar since they appear to be going out in a grand old shoot em up fashion. Why are you mad at them. What did they do?

[quote]But did Romania ever really host that many major international conferences to warrant such a massive space?

They didn't build it so big so they could host international conferences there. They built a monstrosity because Ceausescu was a megalomaniac who wanted everything he built to be the biggest on the planet, just to suit his ego. It's only now that the Romanian government is like, Wow, we have all this space, we might as well hold conferences there.

I've filmed in there, and it's super creepy because of the aforemented lack of use. Incredibly garish and jaw dropping on how much money they used to build it. I've also been in Ceausescus' crappy personal bus, which they use as a "makeup/hair trailer" for films.

For R41: "His secret police, the Securitate, was responsible for mass surveillance as well as severe repression and human rights abuses within the country, and he suppressed and controlled the media and press, implementing methods that were among the harshest, most restrictive and brutal in the world."

It looks like a prison, not a palace

R41 - are you like 20 years old?

It certainly looks like a place where an Eastern European dictator holds the men's Olympic tumbling team hostage and makes them perform for him.

R41 Ceausescu is an example of the way Trump was headed had he been reelected.

R43, can you tell us more about what it was like?

R48 And also an example of how they're both leaving office - with merciless mockery.

I was there last year and can agree it is super haunted and bad juju. Felt physically sick during the tour. And was perfectly fine one minute after exiting. Oh and all the old school, leftover communist/repressive regime security in the bldg was really ridiculous. Um...no one cares, fuckwits....

I love the ballroom. Why not make a grand building for your head of government operations? The Capital Building was considered large one.

r46 I'm 29. Never heard about Romania's issues. But I know they had some migrants after watching God's Own Conutry. I took European history, they didn't cover Romania.

[quote]Why not make a grand building for your head of government operations?

How about because the country was broke and people were starving, and instead of helping them hundreds of millions were spent on this, and because they already had a perfectly functional building for their legislature

It'd be a great location for shooting a scary movie.

r49. It's huge- so much marble, giant columns, grand staircases, chandeliers, faded tapestries everywhere. We were on the ground floor mainly, and the rooms are huge, which makes your feel really insignificant. We did film in one room which was all wood paneled and actually quite tasteful, then there is a cafeteria downstairs that looks like something out of 70's Russia with horrible florescent lighting. I believe it was the most expensive building in the world at the time it was built.

Ghastly.

Not only did Ceausescu destroy acres of historic Bucharest to built it, he had dozens of villages bulldozed around the country. They were replaced with nearly identical Soviet-style towns.

I confirm to you this building is beautiful building. I sucked off three soldiers when I visit building.

Bucharest has the most lovely belle epoch buildings everywhere that are sadly dilapidated. Such a shame...

It also has this used tampon/ meatball monstrosity.

Bucharest is one of the least charming European capitals. Whoever nicknamed it "Paris of Eastern Europe" was obviously on crack. Luckily there's no shortage of cutesy wootsy towns elsewhere in Romania.

I think it used to be the Paris of Eastern Europe before Ceausescu got his hands on it. You can still see some of the old preserved architecture in the "Old Town" part of Bucharest. There's also a very charming street with cobblestones and good cafes and restaurants behind the Romanian Athenaeum.

In the Romanian countryside, you'll see these buildings- they're for the gypsies. I never saw them occupied:

Also if you want excessive, you need to check out the Spring Palace:

R62 Paris of Eastern Europe was Budapest not Bucharest.

Plenty of cities have been billed the Paris of the East.

Eastern Europe? Bucharest and Budapest both get named.

But in 2020, I don’t think many people think of Bucharest as the Paris of anything.

I thought Budapest was "the next Prague"?

Bucharest has a lovely old town. Rebuilding has been slower here than other Eastern European capitals. It is also a gambling destination for the Middle East. There is a casino, pharmacy and bank on every block. Not even kidding.

Budapest is amazing. No reason it should be another or 2nd anything.

R61, wtf? That looks like a burnt falafel.

I have to say, I really loved the supermarkets there- they were all French based, so a really great assortment food, super cheap because of the exchange rate US to Ron.

R70 the locals hate it too.

Does this monstrosity ever get lit up or decorated for the holidays?