Palace of the Parliament
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The Palace of the Parliament (in Romanian: Palatul Parlamentului) is the home of the Romanian Parliament in Bucharest, Romania.
It currently holds three records homologated by the Guinness Book of World Records: for the largest civilian administrative building, the heaviest building and the most expensive administrative building in the world. |
It is the largest building in Europe and the world's second largest administrative building behind the Pentagon and 10% larger by volume than the Great Pyramid of Giza.
It was designed and almost finished by the Ceauşescu regime as the seat of political and administrative power. Its initial official name was House of the Republic (Casa Republicii), given on June 25, 1984 by Nicolae Ceauşescu, but it was best known as People's House (Casa Poporului), a name still used by many Romanians.
The structure combines elements and motifs from multiple sources, in an eclectic neoclassical architectural style.
It measures 270 m by 240 m, 86 m high, and 92 m under ground. It has 1,100 rooms and is 12 stories tall, with four additional underground levels currently available and in use, with another four in different stages of completion.
The building is constructed entirely of materials of Romanian origin. Estimates of the materials used include one million cubic meters of marble from Transylvania, most from Ruşchiţa; 3,500 tonnes of crystal - 480 chandeliers, 1,409 ceiling lights and mirrors were manufactured; 700,000 tonnes of steel and bronze for monumental doors and windows, chandeliers and capitals; 900,000 m³ of wood (over 95% domestic) for parquet, including walnut, oak, sweet cherry, elm; 200,000 m² of woolen carpets of various dimensions (machines had to be moved inside the building to weave some of the larger carpets) and velvet and brocade curtains adorned with embroideries.
Constructing the Palace and Centrul Civic required demolishing much of Bucharest's historic districts, including two neighborhoods with 19 Orthodox Christian churches, 6 synagogues and Jewish temples, 3 Protestant churches (plus eight relocated churches), and 30,000 homes.
Since 1997, the building has housed Romania's Chamber of Deputies, which had previously been housed in the Palace of the Patriarchy; the Romanian Senate joined them there in 2005, having previously been housed in the former Communist Party Central Committee building. The Palace also contains a massive array of miscellaneous conference halls, salons, etc., used for a wide variety of other purposes.
There are public tours organized in a number of languages.
In 2002, Costa Gavras shot scenes of Amen. in the Palace to represent the Vatican palaces.
In 2008, the Palace hosted the 20th NATO summit.

