Dealul Spirii

The Palace of the Parliament (Romanian: Palatul Parlamentului), also known as the Republic's House (Casa Republicii) or People's House/People's Palace (Casa Poporului), is the seat of the Parliament of Romania, located atop Dealul Spirii in Bucharest, the national capital. The Palace reaches a height of 84 metres (276 ft), has a floor area of 365,000 square metres (3,930,000 sq ft) and a volume of 2,550,000 cubic metres (90,000,000 cu ft). The Palace of the Parliament is the heaviest building in the world, weighing about 4,098,500,000 kilograms (9.04 billion pounds; 4.10 million tonnes), also being the second largest administrative building in the world.The building was designed and supervised by chief architect Anca Petrescu, with a team of approximately 700 architects, and constructed over a period of 13 years (1984–97) in Socialist realist and modernist Neoclassical architectural forms and styles, with socialist realism in mind. The Palace was ordered by Nicolae Ceaușescu (1918–1989), the president of Romania and the second of two long-ruling heads of state in the country since World War II, during a period in which the personality cult of political worship and adoration increased considerably for him and his family.Known for its ornate interior composed of 23 sections, the palace houses the two chambers of the Parliament of Romania: the Senate (Senat) and the Chamber of Deputies (Camera Deputaților), along with three museums and an international conference center. The museums in the Palace are the National Museum of Contemporary Art, the Museum of Communist Totalitarianism (established in 2015) and the Museum of the Palace. Though originally named the House of the Republic when under construction (Romanian: Casa Republicii), the palace became widely known as The People's House (Romanian: Casa Poporului) after the Romanian Revolution of December 1989. Due to its impressive characteristics, events organized by state institutions and international bodies such as conferences and symposia take place there, but despite this about 70% of the building remains empty.As of 2020, the Palace of the Parliament is valued at €4 billion, making it the most expensive administrative building in the world. The cost of heating, electricity, and lighting alone exceeds $6 million per year, comparable to the total cost of powering a medium-sized city.

The Parliament of Romania (Romanian: Parlamentul României) is the national bicameral legislature of Romania, consisting of the Chamber of Deputies (Romanian: Camera Deputaților) and the Senate (Romanian: Senat). It meets at the Palace of the Parliament in Bucharest, the capital of the country. Prior to the modification of the Constitution in 2003, the two houses had identical attributes. A text of a law had to be approved by both houses. If the text differed, a special commission (Romanian: comisie de mediere) was formed by deputies and senators, that "negotiated" between the two houses the form of the future law. The report of this commission had to be approved in a joint session of the Parliament. After the 2003 referendum, a law still has to be approved by both houses, but each house has designated matters it gets to deliberate before the other, in capacity of "deciding chamber" (Romanian: cameră decizională). If that first chamber adopts a law proposal (relating to its competences), it is passed on to the other one, which can approve or reject. If it makes amendments, the bill is sent back to the deciding chamber, the decision of which is final. In 2009, a referendum was held to consult the population about turning the parliament into a unicameral body and reducing the number of representatives to 300. Although the referendum passed, the results are not binding, a referendum explicitly mentioning the modification of the constitution being required to achieve this.

The National Museum of Contemporary Art (Muzeul Național de Artă Contemporană, or MNAC, in Romanian) is a contemporary art museum in Bucharest, Romania. The museum is located in a new glass wing of the Palace of the Parliament, one of the largest administrative buildings in the world.

Piața Constituției (Romanian for "Constitution Square") is one of the largest squares in the centre of Bucharest, Romania. The square is standing face-to-face with the Palace of the Parliament (biggest building in Europe) and it is bisected by Bulevardul Unirii (Union Boulevard) and by Bulevardul Libertății (Liberty Bvd.). The square is one of the best places to organize concerts and parades of Bucharest. Every year, the mayor of Bucharest organizes the New Year's Party in this square. The square is also used to host military parades in honor of the National Day of Romania.

The Nuns' Skete (Romanian: Schitul Maicilor) is a Romanian Orthodox church and former skete located at 47 Mitropolit Antim Ivireanul Street in Bucharest, Romania. It is dedicated to the Feast of the Annunciation. The church was built in the summer and autumn of 1726, with Tatiana Hagi Dinu as ktetoressa; she later became a nun. Upon its founding, Lady Smaranda, the wife of Prince Nicholas Mavrocordatos, donated land from the princely estate. During construction, Pashali, high captain of Seymens, served as Ispravnic. The skete became a metochion of Țigănești Monastery in Ciolpani, and in 1730, Hagi Dina dedicated it to the Metropolis. Gradually, the monastery was granted properties, and received relic fragments of Saints Nicholas and Charalambos, still preserved in the altar table legs. In 1865, after the secularization of monastic estates, it came under the administration of the Albă Postăvari Church. It was returned to the Țigănești Monastery in 1926 and became a chapel of the Patriarchate in 1952.The church underwent repairs in 1896: the columns separating narthex from nave were removed, and the original frescoes were painted over. It was consolidated after the 1940 earthquake. Through the personal care of Patriarch Justinian Marina, the ensemble was restored between 1955 and 1958. The surrounding buildings, partly used by the Biblical Institute, were redone in Neo-Brâncovenesc style, replicating elements from Comana and Horezu Monasteries, as well as from the portico of the church itself. Although modest in size, the ensemble of church, kitchen and other buildings formed a harmonious whole in terms of proportion and decor. The regime of Nicolae Ceaușescu ordered their demolition so as to make way for the Republic's House. The decree met with vehement opposition from the parish priest in 1980, but demolition proceeded in 1982. Only the church remained, the 745-ton structure being moved 245 meters eastward over a period of 72 hours. In its new location, it was isolated and soon surrounded by massive government buildings. After the move, the church operated for one more month, when the regime ordered its closure. Some repairs were carried out in secret. In 1995, several years after the Romanian Revolution, the painting was restored and further repairs carried out. Services resumed the following year.The ship-shaped church measures 17.75 meters long by 6.8 meters high. It has a single dome, the bell tower, rising 15.5 meters above the narthex. The nave and narthex have spherical ceilings resting on pendentives, while their floor is paved with Rușchița marble. The open portico has three arches sustained by slender stone columns with spiral fluting, ornamented bases and capitals. The facades are decorated throughout, except on the lower portion, where windows in stone frames interrupt the ornamental flow. The foundation is around one meter high; the roof is covered in tiles. The entrance portal is surrounded by a frame of carved stone. The church hosts an icon of the Virgin Mary, donated by the founder and ascribed by some with wonder-working abilities.The church is listed as a historic monument by Romania's Ministry of Culture and Religious Affairs.

The Bucharest Ring (Romanian: Bucharestring) was a street circuit in the Romanian capital city of Bucharest and was initiated by City Challenge GmbH. Designed by famed track designer Hermann Tilke, the circuit was in the city centre, and has the Palace of the Parliament in its infield. The circuit held two FIA GT meetings in 2007 and 2008, but the 2009 event was cancelled due to financial reasons and the series never returned to the circuit. It was announced in September 2010 that the circuit would host a round of the Auto GP championship in July 2011, with the event being known as the Bucharest GP. However, this event was cancelled too.

The Antim Monastery is located in Bucharest, Romania on Mitropolit Antim Ivireanu Street, no. 29. It was built between 1713 and 1715 by Saint Antim Ivireanu, at that time a Metropolitan Bishop of Wallachia. The buildings were restored by Patriarch Justinian Marina in the 1960s. As of 2005, there are 7 monks living in the Monastery. The monastery also hosts a museum with religious objects and facts about the life of Antim Ivireanu. The Monastery is connected to the Legionnaires' rebellion and Bucharest pogrom. On January 22, 1941, led by Hieromonk Nicodem Ioniță, the monks of Antim armed themselves and, using explosives, blew up a synagogue on Antim Street. The numerous Jewish inhabitants of the neighborhood hid in terror. Some of the monks involved were graduates of the Cernica Seminary, a Legionary stronghold.During the communist rule of Nicolae Ceaușescu, the government threatened demolition of the church and many other historic structures in Romania. A project organized by engineer Eugeniu Iordăchescu moved the church to a different nearby site and saved it in time.

Izvor is a metro station in Bucharest, Romania, located near the Palace of the Parliament. It also services one of the buildings of the Bucharest Veterinary University, the Gheorghe Lazăr High School and the Cişmigiu Gardens. It was opened on 19 November 1979 as part of the first line of the Bucharest metro, between Semanatoarea and Timpuri Noi, on the right bank of the Dâmboviţa River, in what was then the Izvor neighbourhood (the entire area on the right bank of the Dâmboviţa river was demolished four years later during Nicolae Ceauşescu's systematization plans in order to make way for the Palace of the Parliament). The station itself is shallow, with two lateral platforms allowing access to the centrally positioned tracks. There is no vestibule – the station is too shallow to allow for a level to be built above the tracks, and the architects of the Bucharest Metro did not fashion building above-ground vestibules such as those found in Moscow or London. As such, the ticketing machines are on the same level with the tracks themselves. As all entrances are on the southbound platform, the architects designed a passage running beneath the tracks to provide access from the southbound platform to the northbound platform. The only other station where this is the case is at Berceni, the southern end of the M2. The station itself uses a dark gray and light beige colour scheme, employing cold white lighting. The station is quite small, being initially built to service a rather low-density residential area. Myth has it that in the late-1970s when the line was being built, president Ceauşescu ordered that this station be linked to the Palace of the Parliament via an interconnecting train tunnel. If this is true or false remains a mystery.

The Sapienței Church (Romanian: Biserica Sapienței) is a Romanian Orthodox church located at 5 Sapienței Street in Bucharest, Romania. It is dedicated to the Dormition of the Mother of God. The church was built in 1710 by Vornic Iordache Krețulescu and his wife Safta, the daughter of Constantin Brâncoveanu. Together with the surrounding houses, the church passed from father to son as a family chapel until Manolache-Emanoil Krețulescu sold it to his mother-in-law Olimpia Lahovary. She restored the chapel in 1884, when an aging Gheorghe Tattarescu painted the interior. It was then opened to the public. In 1898, Olimpia willed the property to her son Alexandru Em. Lahovary, who closed the chapel in 1902. He rented the houses to the Holy Synod, headquartered there for a time. During this period, the chapel was used for administering oaths, for example during the clerical trial of Metropolitan Atanasie Mironescu.In 1931, Lahovary donated the chapel and parish house to the Patriarchate, intending that the public once again be admitted. Upon a request from the Office for Heroes, a World War I memorial society with offices across the street, the property was granted to its keeping. Instead of opening for worship as stipulated, the organization used the church as storage space, leading to its deterioration. The Patriarchate sanctified and reopened the church for community worship in 1941. It underwent a thorough restoration in 1966–1968, when a closed portico was added. In the 1980s, under Nicolae Ceaușescu, the church was threatened with demolition, officially in order to make way for the Mihai Vodă Monastery to be moved in its place; the plans were dropped after concerted opposition emerged.The church is small and low-ceilinged, with a single rectangular nave measuring 10 meters long by 8 meters wide. The attractive iconostasis is carved in wood. The square portico is on the west side, with a narrow balcony above the entrance. The facades are not ornamented. The rectangular stained-glass windows depicting saints date to 1947. The grounds feature a landscaped garden.The church is listed as a historic monument by Romania's Ministry of Culture and Religious Affairs.

The Church of the Holy Apostles (Romanian: Biserica Sfinții Apostoli) is a Romanian Orthodox church located at 1 Sfinții Apostoli Street in Bucharest, Romania. It is dedicated to Saints Peter and Paul.

The Mihai Vodă Monastery, founded by Mihai Viteazul, is one of the oldest buildings in Bucharest. It was built in 1591, surrounded by stone walls, similar to a fortress. The monastery buildings served multiple purposes over time such as residence of the country's leaders, military hospital, medical school and the site of the National Archives of Romania. The monastery was an important archeological site; inside the monastery yard used to be a Dacian archeological site, more than 3000 years old, where old pottery and other relics were found.In 1813 Mihai Vodă Monastery was "one of the largest monasteries of Romania". Between 1908 and 1909, Cristofi Cerchez, head of architecture for the Ministry of Religious Affairs, supervised work on the State Archives at the Monastery.At the time of the communist regime in 1985, the church building was moved on rails 285 metres east and hidden in its present location on Sapienței street, next to Splaiul Independenței street and Izvor Park. That was to make way for a civic centre. The medieval cloisters and ancillary buildings were demolished. Mihai Vodă Monastery has been included into the List of historical monuments of Romania and has been classified under the code B-II-a-A-19644.

Centrul Civic (Romanian: [ˈt͡ʃentrul ˈt͡ʃivik], the Civic Centre) is a district in central Bucharest, Romania, which was completely rebuilt in the 1980s as part of the scheme of systematization under the dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu, which included the construction of new civic centres in the Romanian cities. Bucharest Civic Centre was planned to become the new political-administrative center of Communist Romania.