Parliament of Romania

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 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.

Dealul Spirii (Romanian: [ˈde̯alul ˈspirij], Spirea's Hill) is a hill in Bucharest, Romania, upon which the Palace of the Parliament (formerly known as House of the People) is now located.

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.

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 People's Salvation Cathedral (Romanian: Catedrala Mântuirii Neamului), also known as the National Cathedral (Romanian: Catedrala Națională), is an Orthodox cathedral under construction in Bucharest to serve as the patriarchal cathedral of the Romanian Orthodox Church. It is located in central Bucharest on Spirea's Hill (Arsenal Square), facing the same courtyard as the Palace of Parliament which is the heaviest building in the world, the cathedral having a tenth of its weight and about 24% of its volume. Situated behind the Palace of Parliament, this will make it 50 metres taller than the Palace, and will help to make the cathedral an iconic landmark in the city. The People's Salvation Cathedral is 86.2 metres (283 ft) above sea level, and at 135 metres (443 ft) height (ground-cross), holds a dominant position in Bucharest's cityscape, being visible from all approaches to the city.It is the tallest and largest Eastern Orthodox church building by volume, and area, in the world. The People's Salvation Cathedral will have the largest collection of church mosaics in the world (interior decoration) when it is completed, having about 25,000 square meters, including the mosaic of the altar is about 3,000 square meters. The mosaic of the National Cathedral contains glass made in Venice and Florence, as well as Carrara stone. Also the People's Salvation Cathedral has the world's largest Orthodox iconostasis (23.8 meters length and 17.1 meters height) and the world's largest free-swinging church bell.The cathedral is dedicated to the Ascension of Christ, which in Romania is celebrated as the Heroes' Day, and to Saint Andrew the Apostle, protector of Romania. The cathedral was consecrated on 25 November 2018 by the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople Bartholomew I, Patriarch Daniel of Romania and Metropolitan Chrysostomos (gr) of Patras from the Greek Orthodox Church. On the same day as the consecration, the very first church service of the cathedral took place and was led by both Patriarch Bartholomew and Patriarch Daniel. The first patronal feast of the People's Salvation Cathedral was celebrated on 30 November, on the day of Saint Andrew the First Called, and the Liturgy was officiated by Patriarch Theophilos III of Jerusalem and Patriarch Daniel of Romania. The first Te Deum of the cathedral was celebrated on 1 December 2018.

Stadionul Republicii (Romanian: [stadiˈonul reˈpublit͡ʃij], Stadium of the Republic) was a multi-use stadium in Bucharest, Romania. It was used mostly for football matches. The stadium was able to hold 28,026 spectators at its height and originally opened in 1926. It hosted 42 matches for the Romania national football team, 1 match for the Olympic National Team, 22 Romanian Football Cup finals and 15 European Cup matches. The stadium was originally built in 1926 as the Stadionul Oficiul Național de Educație Fizică, or simply Stadionul ONEF, and inaugurated on 9 May 1926 with a rugby match against the French army. It was destroyed by fire and rebuilt under the name Stadionul Republicii in 1948. It is located on Spirii Hill, the current location of the Palace of the Parliament. Since everything on the hill was cleared, including a former social high class and historic neighborhood, the stadium was demolished, but even to this day the ruins of the stands can be seen from above. There were projects to move the National Football Stadium that would host a UEFA Europa League final between 2010 and 2013 to the same location, but those failed when the city's town hall decided to demolish the Stadionul Național and build a new one dedicated only to football and concerts.

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 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.

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 Bulandra Theatre (Romanian: Teatrul Bulandra) in Bucharest, Romania was founded in 1947 as Teatrul Municipal; its first director was Lucia Sturdza-Bulandra, one of the leading Romanian stage actresses of her generation. Liviu Ciulei was director between 1963 and 1972; one of the most important directors since then was Ștefan Iordănescu (1999–2002), who restructured the theatre management. From 2002 until his death in 2019, the theatre was directed by Alexandru Darie; as of 2020, the director is Vlad Zamfirescu.Since 1991, the Bulandra Theatre has been a member of the Union of European Theatres, which was founded in March 1990. The theatre currently has two stages, located about 1.5 km (0.93 mi) apart from one another: Sala Liviu Ciulei, the former Sala Izvor (renovated 2002) near the Dâmboviţa River, not far from the southwest corner of Cișmigiu Gardens; and Sala Toma Caragiu (renovated 2003), about half a kilometer southeast of Piața Romană, just east of the Grădina Icoanei park. Originally Teatrul Municipal, the theatre later acquired the name Teatrul Lucia Sturdza Bulandra, now shortened to Teatrul Bulandra. The present Sala Liviu Ciulei (Izvor) was and remains the headquarters, housing offices as well as the actual theatre space. The main teatre building has been renamed in 2011 after the previous head of Bulandra Theatre, film and theatre director and actor Liviu Ciulei. Before Communist times, the second hall, located by Grădina Icoanei and designed by architect Ion Mincu, was the auditorium of a private school, Școala Centrală de Fete (Central Girls' School), located on Icoanei Street. After nationalization, the hall was first renamed after Filimon Sârbu, then later took its present name, in memory of actor Toma Caragiu.