Bucharest

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http://www.heygo.com 3rd February - Bucharest



A different tour today, not so much about the postcard views but an interesting insight into the political timeline of Romania.



A first virtual tour by Mihai, our guide today was in a park overlooking the huge Parliament Building.



Built by Communist Party leader, Nicolae Ceausescu, the colossal Palace of the Parliament, formerly known as the People’s Palace, is the second largest administrative building in the world after the Pentagon.



It took 20,000 workers and 700 architects to build this massive structure. The palace boasts 12 stories, 1,100 rooms, a 100-m-long lobby and four underground levels, including an enormous nuclear bunker.



When construction started in 1984, the dictator intended it to be the headquarters of his government. Today, it houses the Parliament of Romania and serves as an international conference center. Built and furnished exclusively with Romanian materials, the building reflects the work of the country’s best artisans.

The interior is a luxurious display of crystal chandeliers, mosaics, oak paneling, marble, gold leaf, stained-glass windows and floors covered in rich carpets.



Following the 1977 earthquake the city centre suffered significant damage, and a large number of historic buildings were demolished to make way for the new Civic Centre.

As part of the project this boulevard was to be Communist Romania’s answer to Paris’s Avenue des Champs-Elysees.

On a grey day we could only imagine the beauty of Union Boulevard so I have googled a couple of great images.



Bucharest is a relatively new city: mention of it is not made until 1459, as one of the residences of Vlad III (the Impaler), ruler of Wallachia. The exact origins of the city are therefore unknown. Folklore has it that a shepherd, Bucur, founded the city, but a more likely candidate is Radu Voda, ruler of Wallachia.



During the 1920s and 1930s Bucharest was one of Europe’s most architecturally avant-garde cities. Large numbers of art deco buildings were constructed around the city. The 1930s were also a time of great poverty and of fascism: the unspeakably evil, sinister Legionnaire movement roamed the streets killing Jews and anyone else they took a dislike to.



Bucharest was heavily bombed during the latter part of World War II, but in comparison with much of Europe the city emerged from the war relatively unscathed. The communist authorities installed by the Soviet Union at the end of the war therefore initially made their mark not by rebuilding the city but by greatly extending it. Huge housing estates were built.



On 20 August 1944, the Soviet Red Army crossed the border into Romania. On 23 August 1944, Antonescu was toppled and arrested by King Michael 1 who joined the Allies and declared war on Germany. On 31 August 1944, the Red Army entered Bucharest.

Despite Romania's change of sides, its role in the defeat of Nazi Germany was not recognized by the Paris Peace Conference of 1947.



Soviet Occupation following World War II strengthened - King Michael 1 was forced to abdicate & Romania was proclaimed a Peoples Republic and remained under military and economic control of the Soviet Union until the late 1950s



Following the withdrawal of Soviet troops in April 1958. Romania was under the new leadership of Nicolae Ceaușescu



In 1977 the biggest earthquake in the city’s history killed more than 1,500 people. Many buildings were destroyed or damaged beyond repair, and Romania’s leader Nicolae Ceausescu took the opportunity to remodel the city in his own vision.



In November 1987, in a scene that would have been unthinkable just a few years before, thousands of workers stormed the Communist Party headquarters in Brasov. Records were destroyed, as was a grand portrait of Ceausescu.

Finally, in December of 1989, a popular revolt, aided by the army, pushed the Ceausescus from power and into the courtroom.

As Romania wrestled with violence, the country's new leaders wanted to show the population that it no longer needed to worry about the Ceausescus.

On December 25, in a show trial that lasted less than an hour, the couple was charged with genocide and other crimes. Shortly after their conviction, the Ceausescus were led outside and executed by a firing squad. The two were buried at the Ghencea Cemetery in Bucharest.

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