A symbol of dictatorship, the building called the House of People's cynical, as the people could not even circulate around it, is inscribed in the Book of Records as the second building in the world after the Pentagon. It has a total area of 330,000 square meters. It also holds the unofficial title of the largest civilian building in the world.
The architect of the construction started in 1983 was Anca Petrescu. For its construction, entire neighborhoods were demolished on a surface comparable to Venice. Churches and heritage buildings have been demolished, with 40,000 people being forced to leave their homes. The exact number of those who died during the building of the People's House is unknown, but workers and soldiers brought from all over the country under conditions sometimes close to slavery, on a site lacking toilets or other elementary conditions. In the 1980s, 20,000 shift workers were working on these sites covering all 24 hours.
Given Ceausescu's nationalist pride, respected by the oligarchy around him, only two materials from outside the border were used in the People's House: two expensive woods from India and Zaire (a gift from dictator Mobutu Sese Seko). A third, a green marble, was used by those who decorated the Plenum Hall after the Revolution. In spite of this ambition, the sources of inspiration of the dictator are clear: the Pyong Yang North Korean city for the exterior and the buildings around the People's House, designed to house state institutions and the Communist nomenclature, and Versailles Palace for the interior.
Neither the amount spent by Romanians for this Pharaonic project can be but much more approximated. Only the rise of the palace until 1989, when only two halls were ready, seems to have swallowed over a billion dollars, in the conditions of a starvation of the majority of the population comparable to the state of a population during the war. According to other sources, which adds to the exorbitant spending after the Revolution, this tourist attraction has cost the Romanians so far about 3 billion euros.
They used: one million cubic meters of marble, 5,500 tons of cement, 7,000 tons of steel, 20,000 tons of sand, 200,000 cubic meters of glass, etc. Adrian Nastase also wanted to fulfill his predecessor's building and added a glass construction that allows access to the building area where the National Museum of Contemporary Art was arranged. The little tower of glass has nothing to do with the architecture and so eclectic of the building. There was also a restaurant, swimming pool, sauna, underground parking, etc., but still a large part of the built surface of the work is unfinished and therefore unused. On the ground floor there is a Museum of the Parliament, in which there are various decorations, historical documents, statues of politicians and historical figures or paintings of Ceausescu's court painters, such as Sabin Balasa.
At present, the Parliament Palace houses the two components of the legislature, the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate. The most impressive room of the People's House is the Chamber of Deputies' Plenary Hall, covered with a matte green and blue glass dome, supported on a brass frame.
The walls are marble-decorated with Gura Văii and Antigua (green marble), brought from Iraq, and solid wood walnut doors. Upholstered furniture with leather is also a luxury one, as well as intercom equipment.
Other impressive venues are: Unirii Hall, CA Rosetti Hall, Take Ionescu Hall, Ion IC Bratianu Hall, AI Cuza Hall, Nicolae Iorga Hall, Nicolae Balcescu Hall, or Hall of Human Rights. In total there are 5,100 rooms and 500 toilets.
All carpets were hand-crafted at Cisnadie and either they were in one piece or were assembled in the respective rooms. The largest chandelier in the building, located in the Unirii Hall, weighs 5 tons, but there are others (altogether 2,800), such as Medias glass in the Hall of Human Rights. For lighting he uses 7000 light bulbs.
The Marsh of Ruschita also abounds in the Palace's halls and halls. The Nicolae Iorga Hall was decorated in German style to mimic the arrangement of the Peles Palace.
In Nicolae Balcescu Hall, the walls are made of pink marble from Ruschiţa, and the brocade curtains are woven in silk from Sighişoara. Here was used, besides the most expensive Romanian cherry essences, the mahogany wood received a gift from Mobutu Sese Seko. In the IC Bratianu room were used even the red velvet drapes with gold and silver thread handmade by the nuns from Agapia and Văratec monasteries.
Various paintings and tapestries of Romanian artists are displayed in various rooms: Angela Brădean, Marin David, Ovidiu Moga, Maria Nemeş, Gheorghe Simion, Nicolae Blei, Margareta Sterian.
