The Civic Centre was meant to be a fully functional area where the “working people” would find everything they needed and where the Socialist victory was at its best; in fact, this area was meant for the important official figures; we are talking about an area of the city located between Alba Iulia Square and the Palace of the Parliament. The avenue in the center of this stretch, Unirii Avenue (originally called “The Socialism Victory Boulevard”) was intended as the main axis for former President Ceaușescu’s utopian dreams; this 3.5 km. long avenue was built to exceed the both the length and the width of the Avenue des Champs-Élysées. The fountains plying the avenue used to be notorious for their bad - if at all - functioning in the 1990s, but now they are working and the trees around have grown, so that the area has got a certain life boost.
The main piece of the area is
the Palace of the Parliament, the second biggest building in the world. It was built in shape of a pyramid, it has 12 floors above the ground (84 m. tall) and a total surface of 330,000 sq. m. The grand staircases, huge doorways and the huge number of rooms, many of which are still unused make it for this crazy “Achievement of the Socialist Era”. The widest hall, the Unification Hall (2,200 sq. m. wide and 16 m. tall), has a sliding ceiling large enough for a helicopter to land and a 14 tons carpet woven on premises. The heaviest chandelier in the building (the one in the small Parliament Hall) weights 3 tons and has 7,000 bulbs. The whole building is not yet fully accomplished. On the site where it exists today, there used to be a hill: Spirii Hill, hosting “Curtea Nouă” fortress. In order to have the Palace built, the Court, as well as the whole old neighborhood around it, were razed off, while the hill actually perished, with the diggings meant to create the huge hall for the underground levels of the future Palace.
Note: If you want to visit the palace, follow these steps:
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1.Call at 021-4141426 or 3113611 between 09:00 AM and 02:00 PM, be persistent, let the phone ring for a long time; if you go there without a booking and hope to go in, that is just taking chances that they have available tours at that time
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2.Ask for a booking according to the tour you are interested in (find them all here) for one of the following days
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3.You will be confirmed a day and time when this is possible; be punctual, but do not expect them to be so, delays do occur
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4.When getting there on the scheduled day and time, refer first to the Info Point, you will be given a paper with your booking, then refer to the desk inside the souvenir shop and pay, then wait for them to call you
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5.Prepare yourself for a thorough security checking, similar to the one at the airport. Also, do not expect formalities to be fast or staff to be polite, for they are generally not, rather being perfect clerks of Kadare's pyramid they work in. And do not get angry, crap is never worth that. Tourists’ entrance lies at GPS - N44 25.718 E26 05.252 (2-4 Izvor Str.). Visitors must have an ID with them (driving license, passport or an E.U. country ID); it will remain at reception for the duration of your visit.
Other administrative buildings shared the same purposely impressive style and kitschy blend of details, while the new city was meant to be dotted with enormous ‘agricultural and foodstuff stores’ (Ro. complex agroalimentar). The latter were meant to replace the traditional marketplaces where farmers from the countryside had used to come and sell their produce. The end of the 1980s however saw a dramatic shortage of products in shops, foodstuffs included, the basics being rationalized. As a result, the aforementioned stores, with their countless shops and counters, were often empty of everything, hence the people’s calling them ‘the starvation hall’ (Ro. circul foamei). Following the 1989 coup and change of regime, they were overtaken by private businesses and turned into universities (one such structure hosting three universities, just off Timpuri Noi subway station) or malls (a sample lies on Trafic Greu Road, upon its crossing with the Calea Rahovei). One of the most convenient such structure to see lies just off Piața Unirii in the city centre, along the Corneliu Coposu (behind Unirea Shopping Centre).
The Free Press House (Casa Presei Libere). Not of the same era, but of the same approach (in the “look at me, I am big, isn’t it?” style), and also because it does not deserve a special post, I shall mention here the Free Press House (yes, some name). Located in the Northern part of the city, it was built in 1956 and it is the typical sample of Stalinist architecture, resembling the Palace of Culture in Warsaw, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs or the Hotel Ukraina in Moscow. Formerly known as Casa Scânteii (House of the Spark), this building was set at the Northern entrance in the city and played host for all newspapers and other printed media of the communist times. On the marble pedestal in front of it there used to be the statue of Lenin, but it was taken down in 1990 and replaced at first with the Romanian and European Union flags, and later on with different temporary statues, while Lenin’s statue was dropped near Mogoșoaia Palace nowadays; December 2014 saw the pedestal replaced with a 20 m. tall stainless steel monument called ‘the Wings’ (three wings raising from a tumulus), symbolizing the success of the anti-Communist movement. However the old Communist logo (the scythe and hammer) remains up on the building: look for it on the sides, right under the antenna pole at the top of the building.
Planning on visiting the place? If you enter one of the sides and put on that ‘I’m here on business’ look, you might get in and wander at will. Otherwise put on a fancy shirt, get an empty laptop bag along, wear your best shoes, as well as that serious, goddamn concerned look and head straight for the main entrance. If they ask anything, answer in Finnish. It lies on 1 Piața Presei Libere, being accessible by bus #335 and 131 from Aviatorilor subway station. GPS - N44 28.735 E26 04.336
