I ended up back on a walk done out of necessity, not pleasure. The need to do some medical tests carried steps to a part of town where I rarely go.
It could have been a boring walk, but I got lucky. The surroundings were spectacular. We passed by some iconic if controversial, sights of Bucharest.
It was a walk around a special place in town. The place where there was once a famous old neighborhood that disappeared at the will of one man. Unfortunately, that man was a dictator and he had the power to destroy an entire neighborhood.
Why did the communist dictator want to demolish such a neighborhood?
Because he had just come from North Korea and was impressed by the buildings there, have the idea to build a civic center in Bucharest following the Korean model. Because bad luck made this neighborhood to be in the city center and the dictator, lacking schooling and culture, understood that a civic center must be right in the center...because that's why it's called a civic center.
Former House of the People, the current Parliament of Romania
In the center of the civic center was built the People's House, a pharaonic palace inappropriate for people like the Romanians. In a communist regime, everything belongs to the people, but it is used by the people through its representatives, i.e. the communist nomenclature.
The neighborhood I'm talking about was here, everywhere you see in the photo. Now all you see is this huge building, which has some features and dimensions that are hard to understand.
The building has a floor area of 330,000 m2 and, according to the World Records Academy, ranks second in the world after the Pentagon building in terms of "Administrative Buildings" and third in the world after the Cape Canaveral Space Rocket Assembly Building in Florida and the Pyramid of Quetzalcoatl in Mexico in terms of volume. By way of comparison, this building is 2% larger than the Pyramid of Cheops in Egypt, which is why some sources describe it as 'pharaonic'. Source
To get to the hospital where I had an ultrasound, I crossed Izvor Park. Before the demolition of the neighborhood, there was a small park with this name, a park that turned into a big one afterward.
If you do not believe in global warming I have an argument and proof. A man sunbathing, naked. The date is April 2nd! In the past, on this day we had snow and freezing temperatures.
The ride becomes alert because I am running late. I approach the building that is now the Parliament building.
The Palace of Parliament in Bucharest, Romania (known before the 1989 revolution as the House of the Republic or the People's House), measures 270 m by 240 m, 84 m high, and 92 m underground built in the spirit of socialist realist architecture. It has 9 levels above ground and 9 underground. According to the World Records Academy, the Palace of Parliament is the third largest administrative building for civilian use by surface area in the world, the most expensive administrative building in the world, and the heaviest building in the world.Source
If you have read this far you now know the size of this building and the fact that it is among the three largest, most expensive, and heaviest in the world. Can you understand the megalomania of a man who decided to build a building of such dimensions without any public utility to justify it?
Romania is a small and insignificant country in this world and here there is now a building that the great powers of this world and the richest countries could not afford to build. Who cannot understand what totalitarianism means, I hope he understands now.
In Romania, a man with no education and no studies, who became the leader of a totalitarian party, could force a people to work and pay for this pharaonic construction.
I left the park and continued the walk which has now become almost running. I still have some walking and I think I'll be late. I've been looking at Izvor Park for a while.
I waited for a bus that didn't come in time, so I will continue walking-running...
... and looking around and photographing for this post. I saw two houses in the old neighborhood that were not demolished. One that seems uninhabited.
And one that has been renovated.
But the right side of the road is still more exciting. The Palace of Parliament is no longer visible, but something else has begun to dominate the landscape behind the fence surrounding the gardens.
People never learn from past mistakes.
What you can see over the fence in the Parliament garden is a cathedral under construction. The Cathedral of the Salvation of the Nation!
The Cathedral of the Salvation of the Nation, with the main patronage of "The Ascension of the Lord" and the secondary patronage of "St. Apostle Andrew"[1], is the largest church in Romania and one of the largest Orthodox churches in the world. The capacity is 6000 people, including 1000 seats, the choir space is sized for 300 people, and the ground floor of the cathedral will house a multi-purpose hall and museum spaces for 2000 people, with toilets and a wardrobe. The maximum height is 120 meters at the top of the cross on the main dome.Source
Construction began in 2007 and is expected to be completed in 2025.
The total cost is controversial. Estimates have ranged from €400 million to €1 billion!
From the beginning, it was said that the money needed for this construction would be collected from the population, from the faithful. This was not the case, only 30% of the costs were from donations, and the rest of the money came from the government and local administrations, so from the state budget.
There are many critics of this new pharaonic construction. First of all, nothing has been learned from the lesson of the parliament building, which cost 3 billion euros and has an exorbitant maintenance cost.
It ranks 2nd in the world for "the most expensive, unsuccessful and shameful architectural projects ever made" by the world's most visited architecture website, ArchDaily. Although it cost and costs a huge amount of money, 70% of it is unused, much of it structured not for the needs of individuals but for the megalomaniacal desires of Ceaușescu, the cult of personality has left its mark on this building.Source
Although the Church's desire for a cathedral is understandable, it could have been more modest.
In Romania, there is a saying:
What does a bald man need a pearl cap for?
It means that when you are poor and have many other needs, you can't afford to do things beyond your ability to support, or when you are poor you spend on expensive things just for bragging but without any benefit.
This saying applies very well to the two constructions in Bucharest which are far too big and expensive to be borne by the Romanian people.
The walk run continues past an important hotel housed in a building constructed at the same time as the parliament building. Originally it had a different purpose but after the 1989 revolution, when Romania escaped communism and became a democratic and capitalist country, it was converted into a hotel. Hotel owned by a famous brand.
The hospital I was supposed to go to was nearby. I stopped my walking and running for a second and looked back at the Cathedral of the Nation. I even said a little prayer in my head...haha.
I think I found the prayer helpful. The test results weren't as bad as I thought.
The walk of need is over, and so is her story.
I wanted it to be more than a description of a walk. The fact that necessity brought me close to two important buildings of the city, which are also tourist attractions, makes me want this post to be an invitation to travel to Romania and Bucharest.
These two imposing buildings, The Parliament in special, even if rejected by the Romanians, are a curiosity for foreign tourists.
This whole story might not interest anyone but I hope you find something interesting in the photos. Because, after all, photos are what it's all about.
Make a point of looking around and up and see what you can find to get shots of that otherwise you may miss.
This is one of the recommendations made by @tattoodjay for those who prefer walking and are used to sharing impressions and photos in his community, Wednesday Walk, every Wednesday, like this one today.
