Captain Craptek wrote:Gosh! You Euro-commies sure know how to spend The People's™ money wisely ...
... and the
full story behind, oh, geez . . .
(1) The "early" Ceauşescu had a good start (1967). Distanced substantially from the Muscovite master. Refused participation in the 1968 rape of Czechoslovakia. (responsibility was "distributed" : Moscow, under Brezhnev, ordered a gang rape - all Warsaw Pact countries were "obligated" to participate.)
Conducător (= Führer, literally) got - in the early years - support from the West. And Romania was seen as a hopeful breakaway from behind the Iron Curtain.
Now, 1971 Conducător went to North Korea (then ruled by grampa of today's Kimmie, Kim Il Sung - who started the, uh, Fundamental Red Transformation of NK, in 1948, post-WW2). Was a "comprehensive" visit, including China (+ Mongolia + Vietnam). Now, 1971 that was full blossoming of "Juche" in NK and advanced budding of the Maoist "Cultural Revolution", both acts of mad bombastic upheaval. And next - Conducător back home, turns out he swallowed the "revolutionary" madness hook, line and sinker. Romania started spiralling down, in all aspects.
and now :
(2) Mad grandiosity, iron grip on power levers (Ceauşescu, uneducated but shrewd, was good in power-control), "masses" start grumbling, so - time for Big Ideas! Among them - Palatul Parlamentului din Casa Poporului, = Parliament Palace(!) in People's House (! yep, no kiddin') (and
(rom.) poporului directly from
(lat.) populus). Another case of "history repeats itself" - kinda back to
Palace of Soviets plus same
"dreams" and "means".
Now, architectural aspects, and construction...
Just to make space for Conducător's jewel, a historic area (yep, historic: "old city" - ancient and blossoming in the Gründerzeit, the era of middle class formation in late 19th / early 20th century - with several very old churches and monasteries), all was razed. (what better way to stick it to the bourgeois?). (yep, there was an earthquake, in 1977, and "sumptin had to be done" - but
this?)
A single - very old - church, part of a monastery (Mihai Voda, of 16th century) was salvaged (yet monastery razed) - only to be, willfully (Ma'am Ceauşescu was instrumental in this), transplanted in a "no-man's-land": the "inner space" of a stereotypic "Plattenbau" (Ostblock-style prefabricated houses, key:
Khrushchyovka).
Imagine the happiness of the "masses" to finaly "have" their own Palazzo! Of historically unpredcedented grandeur! While the masses - particularly in cities - had to deal with daily blackouts, irregular and unannounced. Had to stay long lines for elementary food, often for naught - just like in today's Venezuela. And, of course, had to suffer bombastic speeches about (wait for it.. not kiddin') Further Progress, and North-Korea-style stiff party-dictated "optimism" dripping from state-owned, uh, media.
On the "aesthetic" side : take also a gander
inside the
Behemoth.
Largest administrative building on Earth : no,
not The Kube - Pentagon (btw, built in just 16 months(!)). And Nr-2? well well, Ceauşescu's Nightmare (built over 13 years). Says Comrade Google,
anyway.
București (= Bucharest), Mihai Voda Church :
Yep, Palatul Poporului explicitly refers Pyongyang's Kumsusan Palace (bottom pic).
The middle pic is Erdogan's White Palace in Ankara (2014, also mad - in very many aspects) :
