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I want to tell you how much I am enjoying the travelogue and how much I appreciate you sharing it with us/me. Since I am not familiar with the area at all, only through reading limited history, this has been a real treat.
I, for one, enjoyed the pictures of Bucharest (sp). I assume that the blocks of buildings along the streets are apartments, as someone mentioned. Amazing. Are they fairly liveable inside ?
Thank you for the nice words.
Most of blocks that appear in these pictures are appartment buildings, but not from communist period. They're built in 1930s-1940s. These buildings are quite confortable inside and have stylish decorations. Their problem is the state of disrepair, also the fact that for the period when they're built they were a novelty and some principles of design were too ideologic (the influence of Corbusier perhaps), so many of them have not individual but common kitchens and bathrooms, althought the rest of the appartment is really bourgeois.
As for the blocks built during communist period, the appartments are small, very basic and different from other former communist countries, the spaces between blocks are smaller, making them more of "human warehouses".
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The Palace of the Parliament (sp) took some getting used to. I have never seen anything so immense, so overwhelming, such scale of grandeur, except maybe Versailles. Who paid for this behemoth, the Romanian government ? I could not quite take it all in. It is beautiful and the fountains must be pretty spectacular. You mentioned a historic district was destroyed to make this "palace" ?
The construction of the Palace costed 3 bn euro, which is twice the cost of the 800 m tall Burj Khalifa and perhaps is the most expensive European building in terms of construction costs.
It was built in the 1980s under communism and ceașescu and the population was reduced to a very low live level in order to built it, also because ceaușescu wanted to eliminate all of Romania's extern debt.
The Palace is situated on a small hill which before its construction was a neighborhood of beautiful late 19th - early 20th century villas. Tens of churches, also some synagogues have been demolished for its construction, together with thousands of those villas. You can find more info about this on Wikipedia.
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I have not been through the whole thread and will take it by stages as time permits. Thank you again for doing this. I am looking forward to my next session. I think I may have fallen in love with Romania.
Thank you much! I'm now going to visit and photograph the Cotroceni Presidential Palace, photos will be ready some hours later.
Last edited by CARPATHIAN; 03-23-2013 at 11:21 PM..
It was first a monastery built on a forested hill near Bucharest in 1681. Much of the fortified cloister is preserved to this day, but the Princely House and Abbot House were demolished in late 19th century to be replaced by a palace built for Ferdinand, at the time Heir Apparent. In 1895 Ferdinand and his whife moved into Palace. The architect who designed it was Paul Gottereau, who also designed the CEC Bank Palace and the Carol I Foundation (University Library).
In 1984, the church of the monastery, damaged at the 1977 earthquake, was demolished. It will be rebuilt and opened in 2008, incorporating original sculpted decorations and murals.
Over time, the monastery and then the palace were used by almost all rulers of Wallachia and Romania or other historical figures, among others Tudor Vladimirescu and Alexandru Ioan Cuza.
Inside are valuable artworks, furniture and decorations, including 18th century French tapestries, precious paintings etc. The original furniture of the royal family as well as many objects belonging to them are preserved and displayed.
Unfortunately, photos was permitted only in three from the numerous visitable rooms.
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