Socrates Comenius Culture Within Culture

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Socrates ComeniusCulture Within Culture

• Grup Scolar Virgil Madgearu Iasi
• Romania
• Stan Alexandra
• XIII H

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• Palace of the Parliament

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• Palace of the Parliament is the home of the
  Romanian Parliament in Bucharest, Romania

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• It was designed and almost finished by the
  Ceausescu regimen as the siege of political and
  administrative power. Its initial official name
  was People's House (Casa Poporului), a name still
  used by certain Romanians. After the Romanian
  Revolution in 1989 the (comparatively) little
  work that remained to be done advanced slowly, so
  some parts of the building are still unfinished.
  However, the building already hosts (among
  others) both Chambers of the Romanian Parliament.

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Description

• The structure combines elements and motifs from
  multiple sources, in an eclectic neoclassical
  architectural style.
• It measures 270 m by 240 m, 86 m high, and 92 m
  under ground. It has 1,100 rooms and is 12
  stories tall, with four additional underground
  levels currently available and in use, with
  another four in different stages of completion.

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• The building is constructed entirely of materials
  of Romanian origin. Estimates of the materials
  used include one million cubic meters of marble
  from Transylvania , most from Ruschita 3,500
  metric tones of crystal - 480 chandeliers, 1,409
  ceiling lights and mirrors were manufactured
  700,000 tones of steel and bronze for monumental
  doors and windows, chandeliers and capitals
  900,000 cubic meters of wood (over 95 domestic)
  for parquet and wainscoting, including walnut,
  oak, sweet cherry, elm, sycamore maple 200,000
  square meters of woolen carpets of various
  dimensions (machines had to be moved inside the
  building to weave some of the larger carpets)
  velvet and brocade curtains adorned with
  embroideries and passementeries in silver and
  gold.
• Constructing the Palace and The Civic Center
  required demolishing much of Bucharest's historic
  districts, including two neighborhoods with 19
  Orthodox Christian churches, 6 synagogues and
  Jewish temples, 3 Protestant churches (plus eight
  relocated churches), and 30,000 homes

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Construction

• Built on the site of a hill variously known as
  Spirii Hill, Uranus Hill and Arsenal Hill which
  were largely razed for the project, the building
  anchors the west end of Unirii Bulevard and the
  Civic Center.

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• Construction began in 1983 the cornerstone was
  laid on June 25, 1984. The building was
  originally known mainly as the House of the
  People (Casa Poporului), and sometimes as House
  of the Republic (Casa Republicii), and was
  intended to serve as headquarters for all the
  major state institutions. However, the project
  was just nearing completion at the time of
  NIcolae Ceausescus 1989 overthrow and execution.
  During the regime change, the new leaders of
  Romania referred to the building as the House of
  Ceausescu, using it as an example of the
  excessive luxury in which Ceausescu would have
  been living, a stark contrast to the squalor and
  poverty endured by many people living in the
  surrounding neighborhoods

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History since 1989

• Since 1997, the building has housed Romania's
  Chamber of Deputies, which had previously been
  housed in the Palace of the Patriarchy the
  Romanian Senate joined them there in 2005, having
  previously been housed in the former Communist
  Party Central Committee building. The Palace also
  contains a massive array of miscellaneous
  conference halls, salons, etc., used for a wide
  variety of other purposes.
• In 2002, Costa Gavras shot scenes of Amen. in
  the Palace to represent the Vatican palaces.

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• In 2003-2004 a glass annex was built, alongside
  external elevators. This was done to facilitate
  access to the National Museum of Contemporary Art
  (MNAC) opened in 2004 inside the west wing of the
  Palace of the Parliament, and to the Museum and
  Park of Totalitarianism and Socialist Realism,
  also opened in 2004.
• The cafeteria for use of the legislators has been
  refurbished . Also in the building is the
  headquarters of the Southeast European
  Cooperative Initiative (SECI), an organization
  focused on regional cooperation among governments
  against cross-border crime.
• Parts of the building (some of the west wing,
  some of the east wing, parts of the second floor,
  basement and everything below) are yet to be
  completed. Currently, a new underground car-park
  is being built inside a former stadium, currently
  used as a warehouse, which was covered during the
  construction of the palace. Tunnels linking 13th
  September Avenue with the basement of the
  building will be built.
• There are public tours organized in a number of
  languages.

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Myths and Misconceptions

• A number of misconceptions about the building are
  often repeated as though they were fact. Among
  these are that the Palace of the Parliament
• Is the second largest building in the world,
  after the Pentagon. This claim is sometimes
  modified as the second largest administrative or
  conventional building in the world.
• Is one of only two human-made structures visible
  from space, the other being the Great Wall of
  China.
• Is one of the most lavish and expensive buildings
  known to mankind.
• Was built on 1/6 of the surface area of
  Bucharest.
• Is 10 larger by volume than the Great Pyramid of
  Giza.

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• While it is possible that the building was one of
  the largest structures at the time it was built,
  many larger buildings now exist, including those
  specifically for administrative purposes.
  Innumerable human-made structures can be viewed
  from space. Though "lavish" is a subjective
  measure, many buildings such as the palaces of
  the Saudi royal family are surely more lavish.
  Many buildings have cost more though no
  definitive list exists, the Embassy of the United
  States in Baghdad will cost a minimum of 592
  million US, and Mukesh Ambani is spending a
  reported one billion dollars on his private
  residence in Mumbai. Claims to have razed 1/6 of
  Bucharest in the construction of the building are
  simply preposterous. Claims about the relative
  volume of the building to other buildings are
  dubious without hard numbers. However, the myths
  about the vastness of the building persist
  despite all evidence available to the contrary.