The People's House in Bucharest has nowadays the status of some sort of an icon of our capital. Especially for foreigners, this is very often the objective that mustn't by any chance be missed when you visit the city. I personally have always tried to avoid to recommend it to people visiting the city, and I must now admit that that wasn't a rational decision. It was due to the aversion I developed towards it as a Romanian and as an inhabitant of Bucharest. Innermost, secretly, I think that by this attitude I somehow wanted to make it disappear, to undo it, to annul its force over the actual Bucharest.
Of course you have to see the People's House once you come to Bucharest. This monstrosity tells one so much about our past and about the present of my country. What was it meant to be, how it was constructed, what do they do with it now. By observing these simple things, I think that the eye of an outsider could begin to understand.
Some time ago I began gathering materials about this building in order to write a paper for one of my seminaries. What struck me from the beginning was the lack of materials, the lack of information concerning it. I thought that if I don't find in Internet some reliable information, I would at least find what I need when I would go in Romania. I continued searching the catalogs of the libraries in Bucharest, I asked a friend studying architecture to search also in the library of his university. All this was almost in vain. Because in Bucharest I actually couldn't find much more that what I managed to find in Berlin. Of course, I'm referring here only to the printed materials. Probably by talking with the right people, I could have been able to find out much more.
The scarce information already told me some things: firstly, a foreigner visiting the People's House couldn't find too much about the past and present of Romania, he could only get struck by the immensity of the construction and wonder about its dimensions; secondly the information about the People's House is being partially concealed to the public; thirdly, the subject is not being researched by specialists, no books are being written, almost no articles are being published. But why? Why?!
At the Staatsbilbiothek in Berlin, I found the book written in French by Ioana Iossa in the year 2006: "L'Heritage urbain de Ceausescu: Fardeau ou saut en avant? Le Centre civique de Bucharest"* I think this is the only book concerning the People's House which has been written till now. It cannot be found at the University Library in the center of Bucharest (the most popular library in Bucharest). You can only read it at the National Library. Of course that in book shops it would be difficult to find it, it being a French publication. I wonder though why hasn't it been till now translated, considering the fact that it is really an important study about the recent past of Bucharest?...
The other for me important source of orientation in what concerns this theme, are the articles of Augustin Ioan, from what I heard and noticed, one of the very few Romanian theoreticians of architecture. I really feel grateful and I admire his unique and sustained effort for the decoding of the significations of this construction and for making the public opinion awake in what it is concerned.**
After this very long introduction, I will now proceed in shortly telling the story of the People's House, as I could retrace it from the sources I already mentioned and from some other few articles.
It all began with the earth quake in Romania of the year 1977, which made the most victims in Bucharest: 1424 people died and over 33 big blocks and buildings collapsed. Ceauşescu immediately grasped this unique occasion and started materializing his old dreams about a new magnificent Bucharest that would suit him better. Under the excuse that very many buildings in the center of the capital are in such a bad condition that they will surely collapse at the next earth quake, he very soon began giving orders for erasing large parts of the old center of the city, making thus place for his imagined constructions.
Teams of architects have been formed already since the fall of 1977 and the first proposals for the reconstruction of the city have been presented. The efforts made by many of the architects to orient the project in the direction of moderate changes and to the respect towards the buildings that already existed, have been in vain. During the years of the projecting of the new "Civic Center" of Bucharest, the dictator has always preferred to decide alone. His main tendency was to transform Bucharest in something extraordinary, unique, with an extremely "central and centralizing" building in its middle.
In the year 1981, the twelfth contest has been launched (just for the People's House). The team that won was that of the very young architect Anca Petrescu. She and her team had been sympathized by Ceauşescu especially for the reason of the age (they were very young) and for her name ("Petrescu" was also the maiden name of Elene Ceausescu - the dictator's wife).
400 architects worked under her direction in order to conceive the building. Other 300 designed the Civic Center (that was mainly formed by the very large boulevard - The Boulevard of Victory of Socialism - in front of the House and the blocks that flank it).
The People's House was supposed to shelter the Council of Ministers, the Council of the State and the Politburo. At the same time, its structure was meant to withstand approximately 25 seismic cycles, which means that the construction was meant (and made) to be indestructible.
In 1984, the construction of the House was happily been inaugurated by the ruling couple. Of course that everything began with the process of "making place" for the new communist urban magnificence.
And thus, between 1984 and 1987:
- 400 ha of town have been erased;
- 9000 houses dating back to the 19th century or older have been demolished;
- 40.000 people have been moved in new "modern apartments" in the new neighborhoods at the outskirts of the city;
- two neighborhoods have been almost completely erased (Izvor - dating back to the 17th century, full of Boyer houses, villas, public constructions, all of which with yard and garden and Dudeşti-Văcăreşti-Th.Speranţia where many houses of merchants with 2-3 levels and lots of synagogues were being found) ;
Between 1977 and 1989:
- 20 orthodox churches have disappeared and other 8 have been mutilated;
- 3 houses of cult of other religions and 6 synagogues have been demolished;
What concerns the churches which haven't been demolished, their image and the the surroundings have been altered because of the constructions and of the demolitions in the vicinity.
All in all 1/5 of the historical buildings of Bucharest has been destroyed.
I would oppose this kind of statistics to the ones sold to us by the guides who show the visitors some of the splendors of the People's House. Some months ago I made a touristic tour of the building. It lasted 45 minutes and the guide told us that we would be shown approximately 4-5% of the House. The main part of the speech of this guide consisted in numbers: so many meters, such a height, so many tones of materials, so many candelabras, so big, so great. It has also once been mentioned that some buildings had to be demolished in order to construct all this. And that was all. No numbers this time. Nothing about what the Romanian people had to endure in order for this monstrosity to be built. Nothing about the people who died during the construction. Nothing about the depersonalization of the city which occurred because of the new constructions.
(to be soon continued...)
Here are some great photos by Dan Vartanian around the theme.
* L'Harmattan Publishing House, Paris, 2006
** Some articled by Augustin Ioan you can find here or here.
- Some of the photos have been taken from here and from here.
Of course you have to see the People's House once you come to Bucharest. This monstrosity tells one so much about our past and about the present of my country. What was it meant to be, how it was constructed, what do they do with it now. By observing these simple things, I think that the eye of an outsider could begin to understand.
Some time ago I began gathering materials about this building in order to write a paper for one of my seminaries. What struck me from the beginning was the lack of materials, the lack of information concerning it. I thought that if I don't find in Internet some reliable information, I would at least find what I need when I would go in Romania. I continued searching the catalogs of the libraries in Bucharest, I asked a friend studying architecture to search also in the library of his university. All this was almost in vain. Because in Bucharest I actually couldn't find much more that what I managed to find in Berlin. Of course, I'm referring here only to the printed materials. Probably by talking with the right people, I could have been able to find out much more.
The scarce information already told me some things: firstly, a foreigner visiting the People's House couldn't find too much about the past and present of Romania, he could only get struck by the immensity of the construction and wonder about its dimensions; secondly the information about the People's House is being partially concealed to the public; thirdly, the subject is not being researched by specialists, no books are being written, almost no articles are being published. But why? Why?!
At the Staatsbilbiothek in Berlin, I found the book written in French by Ioana Iossa in the year 2006: "L'Heritage urbain de Ceausescu: Fardeau ou saut en avant? Le Centre civique de Bucharest"* I think this is the only book concerning the People's House which has been written till now. It cannot be found at the University Library in the center of Bucharest (the most popular library in Bucharest). You can only read it at the National Library. Of course that in book shops it would be difficult to find it, it being a French publication. I wonder though why hasn't it been till now translated, considering the fact that it is really an important study about the recent past of Bucharest?...
The other for me important source of orientation in what concerns this theme, are the articles of Augustin Ioan, from what I heard and noticed, one of the very few Romanian theoreticians of architecture. I really feel grateful and I admire his unique and sustained effort for the decoding of the significations of this construction and for making the public opinion awake in what it is concerned.**
After this very long introduction, I will now proceed in shortly telling the story of the People's House, as I could retrace it from the sources I already mentioned and from some other few articles.
It all began with the earth quake in Romania of the year 1977, which made the most victims in Bucharest: 1424 people died and over 33 big blocks and buildings collapsed. Ceauşescu immediately grasped this unique occasion and started materializing his old dreams about a new magnificent Bucharest that would suit him better. Under the excuse that very many buildings in the center of the capital are in such a bad condition that they will surely collapse at the next earth quake, he very soon began giving orders for erasing large parts of the old center of the city, making thus place for his imagined constructions.
Teams of architects have been formed already since the fall of 1977 and the first proposals for the reconstruction of the city have been presented. The efforts made by many of the architects to orient the project in the direction of moderate changes and to the respect towards the buildings that already existed, have been in vain. During the years of the projecting of the new "Civic Center" of Bucharest, the dictator has always preferred to decide alone. His main tendency was to transform Bucharest in something extraordinary, unique, with an extremely "central and centralizing" building in its middle.
In the year 1981, the twelfth contest has been launched (just for the People's House). The team that won was that of the very young architect Anca Petrescu. She and her team had been sympathized by Ceauşescu especially for the reason of the age (they were very young) and for her name ("Petrescu" was also the maiden name of Elene Ceausescu - the dictator's wife).
400 architects worked under her direction in order to conceive the building. Other 300 designed the Civic Center (that was mainly formed by the very large boulevard - The Boulevard of Victory of Socialism - in front of the House and the blocks that flank it).
The People's House was supposed to shelter the Council of Ministers, the Council of the State and the Politburo. At the same time, its structure was meant to withstand approximately 25 seismic cycles, which means that the construction was meant (and made) to be indestructible.
In 1984, the construction of the House was happily been inaugurated by the ruling couple. Of course that everything began with the process of "making place" for the new communist urban magnificence.
And thus, between 1984 and 1987:
- 400 ha of town have been erased;
- 9000 houses dating back to the 19th century or older have been demolished;
- 40.000 people have been moved in new "modern apartments" in the new neighborhoods at the outskirts of the city;
- two neighborhoods have been almost completely erased (Izvor - dating back to the 17th century, full of Boyer houses, villas, public constructions, all of which with yard and garden and Dudeşti-Văcăreşti-Th.Speranţia where many houses of merchants with 2-3 levels and lots of synagogues were being found) ;
Between 1977 and 1989:
- 20 orthodox churches have disappeared and other 8 have been mutilated;
- 3 houses of cult of other religions and 6 synagogues have been demolished;
What concerns the churches which haven't been demolished, their image and the the surroundings have been altered because of the constructions and of the demolitions in the vicinity.
All in all 1/5 of the historical buildings of Bucharest has been destroyed.
I would oppose this kind of statistics to the ones sold to us by the guides who show the visitors some of the splendors of the People's House. Some months ago I made a touristic tour of the building. It lasted 45 minutes and the guide told us that we would be shown approximately 4-5% of the House. The main part of the speech of this guide consisted in numbers: so many meters, such a height, so many tones of materials, so many candelabras, so big, so great. It has also once been mentioned that some buildings had to be demolished in order to construct all this. And that was all. No numbers this time. Nothing about what the Romanian people had to endure in order for this monstrosity to be built. Nothing about the people who died during the construction. Nothing about the depersonalization of the city which occurred because of the new constructions.
(to be soon continued...)
Here are some great photos by Dan Vartanian around the theme.
* L'Harmattan Publishing House, Paris, 2006
** Some articled by Augustin Ioan you can find here or here.
- Some of the photos have been taken from here and from here.
