In the heart of Romania’s capital city, towering above Bucharest like a silent witness to history, stands the Palace of the Parliament. It is not just a building, but a monument to one man’s obsession with power and control. This colossal structure is the largest parliamentary building in the world and the second-largest administrative building after the Pentagon. Yet its origins are far from noble.
Born from the megalomania of Romania’s last communist dictator, Nicolae Ceaușescu, the palace was part of an audacious plan to reshape Bucharest into a socialist utopia. To build it, entire neighborhoods were erased, thousands were displaced, and the country’s resources were drained.
To this day, the building stands as a symbol of both oppression and progress, excess and endurance. But how did this monumental project come to be? What sacrifices were made to bring it to life? And what does it represent today? Click through this gallery to find out.