First sight of the Congress Palace in Bucharest

At the end of 2023, at the warm invitation of Romanian customers, a group of our colleagues came to Romania. Our first stop was the capital Bucharest (referred to as "Bu Village" by the Chinese). Bucharest is the country's economic, cultural and transportation center. It is located in the middle of the Wallachian Plain in southeastern Romania, with tributaries of the Danube River flowing through the city. It covers an area of 605 square kilometers and has a population of 1.68 million. Bucharest is the largest industrial center in the country. The industries are mainly machinery manufacturing, chemistry, electronics and textile industries. There are many types of food industries, and industries such as electric power, metallurgy, clothing, shoemaking, glass, papermaking and printing have developed greatly.

The scenery of Bu Village is very beautiful, with many ancient buildings; one of the city scenes below is taken in the early morning and evening, respectively.

Early morning and evening

Under the guidance of the client, we visited the important tourist attraction in the city - the Palace of Parliament. The Palace of Parliament is located on a hillside in the southwest of Bucharest. It was originally called the People's Palace and the Palace of the Republic. It was built during the reign of Nicolae Ceausescu, the former Chairman of the Council of State of the Socialist Republic of Romania. It is now the House and Senate of the Romanian Parliament and the Constitution. The offices of courts and some important agencies are located here. Construction started in 1984, with a construction area of 330,000 square meters. The main building on the ground is 84 meters high, with 11 floors above ground and 7 floors in the basement. It is said to be the second largest administrative building in the world after the Pentagon in the United States. The Palace of Parliament was extremely expensive, costing US$2 billion in 1989. It was the most unpopular project undertaken by Ceausescu in his later years. When the Qi regime was just overthrown in December 1989, some people proposed to blow up the entire building, so that Qi's dream of using this magnificent building to "establish a monument" for himself was completely shattered. However, now the Palace of Parliament is regarded as The product of the hard work and wisdom of the Romanian people, it is considered the country's greatest building of the twentieth century.

Panorama of the Palace of Parliament

Parliament Palace night view

Hall chandelier

Music hall

Lobby walkway

Famous oil painting "Peace Dove"

The architectural design and construction of the Romanian Parliament Palace were completed by Romanians themselves, and most of the building materials and furniture used were produced in Romania. White marble, huge wooden doors, crystal clear crystal chandeliers, and bright hand-woven carpets form a magnificent and exquisite picture.

Parliamentary library

National traditional costume display corridor

Ministry of Foreign Affairs Press Conference Hall

National parliament hall

For the sake of temporary political achievements, the whole country was mobilized to build such a super project, second only to the Pentagon of the United States. At that time, it had greatly exceeded its own national strength and thus became a super burden on the country, which eventually led to the downfall of President Ceausescu. . Now the Parliament Palace has become the most controversial building in Romania because of its large usable area and super luxurious decoration. As Catherine Lalumière, former Secretary-General of the Council of Europe, once described the Palace of Parliament: "This is a palace of a super madman, but it is also a masterpiece of the Romanian people."

In any case, when I first saw the Romanian Parliament Palace, I was impressed by the vastness and exquisiteness of the palace's construction. I sincerely admired the wisdom of the Romanian working people and praised this super project!