Palace of the Parliament

The Palace of the Parliament will probably be the first place you visit in Bucharest. Bucharesters have a mixed feeling about their most known landmark, some consider it beautiful others as just plain ugly, but all of them are proud of it some way or the other. In fact, it's something that distinguishes them from the rest of the world; while Paris has the Eiffel Tower and Rome has the Colosseum, Bucharest has the world’s heaviest and most expensive administrative building. Many argue it to be the largest administrative building in the world while some consider it to be the second after the Pentagon. This 270 m by 240 m Neoclassical structure exists as much underground as it is visible above the ground, and if the dimensions don’t give you a proper picture then just note that the structure has over 1,100 rooms!

It was built under the communist dictatorship of Ceausescu, who hired 700 architects for this project. Its history is not devoid of controversies—many workers died in the building yard and a historical part of the city was totally razed and tens of thousands of people were consequently relocated. Nowadays, this massive building houses not only the Romanian Parliament, but also several museums and conference centres. It will take around 20 minutes to make a complete loop around the building, and you'll be surprised to see the ‘almost abandoned condition’ in which the backyard has been left. Nonetheless, the splendid and beautifully decorated interior is worth a visit; a guided tour, taking around one hour, is mandatory and advance booking is suggested.