10,000 homes were demolished to build world’s heaviest building in Romania; the story behind it

The Palace of the Parliament, originally called the House of the Republic was built during the rule of Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu. In Romania’s Bucharest, there is a government building so large that its construction changed the shape of the city around it. The Palace of the Parliament, originally called the House of the Republic and later known as the People’s House, was built during the rule of Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu. Construction began in 1984 and continued long after his communist regime ended. Today, it is the heaviest administrative building in the world and one of the largest buildings ever constructed.But the story of the palace is not only about its size. To build it, a large part of historic Bucharest was demolished, tens of thousands of people were moved from their homes and numerous churches and historic buildings disappeared.A project born from Ceaușescu's vision for BucharestCeaușescu's plan for a new political and administrative centre took shape after the devastating earthquake that struck Romania in 1977. The disaster badly damaged Bucharest and gave the dictator an opportunity to push ahead with a sweeping redevelopment of the capital. His vi...