• In 1984, Nicolae Ceauşescu buried, under the main staircase at the “13 September” Entrance, a steel cylinder containing dates and details regarding the work he had begun. “I leave you this House...“, was the formula used by the dictator1.

 

  • “Ceauşescu wanted to demonstrate through the People's House that he was the strongest leader in the socialist bloc”. For this reason, he asked the designers to create the most efficient anti-nuclear bunker, which would withstand a devastating earthquake of over 8 degrees Richter, repeated attacks with advanced missiles and two atomic bombs launched successively. At the same time, 8 escape tunnels were also designed to ensure his retreat in extreme cases. Initially, a single bunker was designed - under Cabinet No. 1 - of Nicolae Ceauşescu, so that the dictator could quickly reach shelter, through an elevator and a secret passage. Due to an error by the builders based on an excess of secrecy, the bunker was built in another part of the building. Then Ceauşescu decided to build another one, where he wanted. The fallout shelter is described as an enclosure with 1.5 m thick walls covered with a blast plate, which cannot be penetrated by radiation and is composed of the main room, that is, the command point - the headquarters that was supposed to have telephone connections with all the military units in Romania - and several living apartments, intended for the leadership of the state, in case of war. "The main room was to be equipped with a large table in the middle and on the walls, with a system of maps of Romania, in relief. For ventilation, Swedish pumps were brought in, with special filters, which were embedded in the walls. There were 12 large rooms with spare filters, stacked on shelves. These were the only foreign components in the House of the People”.2

 

  • Urban legends say that the Palace of the Parliament is haunted by ghosts, who appear at night in the corridors of the largest building in Europe, break seals, whistle or make the security systems beep. Based on accounts from the building's night staff, legends say that these ghosts began to make their presence felt about 10 years ago.

 

  • About the carpet in the Unirii Hall, some said that it was made from a single piece and was brought into the hall by crane, through the ceiling. Others – that an exterior wall had to be demolished to get him into the hall.

 

  • It is said that the ceiling in the Unirii Hall had to open so that the presidential helicopter could land in the hall.

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  • There were rumors that Ceauşescu wanted a metro line to be built between the People's House and the airport, so that he could be evacuated quickly in extreme cases.

  The Palace of Parliament building remains, as was well described by Catherine Lalumiere, Secretary General of the Council of Europe, “a palace of the megalomaniac, but also a masterpiece of the Romanians”.

 

 

1http://www.curierulnational.ro/Politic/2003-03-08/Secretele+Casei+Poporului..../

2Interview Nicolae Kovacs, graduate of the special construction department of the Military Academy    

3http://www.curierulnational.ro/Politic/2003-03-08/Secretele+Casei+Poporului..../