THE HОUSE OF THE PEOPLE: ROMANIA’S ARCHITECTURAL MASTERPIECE
THE HОUSE OF THE PEOPLE: ROMANIA’S ARCHITECTURAL MASTERPIECE

Summary/Abstract: This paper explores the controversial history of one of the world’s biggest buildings: the House of the People. A paradox in many ways,the structure was meant to symbolize the power of the people in a country with a dictatorial system in which the people had virtually no power at all. Similarly, the building is the most expensive manmade construction of all times, yet it was built in a country where the population enjoyed one of the lowest standards of living from the entire communist bloc. In the end, the great amount of resources that it consumed at the expense of the impoverished Romanian society and its controversial symbolism were seen with different eyes in the aftermath of the 1989 Anti-Communist Revolution. Today most Romanians take pride in the building and the House of the People is one of the symbols of new and democratic Romania, not to mention a cherished tourist attraction by locals and tourists alike.

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