With its 365,000 square meters surface, the Palace of the Parliament is the second administrative building on the planet after the Pentagon. The construction is also the third in the world after the Rocket Assembly Building at Cape Canaveral in Florida and the pyramid of Quetzalcoatl in Mexico when it comes to its volume: 2,550,000 cubic meters.
The building is 86 meters tall above ground level and has a depth of 14 meters, it’s 270 meters long and 245 meters wide. The quantity of raw materials used is impressive: 1 million cubic meters of marble, 900,000 cubic meters of the finest woods, 700,000 tons of steel, 3,500 tons of crystal for 2,800 chandeliers, 100 kg of gold, 3,500 meters of leather and 220,000 square meters of carpets. The results are spectacular as the decorations, no matter how big and elaborate, are hand-carved and personalized according to the theme and purpose of the room.
At least 700 architects worked on the construction site together with 20,000 workers. Work took place in three shifts, 24 hours, every day of the week, for 7 years. The magnitude of the work effort was unparalleled, possible only in a communist country. All the materials, as well as the workforce, were brought only from Romania.
