Ceausescu and the People's Palace in Bucharest, Romania
The Palace of Parliament , as the People's Palace is officially called, is the second largest, according to the Guinness Book of Records, as the largest civilian administrative building; the most expensive administrative building; and the heaviest building. It has 1,100 rooms; is 12 stories above ground with at least 4 underground; used 700 architects; cost over $10 billion to build; and has 480 chandeliers. The marble, crystals, carpets and most of the building materials came from Romania and were beautifully crafted by their people. But rather than being the pride of Romania, today it stands mostly empty and still controversial. The Palace was conceived by Nicolae Ceausescu, who had worked his way up through the Communist party in Romania to become the Secretary General in 1965 and President in 1974. At first, he reached out to form stronger relationships with the West, but after visits to North Korea and Mao's China, he began more re...