Bucharest - A Tale of Too Many Cities

Paula, Eli and I returned to Bucharest just as most of the city's population was fleeing the city to spend the International Workers Day and Easter holiday at the seaside or in the mountains.

Through the open windows of their attic apartment, the city sounded noticeably quieter, and I was quite glad of the good timing that allowed us to enjoy both the mountain villages and the city in relative peace.

Bucharest is a place where the buildings tell all kinds of stories. Cheaply-built communist era high-rise flats and post-communism "modern" skyscrapers intermingle with ornate Orthodox churches and once grand 19th century mansions. Just around the corner from Eli and Paula's apartment is just such an example.  A beautifully restored Orthodox church from 1725 sits within feet of a post-communist era high-rise that I have dubbed "Imperial Storm Trooper World HQ."

18th century Orthodox church neighboring a post-revolution skyscraper

Walking through the streets of Bucharest, I often found myself stopping mid-step to take a double-take at some of the details to be found on what, at first glance, seemed like old decaying buildings.

Once you learn how to spot them, you will find some exceptional architectural gems here, many of them immaculately restored.  One of my favorites was Biserica Stavropoleos, a working Romanian Orthadox monastery in the heart of Lipscani that was originally built in 1724 by Greek Orthodox monks.

Biserica Stavropoleos

  



However, a general state of disrepair is the common ground that seems to pull together all these pieces of history into modern-day Bucharest.

 


A few years ago, more than 2 million people lived in Bucharest, but in the past three to five years, Romania, and especially its biggest city, have lost nearly ten percent of its population to emigration. Much like in the rural places of America, Romania is experiencing a "brain drain'" with many of the young educated people, particularly doctors, leaving Romania to seek better paying jobs in other lands.

You would have to be blind to not see that there are many levels of history to this place. At one time, one of the grandest cities, the buildings of Bucharest reveal stories of times of grandeur as well as times of deep suffering and strife and also times of hope.

The former secret police building (right), which was destroyed
during the revolution, was redesigned as a symbol of a new era

 On the evening of May Day - which is celebrated as Workers Day here - we met up with some of Paula's friends for drinks. As we enjoyed our beers, we were serenaded with both Elvis songs and old-school Romanian pop hits. What was even more remarkable to me, though, is when I learned that we were sitting in a place were, not so long ago, only the top communist party officials were allowed to drink - on the terrace of the Cercul Militar Nationale.

   


Vlad the Impaler - yes, the one who inspired Brahm Stoker's Dracula - adopted Bucharest as his capital in 1459 to get some distance from the Hungarian influence that was prevalent in the Carpathian Mountains. Ideally situated on an important trade route, Bucharest's streets and buildings reflect a long and diverse history of it's role as a central hub of commerce. Lipscani, a neighborhood that Eli & Paula live quite close to, was actually an active trading center well before Bucharest became a city. It has recently been developed into a maze of cobblestone pedestrian streets lined with an ever changing array of beer halls, clubs and cafés.

A shop in one of Lipscani's historic trading alleys

Of all the countries under the Iron Curtain after WWII, Romania was unfortunate to have one of the most brutal of the communist dictators - Ceausescu. After an earthquake in 1977, he bulldozed over a fifth of Bucharest, destroying far more historic buildings than were damaged by the quake and replacing them with cheap high-rise buildings. At the same time, he commissioned an avenue that mimics Paris's Champs de Elyssee as well as one of the world's largest palaces, which, he called Casa Poporului (the House of the People).  Pretty ironic, since at the same time the dictator was erecting this extravagant symbol of his empire, in the name of austerity he was literally starving the Romanian people by exporting all the nation's food.  Because of the dictator's fear of being assassinated, the building featured an entirely natural air ventilation system (to prevent any poisoning) as well as an elaborate system of underground tunnels where the leader could escape the city.

Casa Poporului now hosts Romania's Parliament. It is the
2nd largest building in the world, 

The Museum of Cotemporary Art
is also housed at the  Casa Poprului

The Romanian Revolution was televised, so many of us growing up in the West saw footage of the uprising in 1989. I vaguely remember that time, but not much of the details. Even so, it was pretty fascinating to visit the place were Ceausescu made his last speech.

Ceausescu made his final speech here.

They have erected interesting statues to honor the revolution.

  

But we all agreed that it is the work of a particular unknown graffiti artist that has transformed this particular statue into a work of art.

In fact, I found there was quite a lot of interesting graffiti to be found in Romania.