The Palace of Parliament is located in the center Bucharest on the Izvor Street, number 2-4, in close vicinity to The Union Square.
Every day from 10 am to 16 pm in organized groups.
The last tour starts at 15:30.
* opening hours may vary, they are just for guidance
Standard Tour: 25 Lei/person
City View Tour & Terrace access: 15 Lei/person
Basement Tour: 10 Lei/person
Standard Tour & City View Tour & Terrace access: 35 Lei/person
Standard Tour & Basement: 15 Lei/person
Standard Tour & City View Tour & Basement: 23 Lei/person
Free pass for: kids under age 7, students under age 18 who possess a student card and people with disabilities who are attended.
* visiting taxes may vary, they are just for guidance
The Romanian Palace of Parliament located close to the center of the capital city, Bucharest, is one of the most impressive buildings you will get to see when visiting Romania.
Bucharest's Palace of Parliament is 270 meters long and 245 meters wide, spread on 9 levels on the surface and another 9 underground levels, with a total built area of 330.000 m2.
Due to its gigantic size, the Palace of Parliament from Bucharest holds not just one, but 3 world records for being the 2nd largest administrative building for civilian use surface-wise after the Pentagon, world's most expensive administrative building, that costed a whopping 3 billion Euro, but also for being world's heaviest building, according to World Records Academy.
In terms of volume, The Romanian Palace of Parliament surpassed by 2% Keops' pyramid from Egypt, some calling it a “pharaonic” building. Have we made you curious yet?
The enormity and grandeur of this building have been envisioned by Romanian's former communist head of state, Nicolae Ceaușescu, who wanted to turn Bucharest into a replica of Phenian, the capital city of North Korea. Thus he ordered its construction in 1983 that continued for almost two decades.
There was a lot of controversy behind the construction of this project, one of which related to how a 28 years old architect, under the name of Anca Petrescu, has been appointed chief architect for something after the national competition for a monumental project, such as this one.
The construction of this imposing building cost a staggering 3 billion Euros, as estimated in 2006, and although it's a lot, the cost is somewhat justified if we consider it required 1.000.000 m3 of marble, 5.500 tons of concrete and another 7.000 of steel, 3.500 tons of crystals, 200.000 m3 of glass, 900.000 m3 of the finest wood, 220.000 m2 of carpets, and 3.500 m2 of leather amongst other materials and resources, nonetheless.
Speaking of which, the construction of this mighty was made possible by a team of 700 architects and around 20.000 of workers, who worked 24 hours/day on 3 shifts.
With over 1000 rooms, 440 bureaus and over 30 halls and salons, Bucharest's Palace of Parliament is the seat of the 2 parliament houses, the House of Representatives and the Senate as well as the National Museum of Contemporary Art.
Its imposing dimensions and unique architecture make the Palace of Parliament one of the most visited places in Romania, and the annual 150.000 visitors stand as proof.
Want to have an authentic taste of Romania? Start from the Palace of Parliament and then try sarmale, of course!