You Are Here Christmas – Romania

No regular mug has been released for Romania, nonetheless here’s the picture of Starbucks You Are Here Christmas – Romania. In other words, Starbucks went straight ahead with Holiday Edition. While waiting for a better pics, I can only recognize Palace of the Parliament in Bucharest. It was designed and supervised by a team of 700 architects with the Anca Petrescu being the head architect. The construction has started in 1984 and even now it’s still not completed. Unfortunately there are some dark sides of it, as it was ordered by Romanian dictator, Nicolae Ceaușescu, who needed it at any cost. A big part of the old city buildings was demolished to make room for the Parliament, 44000 people had to be relocated and thousands of workers died at the construction. Some interesting facts:
– this is the second largest administrative building in the world (after Pentagon)
– it it the heaviest building in the world (according to Guinness World Records)
– it has 8 underground levels, with the lowest one being a bunker with 5 feet thick walls, serving as a protection against nuclear war
– only 400 rooms are completed and in use, out of 1100
– the building sinks by 6 mm each year because of its weight