section_path: Architecture/Communist era architecture
section_name: Communist era architecture
paragraph_text: Communist era architecture
  
  A major part of Bucharest's architecture is made up of buildings constructed during the Communist era replacing the historical architecture with high-density apartment blocks – significant portions of the historic centre of Bucharest were demolished to construct one of the largest buildings in the world, the Palace of the Parliament (then officially called the House of the Republic). In Nicolae Ceaușescu's project of systematization, new buildings were built in previously historical areas, which were razed and then built upon.
  
  Communist architecture broadly includes three stages: architecture that was built in the early years of communism, in the late 1940s and 1950s, which followed the Soviet Stalinist trend of Socialist Realism, an example being the House of the Free Press (which was named Casa Scînteii during communism); postwar Modernism in the 1960s and the 1970s; and the systematization program of the late 1970s and 1980s, which included mass demolitions of historical buildings and their replacement with North Korean influenced buildings after Nicolae Ceaușescu visited East Asia in 1971, and was impressed by its Juche ideology.
  
  The Communist regime installed after World War II took control over all aspects of life, including architecture, dictating a uniform bureaucratic vision of urbanism and architectural design. Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej, who was premier of the Socialist Republic of Romania from 1947 until 1965, began the country's policies of industrialization, with infrastructure development for heavy industry, and construction for mass resettlement to new industrial and agricultural centers away from Bucharest and other principal cities. The architecture from this period is more or less easy to spot, by its use of Neoclassical elements and proportions, but in a simplified way. There are also some small 3–4 floors "Russian blocks" from this era, some of them built of red bricks.
  
  Communist-era architecture from the 1960s and 1970s can be found especially in Bucharest's residential districts, mainly in blocuri, which are high-density apartment blocks that house the majority of the city's population. Initially, these apartment blocks started to be constructed in the 1960s, on relatively empty areas and fields (good examples include Pajura, Drumul Taberei, Berceni and Titan), however with the 1970s, they mostly targeted peripheral neighbourhoods such as Colentina, Pantelimon, Militari and Rahova. Construction of these apartment blocks were also often randomised, for instance some small streets were demolished and later widened with the blocks being built next to them, but other neighbouring streets were left intact (like in the example of Calea Moșilor from 1978 to 1982), or built in various patterns such as the Piața Iancului-Lizeanu apartment buildings from 1962 to 1963.
  
  The last years of communism were marked by major urban redevelopment schemes which changed dramatically the face of many cities, including Bucharest. One of the most singular examples of late stage communist architecture of the 1980s is Centrul Civic, a development that replaced a major part of Bucharest's historic city centre with giant utilitarian buildings, mainly with marble or travertine façades, inspired by North Korean architecture. The mass demolitions that occurred in the 1980s, under which an overall area of eight square kilometres of the historic centre of Bucharest were levelled, including monasteries, churches, synagogues, a hospital, and a noted Art Deco sports stadium, changed drastically the appearance of the city.