Palace Of The Parliament, Bucharest
rochelle y andrea
Twenty-three years after communism collapsed, the Palace of the Parliament has emerged as an unlikely pillar of Romania's nascent democracy.
And while it remains one of the most controversial projects of Ceausescu's 25-year rule it's also now a tourist attraction, visited by tens of thousands of Romanians and foreigners every year.
The palace, so big it can be seen from space opened its doors in early 1990. Described by some as a giant Stalinist wedding cake, it's the world's second-largest administrative building after the Pentagon, at 350,000 square meters (3.77 million square feet).
Parliament and the Constitutional Court are housed inside. But over time the palace has become as much a magnet for glamorous events and celebrity photo-ops as it is a site for government affairs.
Brides pose in front of the yellow-stoned facade, while weddings, balls, movies and fashion shows and shoots take place inside. It's hosted celebrities – Michael Jackson moonwalked in front of the building after a press conference, Colombian pop star Shakira sang outside in the pouring rain, and Hollywood actor Ethan Hawke attending a ball there to raise money for disadvantaged children. Visiting politicians have included former U.S. President George Bush, Russia's Vladimir Putin, and in October, German chancellor Angela Merkel, who made a speech to 16 European prime ministers.
Construction on the grandiose project began in the early 1980s, when food rationing and power cuts were common. Some 9,000 homes were demolished, residents were given just days to vacate their homes, churches and synagogues were razed or moved, and two mountains of marble were hacked down for the 84-meter (275-foot) high palace to be built.
Ceausescu designed the palace to house the government and Parliament after the devastating earthquake of 1977 where swaths of buildings crumbled in the capital and more than1,500 people died. A semi-literate son of a peasant, Ceausescu was nothing if not ambitious: He wanted the new building to withstand any earthquake and last 500 years.
A million Romanians, including thousands of soldiers, were enlisted to work around the clock on the construction. Today's tours sample only parts of the building and last just one to two hours, but it would take a day to visit all the rooms and almost an hour just to walk around the perimeter.
Petrescu, the chief architect, insists that Buckingham Palace and Versailles were her artistic inspirations, not North Korean architecture, even though Ceausescu sent architects on a visit to Pyongyang to study architecture there after he was inspired during a 1971 visit. She says it's neo-classic in in style, while others diplomatically call the style `'eclectic."
"This building ended up such big due to a technical reason," she insisted. "There were supposed to be three big institutions in here: the presidency, the executive and the legislative corps.
She said that if Ceausescu – who was tried and executed Dec. 25, 1989 – were alive to see what had become of it, he "would make the sign of the cross" – a Romanian expression that means he'd be horrified.
Valentina Lupan, one of 2,000 architects who worked on the project says Ceausescu "was demented. Why did he want the biggest building? Like Hitler, like Mussolini, dictators love architects. Trust me on this. They, the dictators, imagine themselves as architects of the new world."
TASK 1 - READ the text about Bucarest's Parliament and REDUCE it to a 120 words.
-Twenty-three years after communism collapsed the palace of the parliament has emerged as an unlikely pillar Of Romania's nascent democracy.
And while it remains one of the most controversial projects of Ceausescu's 25-year rule.
It's Pentagon, at 350,000 square meters (3.77 million square feet).
It's hosted celebrities.
Construction on the grandiose project began in the early 1980s, whrn food rationing and power cuts were common.
Ceausescu designed the palace to house the government and Parliament after the devastating earthquake of 1977.
A million Romanians, including thousands of soldiers, were enlisted to work around the clock on the construction.
Valentina Lupan, one of 2,000 architects who worked on the project says Ceausescu was
demented. Why did he want the biggest building?
EL PALACIO DE LA MONCLOA:
Palace of Moncloa or Moncloa Palace located in the University City ward of Madrid (part ofMoncloa-Aravaca district), has been the official residence for the Prime Minister of Spain since 1977, when Adolfo Suárez moved the residence from thePalace of Villamejor on the Paseo de la Castellana(currently the seat of the Ministry of Territorial Policy). The residence is surrounded by several other buildings which form the La Moncloa Complex. The Ministry of the Presidency, the First Deputy Prime Minister's Office and the Press Center are located in this complex. The weekly meetings of the Council of Ministers are also held at La Moncloa.
In Spain 'Moncloa' is sometimes used as a metonym for the central government, especially when contrasting with the governments of the autonomous communities.
HISTORY
THE PALACE WAS COMPLETELY DESTROYED DURING THE SIEGE OF MADRID IN THE SPANISH CIVIL WAR. IT WAS LATER REBUILT TO SERVE AS RESIDENCE FOR FOREIGN LEADERS AND OTHER PERSONALITIES. IT HAS SERVED AS THE OFFICIAL RESIDENCE TO THE PRIME MINISTERS OF SPAIN AND THEIR FAMILIES SINCE THE SPANISH TRANSITION TO DEMOCRACY.
QUESGTIONS ABOUT THE MONCLOA:
1-WHERE IS THE MONCLOA?
2-WHAT IS THE MONCLOA?
3-WHEN WAS BULDING THE MONCLOA?
4-WHO LIVE IN THE MONCLOA?
PHOEMIX PARK:
Stage 1: Decide on your favourite place (one that makes you feel well). Then complete the chart below about this place:
Name of the place: Phoemix park
Where it is:it is a Natural park
What is it: the big park of Ireland
Adjectives to describe the place:very beautiful,green areas,natural,magical park..
Activities to do there:watch the animals and enjoy the great weather.
Stage 2: Write a full description of your favourite place. Use the writing model in exercise 2 on page 80 to help you.
- My favourite place is the Phoemix park in Dublin,Ireland because it is the largest park in Europe with extensive green areas and avenues of trees with rides and attractions.
THE LEGEND OF EL DORADO:
1-Read the story below and answer the
questions in English:
- When did the legend of El Dorado start circulating?
- What people were the first to spread the legend of El Dorado in Europe?
- What do Chibcha indians have to do with the legend of El Dorado?
- Where did they live?
- Where was El Dorado supposed to be?
- Who or what did the Chibcha indians worship?
- What ceremony did the indians do in the lake?
- Who was Alexander Von Humboldt?
- Has some gold or jewels ever been found in the lake?
- What treasure was found in a cave near Bogotá?
ANSWERS:
1.If started circulating after after the discovery of the New World.2.The first people to spread the legend were the followers of Chistopher Colombus.3.They fired the Spaniards' imaginations with stories about El Dorado.4. They lived in the in the 8,600-foot high plateaus near present-day Bogota.
5.El Dorado was in Colombia.
6.The Chibchas worshiped not only the sun but also a being who was said to live in the lake. Some said it was the wife of a chief who had thrown herself into its waters centuries ago to escape a dreadful punishment and had survived there as a goddess.
7.Indians ade pilgrimages to present offerings to the goddess of the lake, and at least once a year the lake became the center of an elaborate ceremony.
8Alexandre Von Humbold was explorers in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, including the great Prussian natural scientist and traveler.
9. Yes in the lake was gold.
10.No trace of El Dorado was found until 1969 when two farm workers dug up an exquisite model raft made of solid gold in a small cave near Bogota.
2.Write a summary of the story in Spanish (Minimum 100 words)
-La leyenda de El Dorado comenzó a circular poco después de la aparición del nuevo mundo y comenzaron a circular las historias por toda Europa. El significado de El Dorado era El Hombre Dorado y no Ciudad del Oro como lo hacían llamar todos sus seguidores,sus seguidores o buscadores de esa ciudad eran mayormente casa fortunas o exploradores.Unos des sus buscadores fue Colón el cual estaba dispuesto a encontrarlo pero que tuvo que volver por la alimentación. Tambien en esa sona vivian en una montaña unos indios llamados Chibchas que no solo adoraban al sol sino tambien a un ser que vivian en el lago tambien estos indios fueron difundiendo mas leyendas.El dorado no fue encntrado hasta 1969 por unos trabajadores .
A SHORT STORIE OF SPORT:
England against Scotland 1877
We start a
short series of entries about sports: history, anecdotes, etc. And we
start of course with... surprise, surprise... football (soccer in
American and Australian English)
The origins of football are not clear,
but they are in the UK. Some put it back in the 12th century. "Mob
football", a "sport" banned by kings and queens for its violence, where
everything was allowed. In the 19th century football was an upper-class
game, the rules were drafted in public schools and universities
(Cambridge Rules 1848), the working class adopted it during the late
19th. The first meeting of the Football Association was in 1863 where
they unified the rules for the game. Today billions of people around the
world follow this game. Football is introduced in Spain by British
workers in the Rio tinto mines, Huelva. They created the Rio Tinto
Football Club in 1878. Recreativo de Huelva is the oldest Spanish club
(1889)
THOMAS ALVA EDISON:
-Name: Thomas Alva Edison.
-Birth: 11 of Frebruary, 1847 in Milan, Ohio (EE.UU).
-Parents/Family: Samuel Ogden Edison and Nancy Matthews Elliott.
-Jobs: Inventor, scientist and empresary.
-Famous for..?: He invented the light bulb between others like cinema sound system.
-Own family: Mary Stilwell, Mina Edison, Marion Estelle Edison, Thomas Alva Edison, William Leslie Edison, Madeleine Edison, Charles Edison, Theodore Miller Edison.
-Death: 18 of October in 1931.
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