Romania
FOTO FRIDAY: UNIFICATION BOULEVARD, BUCHAREST
Every Friday I’ll be sharing a photo from someplace in my travels.
This week’s photo is of the Unification Boulevard as seen from the People’s Palace in Bucharest.
Leading up to the grand People’s Palace is Bulevardul Unirii, known in English as Unification Boulevard. The boulevard was modeled after the Champs-Élysées in Paris. Of course, Ceaușescu couldn’t allow it be the same– it had to be bigger and better. So it was built one kilometer longer and one meter wider. Running along the boulevard are buildings inspired by North Korean architecture and down its center are 41 fountains, one for each state of Romania, making it quite a sight.
This lengthy street was originally meant to be called the Boulevard of the Victory of Socialism. Except… that didn’t happen. So the boulevard went under an appropriate renaming after the Romanian Revolution of 1989.
