Where is the heaviest building in the world located and how much does it weigh?
Many people would venture to suggest that the heaviest building in the world is somewhere in the Middle East, or perhaps in the US or Japan, but this is not the case. You will be surprised, but the record building is located in a small European state.
The heaviest building in the world is officially the Palace of the Parliament in Bucharest, Romania, also known as the House of the Republic. Here you will find some interesting facts about the structure, which is heavier than the World Trade Center, the Pyramid of Khufu, the NASA Vehicle Assembly Building and the Great Mosque of Mecca.
The history of the construction of the heaviest building in the world
The history of the heaviest building in the world begins in Pyongyang, North Korea. Romania's communist leader of the day, Nicolae Ceausescu, visited the communist nation of North Korea in 1971. According to written sources, he was inspired by local architecture and was so carried away by it that he decided to recreate something similar in his homeland.
A few years later, in 1977, a massive earthquake hit Bucharest, damaging dozens of important buildings, and it was a perfect chance for Ceausescu to start emulating North Korea's totalitarian architectural style. The entire construction project was named "Project Bucharest" and its heart was the new House of the Republic.
It took the Romanian authorities seven years after the earthquake to start construction. To do this, it was necessary to remove the remains of damaged and destroyed buildings in the area and relocate more than 40,000 people to a new place of residence. The plan of the palace was developed by the Romanian architect Anca Petrescu, which was developed by a team of 700 specialists.
The construction of the House of the Republic in Bucharest began on June 25, 1984. 30,000 workers worked on the construction of the palace (many of them worked day and night). Approximately 2 million tons of sand, 700,000 tons of steel and bronze, 500,000 tons of cement, about 4,000 tons of crystal, 1 million cubic meters of marble, 0.9 million cubic meters of wood essence were used to complete this project. For the interior design, workers needed 220,000 square meters of carpeting and 4,000 square meters of leather.
The final cost of building the heaviest building in today's money was about 4 billion euros. The weight of the House of the Republic in Bucharest is 4100 tons.
The Palace of the Romanian Parliament with an area of 360,000 square meters is the largest civil administrative building in the world.
The palace measures 270 by 240 meters wide and long, 86 meters high and 92 meters deep underground.
The heaviest building in the world has 1,100 rooms.
The palace parking lot can accommodate 20,000 cars.
The total cost of cooling, heating and electricity is approximately 6 million euros per year!
Interestingly, the heaviest building in the world was never completed. Only 400 out of 1,100 rooms have been fully completed. The construction stopped after the execution of Ceausescu in 1989.
Almost all materials used for construction were of Romanian origin. The only exception was the doors of the main hall, donated to the head of Romania by Mobutu Sese Seko, President of the Republic of Zaire (today DR Congo).
According to the Academy of World Records, this building is also the most expensive building in the world. It is currently valued at around 4 billion euros.
The palace weighs 4.1 tons and is so heavy that every year the building sinks into the ground by 5-6 millimeters under its own weight.
