CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2017
| Author | Moghiorosi, Vlad |
|---|---|
| Title | Ceausescu's Bucharest: Power, Architecture and National Identity |
| Summary | The thesis analyzes Nicolae Ceaușescu’s redesign of Bucharest as part of the Romanian dictator’s national communism and cult of personality. The symbol of this cult and manifestation of nationalism was the Bucharest Political-Administrative Center. Scholars generally agree that an analysis of the continuation of nationalism in Romanian planning and architecture in the twentieth century is crucial for understanding Ceaușescu’s project for Bucharest. As such, the aim of this thesis is to brings a new perspective on the influence of Romanian 20th century planning and architecture on the construction of the Bucharest Political-Administrative Center. It also offers a new interpretation of the decision-making process behind the construction of the communist center. Using party archives, I argue that although nationalism continued to be used in Romanian planning and architecture after the communist takeover, the Ceaușescu regime differed significantly from both the Gheorghiu-Dej regime and the interwar period. Thus, I demonstrate that in the first part of Ceaușescu’s regime the monumentality desired during the previous decades was notably absent. Moreover, contrary to the belief that the 1977 earthquake signaled the decisive change in the radicalization of Ceaușescu’s policy towards architecture, I argue that a shift can be observed starting with 1976. Furthermore, I demonstrate that as early as 1977 Ceaușescu made little use of both the 1935 master plan and the experienced architects, thus further limiting the impact of the interwar plans on the Bucharest Political-Administrative project. The thesis uses party and state archives, the propaganda, interviews with architects, the legislation and the Western media. |
| Supervisor | Iordachi, Constantin |
| Department | History MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2017/moghiorosi_vlad.pdf |
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