Planning Capital Cities

Shifts. A brief history of public plazas in central Bucharest

Fig. 13
The Victoriei Plaza and the underpass built in 1986,
crosscutting the plaza off its southern side. Moreover,
bordering buildings also shielded off the southern limits of
the plaza, with no functional contribution to the character
of the public space. The underground passage disrupts
pedestrian accessibility, and combined visual and physical
perception of the whole plaza was no longer possible (left).
Meanwhile, Romana Plaza remained set as transit plaza, its
round shape considered sufficiently effective for directing
traffic, 1974, (right).
(Duda)

As part of the first step of shifting, the Palace Plaza

became Republic’s Plaza. The Palace was transformed

in ministerial quarters and partially closed off to the

public, until a minor part of it opened as art museum.

Meanwhile, the physicality of Carol II’s demolitions

was preserved. Out-scaling the Palace was a memory

the regime decided to keep, but swiftly shifted the

importance from the Palace to the newly finished

building of the Central Committee, thus depolarizing

the square. Moreover, former royal dependences

surrounding the Palace were demolished and

replaced with a proper public cultural building,

that could switch the cultural balance versus the

Athenaeum by its sheer dimensions: The Palace Hall,

inaugurated in 1961.^5

The 1970s stood trial to adapting to increasing

mobility demands. Traffic adjustments forced

modifications in shapes and accessibility of public

plazas. On one hand, underground pedestrian

passages were introduced in University Square in

19736 , and later in Victoriei Plaza, 1986. On the other

hand, sidewalks were removed in Republic’s Plaza