The Palace, closed for restauration works for 10 years, has regained its public
function, as National Museum of Art, the University Foundation has been
extended and reopened as well, while the Romanian Athenaeum faithfully
keeps its original cultural function. And yet, the physical relationship between
the three defining buildings is strained by the scarce pedestrian accessibility and
poor functional interaction. Parking lots have occupied all available space, and,
to make up for it, the municipality organizes temporary markets and feasts, that
are just as inadequate in use, position, and architectural expression. Making up
for lacking public space by offering public time^11 is an undignified shift.
ConclusionsThe shifts in political and cultural influence have continuously determined
physical and symbolic alterations to Bucharest’s public space. Assigned to
timespans, the shifting intervals succeed with sometimes sudden and complete
severances. Both abstractedly and poetically, one cannot talk of simply
interrupted Bucharest, but rather of a series of unmediated sequences, creating
a syncopated Bucharest. Roots of one shift may be recycled from an interval
several steps back, while others may be transplanted from outer experiences
and theories, with equal chance of timing correspondence and delay.
Maria Duda
Fig. 15
The Unirii Square, 1974 (left),
and its severe restructuring,
1991 (right).
(Duda)