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In 1971 Ceausescu visited North Korea and returned full of admiration for the grandiose avenues of Kim Il Sung's capital, Pyongyang. Thirteen years later, inspired by what he had seen in Pyongyang, Ceausescu set out to remodel Bucharest as "the first socialist capital for the new socialist man", and to create a new administrative centre which was to be "a symbolic representation of the two decades of enlightenment we have just lived through". In truth, of course, this Centru Civic was meant to embody the state's authority and that of Ceausescu himself. Implementing this megalomaniac vision entailed the demolition of a quarter of Bucharest's historic centre (about five square kilometres), said to be slums damaged by the 1977 earthquake, but in fact containing 9000 largely undamaged nineteenth-century houses, whose 40,000 inhabitants were relocated in new developments on the outskirts of the city. There was worldwide condemnation of this vandalism, particularly since many old churches were to be swept away. Though some of the churches were in the end reprieved, they are now surrounded by huge modern apartment blocks and are separated from the urban context that gave them meaning. The core of the Centru Civic was largely completed by 1989, just in time for the dictator's overthrow. This western end of the development now seems almost human - unlike the larger eastern extension, where a forest of frozen cranes in an undergrowth of rusting reinforcing rods mark the site of what was to have been a cultural centre; the area is referred to by the locals as "Hiroshima". The nearby National Library seems abandoned in this wasteland. To the southeast, sitting  © 2003 by Rough Guides Ltd. as trustee for its Authors. Published by Rough Guides. All rights reserved. Rough Guides name is a trademark of Rough Guides Ltd. Buy the book here!
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incongruously alongside the neighbouring high-rises, the new Bucharest Mall on Calea Vitan is Romania's first western-style shopping mall, though it's a disappointing venture with uninspiring shops and minimal atmosphere. Bulevardul Unirii unites the two halves of the Centru Civic; at 4km long and 120m wide, the road is intentionally slightly larger than the Champs-Elysees after which it was modelled. To the north of the complex, a banking district is slowly being developed.
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