Build and be damned in Bucharest

Between the two world wars, Bucharest was dubbed the little Paris, on account of its French inspired architecture. But there followed 45 years of communism which meant entire neighborhoods demolished to make room for the communist blocks of flats. Communism is now a thing of the past, but it seems that even what's left of Bucharest’s architectural legacy is threatened nowadays by the ruthless capitalism. Iulian Muresan lives in a city that’s changing fast, but is it always for the better?...

Now, everyday on my may to the radio I walk past this most controversial construction site in Bucharest: an offices tower which is being within no more than 8 meters from the side wall of Saint Joseph's Roman-Catholic Cathedral, in downtown Bucharest. You can guess that the Roman Catholic Archbishopric in Bucharest is not delighted with the idea. Besides the visual and phonic discomfort it causes, this office building is erected illegally and is a hazard to the safety of Saint Joseph's Cathedral, as the spokesman for the Roman Catholic Archbishopric in Bucharest, Father Francisc Dobos says:

“The so-called building authorization that they have does not comply with the requirements of the urban planning certificate. The beneficiary has never had the signed agreement of the Archbishopric and the worst thing is that the seismic studies showing how the Cathedral would be affected in case of an earthquake have not been conducted, as required by the urban planning certificate.”

Emanuel E. Necula is a structure engineer living in New York, but he worked on the “Cathedral Plazza” project, as the office building is called.

“In my contractual agreement I asked the local representative of the developer to perform a series of scientific researches regarding the seismic component of the site, the wind analysis, the snow cumulation to the surrounding properties and everything. That was never done. Since the cathedral has never been reinforced for a seismic event, with such a tower nearby, the cathedral itself will have no chance to survive. It will collapse at the first major earthquake."

Work has never stopped at Cathedral Plazza, though the Roman Catholic Archbishopric sued the beneficiary. But the file is dragging endlessly, being moved from one court to another. Not even a recommendation by a committee of the Romanian Senate to stop the works has been heeded. Civil society is protesting against what it calls the destruction of the city by reckless real estate development.

The only open square of Bucharest is Revolution Square, where the Romanians gathered in 1989 to overthrow communist leader Nicolae Ceausescu. It's the square that tells 100 years of history of Bucharest. But even this place might not escape mutilation in the form of an underground parking place and a mall. Catalina Radulescu, is a lawyer working for the Center for Legal Resources:

What about this rumor?

It’s not a rumor. It’s a project of the city hall.

When is it due to start?

Nobody knows. We asked for the documentation, but we’ve never received it, so... we don’t really know when it’s going to start and why or anything. As long as they don’t communicate this documentation and we don’t see it, we don’t know what it is all about. They are proceeding exactly like the authorities in the communist period. They are forbidding any public participation to their projects, they deny the right of civil society to ask for information and to express themselves...

This information should be public. Isn’t it?

Yes. According to the law it should be public and we also have courts decisions that oblige the authorities to give us information and to listen to us and they still refuse to execute those decisions.

You’re actually accusing the Bucharest city council of breaching the law of access to public information.

We have already sued them.

So you have a case running in court.

Many cases. Not only one.

How many?

I don’t know exactly how many right now, but at least ten.

And all of them are regarding access to public information?

No there are also cases in which we attacked the buildings, i.e. the documentation issued by the city council for these buildings.

As Cathedral Plazza is reaching to the skies, Roman Catholic believers in Saint Joseph's Cathedral can only pray, but it sounds like it's a tough job to make themselves heard...

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