Tag Archives: palace

Jul 05 2024
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Art and architecture, Daily Post

Back in Brighton

Thursday 4th July 2024, 10.05pm (day 4,697)

Brighton Pavillion, 4/7/24

Brighton still hangs on to its place in the top 10 of ‘Most Depicted Locations’ on this blog, but its rate of appearance has declined in recent years, for various reasons. I came for a couple of days in 2022, but that has been it since 2018. However, here we are, back again for the last burst of the summer holiday down South. The Pavilion was built by King George IV when he was Prince Regent, and really is one of the tackiest palaces anywhere on the planet, particularly inside. But nowadays it’s part of the fabric, and is one of those unique buildings that instantly identifies the location of a shot.

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Feb 03 2020
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Art and architecture, Daily Post

Monument to megalomania

Sunday 2nd February 2020, 11.30am (day 3,083)

Palace of the Parliament, 2/2/20

Nicolae Ceausescu, who ruled Romania from 1965 until he spectacularly lost control in late December 1989, was one of the most unilateral dictators of any that have ever seized power, running the country like his own personal fiefdom. Towards the end of his reign he commissioned this monstrosity, the Palace of the Parliament, as a monument to his own ambition. Apparently it is the largest parliamentary building anywhere in the world, and also the world’s heaviest building at some four billion kilos (thank you Wikipedia). It was something to look at on my final morning as I prepared to leave Bucharest; the mare’s-tails in the sky suggesting that the very mild weather I have enjoyed there is coming to an end…

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