Museum of the Anti-Communist Revolution of December 1989

Authors’ Comment

Through my diploma project, I propose the musealization of the most important event in Romania’s recent history, a moment both traumatic and liberating in the country’s contemporary development: the Anti-communist Revolution of December 1989.
The chosen site is Revolution Square in Bucharest which, although historically and symbolically charged, remains today an inert, confused, and undervalued space, both urbanistically and socially. It is the very place where Nicolae Ceaușescu gave his final speech, interrupted by the crowd’s boos and followed by his escape via helicopter from the rooftop of the current Ministry of Internal Affairs (formerly the Central Committee building).
The square is analyzed as an urban palimpsest, marked by collective trauma and successive ideological re-significations. Although the historic rupture of December 1989 occurred here, the space has not been fully assumed as a true site of memory: the Memorial of Rebirth is a controversial symbol, and the square remains fragmented and disconnected from the life of the city.
My proposal includes the construction of an underground traffic tunnel, starting in front of the Romanian Athenaeum and continuing to the intersection with Ion Câmpineanu Street, with two additional exits on C.A. Rosetti and Demetru I. Dobrescu streets. Furthermore, the Ministry’s parking area, along with the public parking spaces in front of the Ministry and the former Cina restaurant, are relocated underground.
I do not claim that this intervention solves all the square’s problems, but it addresses several major dysfunctions: the fragmented pedestrian circulation is replaced with a unified and coherent ground-level public space; surface car traffic is eliminated, giving the square back to the people; the exact area where the 1989 events unfolded is reactivated and clearly designated as a memorial site, avoiding the current symbolic ambiguities.
The message of the museum focuses on commemorating the tragic moments that led to the fall of the dictatorship, moments that laid the foundation for the country’s freedom and democracy. The exhibition path begins on the top floor of the building with an educational display, then gradually descends along long peripheral ramps, surrounding massive concrete walls, toward a large immersive exhibition in the central part of the building. At the basement level, there is an auditorium with 400 seats, a flexible space intended for public or political forums. The foyer is equipped with a hydraulic platform that allows the floor level to be adjusted, enabling multiple events to take place simultaneously and adapting the space to various uses.