Bucuresti Map

• A major part of Bucharest's architecture is made up of buildings constructed during the Communist era replacing the historical architecture with high density apartment blocks – significant portions of the historic center of Bucharest were demolished in order to construct one of the largest buildings in the world, the Palace of the Parliament (then officially called the House of the Republic). In Nicolae Ceaușescu's project of systematization many new buildings were built in previously-historical areas, which were razed and then built upon from scratch.

• One of the best examples of this type of architecture is Centrul Civic, a development that replaced a major part of Bucharest's historic city centre with giant utilitarian buildings, mainly with marble or travertine façades, inspired by North Korean architecture. Communist-era architecture can also be found in Bucharest's residential districts, mainly in blocuri, which are high-density apartment blocks that house the majority of the city's population.

• Bucharest is the centre of the Romanian economy and industry, accounting for around 22.7% (2010) of the country's GDP and about one-quarter of its industrial production, while being inhabited by only 9% of the country's population. Almost one third of national taxes are paid by Bucharest's citizens and companies. In 2007, at purchasing power parity, Bucharest had a per-capita GDP of €20,057, or 92.2% that of the European Union average and more than twice the Romanian average. After relative stagnation in the 1990s, the city's strong economic growth has revitalized infrastructure and led to the development of many shopping malls, residential estates and high-rise office buildings. In September 2005, Bucharest had an unemployment rate of 2.6%, significantly lower than the national unemployment rate of 5.7%.

• Bucharest's economy is mainly centred on industry and services, with services particularly growing in importance in the last ten years. The headquarters of 186,000 firms, including nearly all large Romanian companies are located in Bucharest. An important source of growth since 2000 has been the city's rapidly expanding property and construction sector. Bucharest is also Romania's largest centre for information technology and communications and is home to several software companies operating offshore delivery centres. Romania's largest stock exchange, the Bucharest Stock Exchange, which was merged in December 2005 with the Bucharest-based electronic stock exchange Rasdaq, plays a major role in the city's economy.

• There are a number of major international supermarket chains such as Carrefour, Cora and METRO operating in Bucharest. At the moment, the city is undergoing a retail boom, with a large numbers of new supermarkets and hypermarkets opened every year (see supermarkets in Romania). Numerous malls and large shopping centres have been built since the late 1990s, such as AFI Palace Cotroceni, Sun Plaza, Băneasa Shopping City, Plaza Romania, Liberty Center and Unirea Shopping Center. There are also a large number of traditional retail arcades and markets; the one at Obor covers about a dozen city blocks and numerous large stores that are not officially part of the market effectively add up to a market district almost twice that size.

• Bucharest has a diverse and growing cultural scene, with cultural life exhibited in a number of various fields, including the visual arts, performing arts and nightlife. Unlike other parts of Romania, such as the Black Sea coast or Transylvania, Bucharest's cultural scene is much more eclectic, without a defined style, and instead incorporates various elements of Romanian and international culture. Bucharest has an eclectic mixture of elements from traditionally Romanian buildings to buildings that are influenced by French architects. It is because of this French influence that Bucharest was once called "the Paris of the East" or "Little Paris."

• Bucharest's judicial system is similar to that of the Romanian counties. Each of the six sectors has its own local first instance court (judecătorie), while appeals from these courts' verdicts, and more serious cases, are directed to the Bucharest Tribunal, the city's municipal court. The Bucharest Court of Appeal judges appeals against decisions taken by tribunals in Bucharest and in five surrounding counties (Teleorman, Ialomiţa, Giurgiu, Călăraşi and Ilfov). Bucharest is also home to Romania's supreme court, the High Court of Cassation and Justice, as well as to the Constitutional Court of Romania.

• Bucharest has its own municipal police force, the Bucharest Police (Poliția București), which is responsible for policing of crime within the whole city, and operates a number of special divisions. The Bucharest Police are headquartered on Ştefan cel Mare Blvd. in the city centre, and has a number of precincts throughout the city. From 2004 onwards, each Sector City Hall also has under its administration a Community Police force (Poliția Comunitară), dealing with local community issues. Bucharest also houses the General Inspectorates of the Gendarmerie and the National Police.

• Bucharest has a large number of landmark buildings and monuments. Perhaps the most prominent of these is the Palace of the Parliament, built in the 1980s during the reign of Communist dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu. Currently the largest building in Europe and the second-largest in the world, the Palace houses the Romanian Parliament (the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate), as well as the National Museum of Contemporary Art. The building also boasts one of the largest convention centres in the world.

• Another well-known landmark in Bucharest is Arcul de Triumf (The Triumphal Arch), it was built in its current form in 1935 and modeled after the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. A newer landmark of the city is the Memorial of Rebirth, a stylized marble pillar unveiled in 2005 to commemorate the victims of the Romanian Revolution of 1989, which overthrew Communism. The abstract monument sparked a great deal of controversy when it was unveiled, being dubbed with names such as "the olive in the toothpick", ("măslina-n scobitoare"), as many argued that it does not fit in its surroundings and believed that its choice was based on political reasons.

• The Romanian Athenaeum building is considered to be a symbol of Romanian culture and since 2007 is on the list of the Label of European Heritage sights.

• Other cultural venues include the National Museum of Art of Romania, Museum of Natural History "Grigore Antipa", Museum of the Romanian Peasant (Muzeul Ţăranului Român), National History Museum, and the Military Museum.