{"id":7876,"date":"2025-11-25T14:00:35","date_gmt":"2025-11-25T14:00:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ofero.news\/?p=7876"},"modified":"2025-11-25T14:00:35","modified_gmt":"2025-11-25T14:00:35","slug":"authorization-for-11-story-building-close-to-bucharests-famous-bellu-cemetery-sparks-controversy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ofero.news\/?p=7876","title":{"rendered":"Authorization for 11-story building close to Bucharest\u2019s famous Bellu Cemetery sparks controversy"},"content":{"rendered":"

An 11-story building is currently being built next to the graves in Bucharest\u2019s famous\u00a0Bellu Cemetery, and the project, authorized by the District 4 City Hall in 2023, has sparked controversy in the context of local elections for general mayor<\/a>.<\/p>\n

District 4 City Hall, led by Daniel B\u0103lu\u021b\u0103, currently a candidate for the position of general mayor backed by the Social Democratic Party, issued the authorization for the new building. Sections of it will extend over the cemetery itself, according to Oficiul de \u0218tiri<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The construction works, planned for a period of 24 months, began at the start of this year. The project was made public by Iliescu C\u0103t\u0103lin Lucian<\/a>, president of the Commission for Culture and Religious Affairs in the Bucharest General Council. According to the councilor, the project was approved based on a Detailed Urban Plan voted in 2023, derived from a 2009 General Urban Plan.<\/p>\n

The project is \u201clegally questionable, violating any Christian morality,\u201d according to Iliescu, who also highlighted that the building was initially supposed to house offices. Now, it is registered as a residential unit. Moreover, the land is located in the protection zone of a historical monument, which, according to Iliescu, would have required additional approvals.<\/p>\n

In response, District 4 City Hall noted that the piece of land originally belonged to the Ministry of Agriculture, but that ownership rights were transferred to a commercial company in 2006. Almost 10 years later, in 2016, several constructions occupying the land were demolished. As such, the City Hall pointed out, there were never any graves on the parcel.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Finally, the local authority noted that the construction in question is being carried out based on a Zonal Urban Plan approved by the Bucharest General Council in 2009, and that refusing to issue an authorization for it would have constituted an abuse of office, according to Libertatea<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Daniel B\u0103lu\u021b\u0103\u2019s opponents in the elections for Bucharest’s general mayor seized the moment to attack one of the leading candidates<\/a>, according to the polls.<\/p>\n

\u201cI see that Mr. B\u0103lu\u021b\u0103, in District 4, issued an authorization, and a housing complex is being built literally over the graves in Bellu Cemetery. [It is] something horrifying, odious from an urbanistic point of view: a long, narrow rectangular plot that penetrates among the graves, literally,\u201d said former transport minister C\u0103t\u0103lin Drul\u0103, also running for Bucharest mayor.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Bellu Cemetery<\/a> is a landmark on the cultural map of Bucharest.\u00a0Writers, musicians, actors, academics, or people who over time have changed the course of Romania from positions of power have found their eternal rest here. Their names are written on simple wooden crosses or on true works of art with impressive details.<\/p>\n

radu@romania-insider.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

(Photo source:\u00a0Iliescu Catalin Lucian<\/a>\u00a0on Facebook)<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An 11-story building is currently being built next to the graves in Bucharest\u2019s famous\u00a0Bellu Cemetery, and the project, authorized by the District 4 City Hall in 2023, has sparked controversy in the context of local elections for general mayor. District 4 City Hall, led by Daniel B\u0103lu\u021b\u0103, currently a candidate for the position of general […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7876","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ofero.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7876","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ofero.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ofero.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ofero.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7876"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ofero.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7876\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ofero.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7876"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ofero.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7876"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ofero.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7876"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}