Design
A Dictator's Execution Spot, Now Open to Tourists
Romania reopened the site where NicolaeĀ Ceausescu was shot, turning the former cavalry barracks into a museum.
On December 21, 1989, Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu took the stage outside Bucharest's Palace (now "Revolution") Square to try and calm the crowd. Decades of brutal oppression had come to a head five days earlier in the city of Timisoara. By the time Ceausescu addressed his audience, rioting had trickled down to the capital.
His speech was interrupted, and his 24-year rule unraveled before his eyes. The Romanian Revolution was underway.