The private home of Nicolae and Elena Ceaușescu from the mid-1960s until the revolution of December 1989, opened to the public in 2016 and largely unchanged since the couple fled. The 80 rooms are decorated with the singular taste of dictators with unlimited budgets — peacocks embroidered on the silk wall coverings, gold mosaics in the bathrooms, an indoor swimming pool lined with sea creatures, a private cinema, and a winter garden full of tropical plants.
The guided tour (English available, book ahead) takes about 90 minutes and is one of the most fascinating things you can do in Bucharest. The cumulative effect is far stranger than the marble pomp of the Palace of the Parliament: this is where the people actually lived, ate, and slept while the country starved. Don't miss the children's playroom or the wood-panelled study.