It was here, at around midday on December 21, 1989, that the Ceausescu regime began to crumble. A white marble triangle, with the inscription Glorie martirilor nostri (Glory to our martyrs), points (slightly innacurately) to the low balcony above the entrance of the former Central Committee building (today the Senate) from where Nicolae Ceausescu held his last public speech. It is today difficult to imagine all that went on the not so distant past, as the area is quiet, but the (deliberately preserved) bullet holes on the building opposite (above the Humanitas book shop) are a reminder of the madness of those December days. After initial protests here (which forced Ceausescu to abondon a speech) the crowd was fired upon, and dispersed, only to regroup in Piata Universitatii.