Tens of thousands of people gathered in Bucharest on Saturday around a table stretching for miles, setting a Guinness World Records mark while raising funds for what organizers say will become Romania’s first pediatric psychiatry hospital.
Known as the “Uniting Table,” the 5,055-meter (3.1-mile) installation ran from Unirii Boulevard to Constitution Square, directly in front of Bucharest’s enormous communist-era Palace of Parliament.
Bloom The World Association, the Romania-based group behind the event, received a Guinness World Records certificate for creating the “longest table made from recycled materials.”
Organizers said about 20,000 people took seats at the interconnected tables, many of which were adorned with flowers and snacks.
Joanne Brent, a senior adjudicator and official onscreen judge for Guinness World Records who attended the Bucharest gathering, told the crowd that the record had been achieved for a meaningful purpose.
“Everyone, 20,000 people I am told are here today, have come around one table and a common cause,” she said. “I get to see this often, people coming together, record-breaking achievements with real-world impact.”
Proceeds from the event will support a planned 3,900-square-meter children’s psychiatric facility at the Obregia Hospital complex in Bucharest.
The Metropolis Foundation, which is leading the construction project, said the facility is being financed through private donations and sponsorships and is expected to cost €16.5 million ($19.4 million).
“It is a project that started from a real need,” the foundation says on its website.
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“The current section at Obregia Hospital operates in an old, overcrowded space, which no longer meets the medical and emotional needs of children … It means the chance to bring closer to reality a hospital that will benefit over 5,700 children facing severe mental illnesses annually.”
The foundation says the number of children diagnosed with serious mental disorders, such as depression, behavioral disorders, substance use, autism and ADHD, has “increased alarmingly” in Romania, from 3,839 in 2018 to more than 5,600 in 2024.
The hospital’s current pediatric psychiatry clinic has 62 beds, but wards with many beds that lack their own bathrooms, according to the foundation. It also states that the old facility’s lack of space can make private discussions with patients and their families challenging.
The new five-level building will host medical offices, occupational therapy and virtual reality rooms, sensory and educational spaces, dedicated relaxation spaces, as well as a section dedicated to treating addiction among adolescents.
“We clearly want as many people as possible to donate (toward) the first psychiatric hospital for children,” said Alexa Vilcan of Bloom the World.
The previous Guinness record for the longest table made from recycled materials was also held by Bloom the World, measuring 2,782 meters in Romania’s central town of Alba Iulia, and was recorded on the same date last year.
In 2023, Romania had one of the lowest healthcare budgets in the European Union relative to GDP at 5.7%, compared to a bloc average of about 10%, according to the EU’s statistics office, Eurostat.
Romania’s Minister of Health Alexandru Rogobete has pledged to support the initiative by supplying the “equipment and furniture necessary” to equip the medical facility, construction for which is scheduled to be completed by 2027.