CEC Palace
Encyclopedia
The CEC Palace in Bucharest
Bucharest
Bucharest is the capital municipality, cultural, industrial, and financial centre of Romania. It is the largest city in Romania, located in the southeast of the country, at , and lies on the banks of the Dâmbovița River....

, Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...

, built in 1900 and situated on Calea Victoriei opposite the History Museum, is the headquarters of the national savings house C.E.C., nowadays called CEC Bank.

History

Before the erection of the palace, the spot was occupied by the ruins of a monastery (Saint John the Great) and an adjoining inn. The church, built in the 16th century, was renovated by Constantin Brâncoveanu
Constantin Brâncoveanu
Constantin Brâncoveanu was Prince of Wallachia between 1688 and 1714.-Ascension:A descendant of the Craioveşti boyar family and related to Matei Basarab, Brâncoveanu was born at the estate of Brâncoveni and raised in the house of his uncle, stolnic Constantin Cantacuzino...

 during 1702 - 1703, but later degraded and was demolished in 1875.

The palace was built as a new headquarters for the public savings institution Casa de Depuneri, Consemnaţiuni şi Economie, later known as C.E.C. Romanian
Romanian language
Romanian Romanian Romanian (or Daco-Romanian; obsolete spellings Rumanian, Roumanian; self-designation: română, limba română ("the Romanian language") or românește (lit. "in Romanian") is a Romance language spoken by around 24 to 28 million people, primarily in Romania and Moldova...

: Casa de Economii şi Consemnaţiuni), the oldest Romanian bank. The lands were bought and the building built with the institutions's own funds. Work started on the 8th of June, 1897 and ended in 1900. The projects were designed by the architect Paul Guttereau, a graduate of the School of Art in Paris, while the construction was supervised by the Romanian architect Ion Socolescu.

After 106 years of service, the building was deemed no longer fit for modern banking and was therefore sold to the municipality to be used as a museum, in exchange for 17.787 mil. euro. Even if no longer open to CEC clients, the Palace remains rented as bank headquarters until a new suitable building is found or built.

Architecture

Built in eclectic style, the palace ends in a glass and metal dome. The entrance features an arch supported by two pairs of columns in composite style. The four corners are decorated with gables and coats of arms and ending in Renaissance domes.

External links

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