5/5 Tony Popa N. 5 years ago on Google
The
CEC
Palace
is
one
of
the
most
well-known,
elegant
and
representative
architectural
monuments
of
Bucharest.
It
was
built
in
a
period
of
only
five
years,
i.e.
during
1895-1900,
and
bears
the
mark
of
the
French
academism
style,
a
style
that
was
a
fashion
of
that
age,
nonetheless
combined
with
other
classical
and
baroque
architectural
elements.
The
idea
to
build
a
new
head
office
belonged
mainly
to
Costache
Bălcescu
(the
brother
of
Nicolae
Bălcescu,
the
1848
Wallachian
Revolution
revolutionist),
the
president
of
the
Bank
during
1890
-1894.
Nowadays,
the
current
CEC
Palace
is
the
fourth
head
office
of
the
banking
institution:
in
1865
it
was
in
the
Ministry
for
Finance,
then
during
1866-1875
in
the
Şerban-Vodă
Inn
(on
the
site
of
the
current
NBR
premises),
while
during
1876-1895
in
its
own
premises,
that
were
pulled
down
in
1895
in
order
to
build
the
current
Palace.
The
architect
in
charge
of
designing
the
blueprints
was
Paul
Gottereau,
the
architect
of
the
Royal
Family
who
built
also
the
Cotroceni
Palace
and
the
Central
University
Library.
As
entrepreneur,
the
engineer
Ion
Socolescu
was
chosen,
while
the
Palace
Technical
Commission
was
composed
of
Elie
Bujoiu
and
Anghel
Saligny,
well-known
personalities
in
the
field
of
construction
works
at
the
end
of
the
nineteenth
century.
In
March
1895,
the
construction
works
of
the
Palace
started
-
works
that
were
completed
in
the
spring
of
1900.
The
setting
of
the
cornerstone
by
King
Carol
I
and
Queen
Elisabeth
took
place
on
8
June
1897,
so
that
this
is
the
date
considered
as
the
birth
date
of
the
monument.
The
money
needed
to
build
the
building
came
exclusively
from
the
Bank’s
benefits,
with
the
Board
supervising
all
the
operations
related
to
the
construction
works.
From
the
very
beginning,
the
Palace
was
designed
to
be
bank
premises.
So
that
among
others,
it
was
endowed
-
in
line
with
the
mentality
of
the
age
-
with
a
vault,
having
actually
two
basements
designed
to
provide
protection
for
financial
valuables,
i.e.
the
money,
the
vault
being
mainly
designed
to
be
used
as
a
place
for
renting
safety
boxes
for
individual
bank
customers.
One
of
the
reasons
of
building
this
space
for
safety
boxes
was
that
some
of
the
expenses
incurred
for
the
building
maintenance
be
borne
from
the
benefits
resulting
from
these
services.
Most
of
the
construction
materials
used
to
build
the
Palace
came
from
Romania:
the
mosaic
in
the
central
hall
and
the
stairs
on
the
first
floor
are
made
of
marble
brought
from
Dobruja
while
the
floor
lamps
in
the
stairs
border
space
were
manufactured
in
Bucharest.
The
big
chandeliers
in
the
central
hall
were
manufactured
in
Vienna.
The
central
heating
system
was
built
with
French
participation
by
Koerting
&
Freres
Company,
but
it
was
dismantled
during
the
First
World
War
and
taken
away
by
the
German
army
as
war
plunder.
In
the
year
1900,
the
Palace
was
endowed
with
a
telephone
exchange,
one
of
the
most
performing
ones
for
that
time.
The
paintings
were
painted
by
the
artist
Michel
Simonidy
–
a
Romanian
of
Greek
origin,
born
in
Brăila
and
living
in
Paris.
He
painted
the
paintings
in
the
Board
Room,
while
the
large
ceiling
painting
called
“Fortuna
distributing
its
benefactions
to
the
Romanians
after
the
Independence”
won
the
silver
medal
at
the
Universal
Exhibition
in
Paris,
in
1900.
This
artist
painted
the
portraits
of
King
Carol
I
and
Queen
Elisabeth
as
well.
After
the
coronation
in
1923
of
King
Ferdinand
I
and
Queen
Maria,
the
painter
Costin
Petrescu
painted
their
portraits
that
are
placed
in
the
Board
Room.
The
royal
portraits
were
completely
destroyed
in
January
1948.
Nevertheless,
the
paintings
were
restored
in
2005
by
the
painter
of
the
Royal
Family,
Valentin
Tănase.
The
earth
quakes
of
November
1940
and
March
1977
did
not
affect
the
structure
of
the
Palace;
during
the
Soviet
bombardments
in
1941
and
the
Anglo-American
ones
in
1944
–
when
all
the
major
public
buildings
on
Victoriei
Avenue
were
hit
-
inexplicably,
the
CEC
Palace
was
not
hit
by
any
bomb.
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