Across the street from the National History Museum, the headquarters of the Romanian Savings Bank, CEC, is a gleaming and thoroughly renovated neoclassical masterpiece dating from the late 19th century. There's nothing really to see inside (it's a normal bank), but the exterior, especially at night, is an instant wow.
CEC Bank Palace
Bucharest
Lonely Planet's must-see attractions
0.51 MILES
The Palace of Parliament is the world’s second-largest administrative building (after the Pentagon) and former dictator Nicolae Ceauşescu’s most infamous…
0.65 MILES
The exquisite Athenaeum is the majestic heart of Romania’s classical-music tradition. Scenes from Romanian history are featured on the interior fresco…
2.58 MILES
This restored villa is the former main residence of Nicolae and Elena Ceauşescu, who lived here for around two decades up until the end in 1989…
Grigore Antipa Natural History Museum
1.58 MILES
One of the few attractions in Bucharest aimed squarely at kids, this natural-history museum, showing off Romania's plant and animal life, has been…
0.44 MILES
West of Calea Victoriei is the locally beloved Cişmigiu Garden, with shady walks, a lake, cafes and a ridiculous number of benches on which to sit and…
20.92 MILES
Tiny Snagov Island, at the northern end of Snagov Lake, is home to Snagov Monastery and Vlad Ţepeş' alleged final resting place. The small stone church…
Museum of the Romanian Peasant
1.68 MILES
The collection of peasant bric-a-brac, costumes, icons and partially restored houses makes this one of the most popular museums in the city. There’s not…
2.46 MILES
What was supposed to be a 6km-long dam during the communist era, left abandoned after the 1989 Revolution, turned over 22 years into a vast urban delta…
Nearby Bucharest attractions
0.05 MILES
Hardly a 'national' museum of history, given the rather small collection of maps, statues and jewels on display. The museum is strong, however, on the…
0.11 MILES
The tiny and lovely Stavropoleos Church, which dates from 1724, perches a bit oddly a block over from some of Bucharest's craziest Old Town carousing. It…
0.13 MILES
West of Calea Victoriei is the country's formal memorial to Romanian Jews and Roma who died in the Holocaust. The monument, the shape vaguely recalling a…
0.14 MILES
For a country not traditionally known for its strong currency, the impressive 19th-century neoclassical National Bank building is a veritable fortress. It…
0.17 MILES
The former symbol of Bucharest, the 16th-century Prince Mihai Monastery was built from 1589 to 1591 under the orders of Mihai Viteazul (r 1593–1601)…
0.21 MILES
Tiny St Apostles’ Church, north of B-dul Unirii (west of the Piaţa Unirii), survived Ceauşescu's 1980s demolition project – to a degree. The church, built…
0.27 MILES
The Old Princely Court dates to the 15th century, when Bucharest emerged as the capital of the Wallachian principality. The ruins are being slowly…
0.29 MILES
An impressive church that survived the demolitions of the 1980s is the candy-striped Princess Bălaşa Church, northwest of Piaţa Unirii. It's named after…