A grand French-Renaissance bank palace finished in 1900 by the architect Paul Gottereau, sitting on a corner of Calea Victoriei opposite the National History Museum. The four-storey façade is theatrical — caryatids, allegorical statues of industry and trade, and a triumphal entrance arch — and the central glass-and-iron dome is the largest of its kind in the city.
It still functions as the headquarters of CEC Bank, founded in 1864 as Romania's first savings bank. Guided tours of the marble main hall run occasionally during heritage open days; the rest of the time you can wander into the public banking floor and look up. Combine with the National History Museum next door.