Between July and September 2023, the Museum of the National Bank of Romania holds a temporary exhibition entitled Architecture and banking and financial life in Bucharest at the end of the 19th century and in the first half of the 20th century.

The concept of the exhibition is to take visitors on an imaginary journey in the centre of Bucharest to discover the banking life of the capital during the respective period through the buildings that made up the city’s financial district for half a century. This involved a network of more than 100 buildings that hosted financial and banking businesses (money lenders and money changers, banks, insurance companies, etc.), including, among others, the CEC Palace, the Marmorosch Blank Bank, the former Palace of the Stock Exchange and the Rural Land Credit Bank, which was the first headquarters of the National Bank of Romania.

A special section is dedicated to the history of the central bank, exhibiting unique objects directly related to its activity and employees, in a setting that recreates the atmosphere of the bygone street of the National Bank. Laid out in 1891, it linked Smârdan Street to the newly opened Vilacrosse Passage. Along this street stood the Old Palace of the NBR, the Modern Theatre and a building that originally belonged to George Em. Lahovary. Later, the New Palace of the NBR was built on the site of these buildings.

The exhibition is organised in partnership with CEC Bank SA, the Museum of Bucharest and the Alexandru Ivan collection and can be visited on the free guided tours of the NBR Museum, which take place Mondays to Fridays, by prior appointment.