Herastrau Park

The area of the park has been inhabited since the Paleolithic, traces of settlements being found at the Herăstrău sand quarry,^[3] including flint tools made by the Mousterian culture,^[4] a culture generally associated with the Neanderthals. During the quaternary glaciation, the area was inhabited by large mammals such as the woolly rhinoceros and the mammoth, bones of the latter being found in the Herăstrău sand quarry.^[5]

Continue your reading here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herastrau_Park

CEC Building

Before the construction of the palace, the location was occupied by the ruins of a monastery (Saint John the Great) and an adjoining inn. The 16th-century church was renovated by Constantin Brâncoveanu during 1702 - 1703, but later deteriorated and was demolished in 1875.

The palace was built as a new headquarters for Romania's oldest bank, the public savings institution Casa de Depuneri, Consemnațiuni și Economie, later known as C.E.C. (Romanian: Casa de Economii și Consemnațiuni). The land was bought and the building constructed with the institution's own funds. Work started on June 8, 1897 and was completed in 1900. The project was designed by the architect Paul Guttereau, a graduate of the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris; 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 for €17.787 million to the municipality of Bucharest to be used as a museum. Although no longer open to CEC clients, the bank continues to rent the building as its headquarters until a suitable replacement is found or built.

In 2009, it was the venue for the 60th birthday celebrations of Princess Margarita of Romania.^[1]

Continue your reading here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CEC_Palace