site.btaOctober 20, 1935: Ground Broken for Bulgarian National Bank New Building

On October 20, 1935, the cornerstone of the Bulgarian National Bank (BNB) building was laid in a ceremony in Sofia. A special message was placed in the building's foundations, concluding with the words: "May Almighty God protect this building so that it may serve as a centre of economic prosperity for Bulgaria for all eternity".

Construction of the building began in 1935 and was completed in 1939. It was designed by architects Ivan Vasilov and Dimitar Tzolov, in collaboration with architects Hristo Peshev, Boris Kapitanov, Dimitar Bainov and Krum Ilchev.  

The Bulgarian National Bank was established in 1879. The bank initially rented a building on Slavyanska Street in Sofia before moving into its own premises designed by the Swiss architect Henri Jacob Heinrich Meyer, on Alexander I Street. In the two decades preceding the Balkan Wars of 1912–1913, the Bank’s activity expanded, creating the need for new, more functional and spacious premises.

According to the BNB’s own website, on March 29, 1920, the Governing Council of the bank resolved “to acquire a plot bounded by four thoroughfares, viz. an undivided city block, and to construct thereon proprietary chambers for the Bank that shall rise to its needs for more than fifty years hence”. The construction was to be funded by annual deductions from profits. However, funds proved to be insufficient, and construction of the new building did not begin until 1933.

On 20 October 1935, Marko Ryaskov, the Minister of Finance and BNB Governor, laid the building's foundation stone. His Holiness Stefan, the Metropolitan of Sofia, blessed it. According to custom, Ryaskov delivered three hammer blows to the stone while intoning the words, “May it last unto eternity!”. A special glass vial containing a scroll documenting the event, along with examples of all coins and banknotes ever issued by the bank, was placed next to the stone. The ceremony was attended by Prime Minister Andrey Toshev and the entire Council of Ministers.

The bank building is a fine example of modern 1930s architecture, combining classical proportions with elements of Romanticism. The architectural design incorporates modern vertical divisions and functionality. The seven-storey building has four above-ground floors and three below. The facade is clad in limestone slabs and adorned with sculptures and reliefs that allude to the building’s purpose.

A clock tower sits in the northwestern corner, while another clock sits beneath an elegant pinnacle adorning the western facade. A stone statue of St. Nikola, the patron saint of seafarers, merchants and bankers, by Prof. Lyubomir Dalchev, decorates the northwestern entrance. The northern facade houses the sculpted heads of the ancient deities Hermes and Demeter, symbols of success, wealth and commerce. Above the eastern entrance is a stone relief carved by Prof. Lyuben Dimitrov, symbolizing strength and endurance: two lions face each other with an oak leaf and twin acorns between them, and the years of the building’s construction are inscribed beneath: “1934 – BNB – 1939”. 

The interior combines the designers’ desire to create a sense of spaciousness with the entry of as much natural daylight as possible. Facing the main entrance lobby, the mezzanine houses the tellers’ hall, which is topped by a large skylight. The eastern and western wings of the ground floor are open galleries overlooking the hall, and a further gallery adorns the fifth floor in the north-western tower. Several technical solutions were implemented to enhance the building’s functionality, such as a spacious safe deposit vault, elevators and a pneumatic tube system.

The bank building also houses BNB's art collection, which features paintings and sculptures by Bulgarian artists. There is also a museum displaying coins and banknotes from various periods in Bulgarian history and a memorial wall and eternal flame commemorating the names of BNB employees who died in the 1912–1913 and 1915–1918 Wars for national unification and defence of the nation.