bg Sofia

Former Balkan Bank

- Dyakon Ignatiy Street 9 -
The current commercial and administrative building was built on the site where the house of the Bulgarian politician stood, who lived there until his death in 1903. The construction, which was commissioned by the Balkan Bank, was completed in 1910 and was built according to a design of an Austrian architect. The Balkan Bank was established in 1906 with mainly French and Belgian capital. In 1924, during the years of the tobacco crisis, the Balkan Bank liquidated its foreign deposits and merged with the Franco-Belgian Bank.
The building that stood in the place of the current building
Later on, the building became in use by the Ministry of Transport and Communications, which implements government policy in the field of transport and communications. The Ministry was originally created in 1912 as the Ministry of Railways, Posts, and Telegraphs, and existed separately until 1934 when it was merged with the Ministry of Public Buildings, Roads and Public Works into the new Ministry of Communications, but on 21 May 1935, they again are separated. On December 11, 1947, it was divided into the Ministry of Railways, Roads and Communications and the Ministry of Posts, Telegraphs and Telephones.
An old print showing the building
The building, which is built in the styles of Neo-Classical and Art Nouveau, contains three fragments on top of it, which are either adorned with a , a globe, or a of a wooden boat. Underneath the three fragments, a is placed with underneath it a strip of . The fragment that contains the initials B.B. is surrounded by two fire torches, while the two shield-shaped fragments are surrounded by two . The that are placed above the circle-top windows, which are surrounded by floral ornamentation, are either adorned with a decorative limpet shell or a . The that can be seen underneath most of the second floor windows contain column-shaped . The , which is supported by four that are crowned with a Doric , contains a Greek key motif.
The building around 1930