CNB building restored to its original state: Emblems removed by Nazis return to façade

In a ceremony held today, the Czech National Bank unveiled the Živnostenská banka emblems on its building. The decorative elements, in the form of the initials “ŽB”, have been returned to their original place on the window grilles of the building on Na Příkopě Street, after eighty years. CNB staff only recently discovered evidence of the existence of these emblems and the reasons for their removal in historical documents from the central bank’s archives.

“Živnostenská banka stood firmly at the establishment of the Czechoslovak Republic, the creation of the Czechoslovak currency, and the foundation of the republic’s economic prosperity at that time. I believe that the return of its initials to the building today will symbolically bring us closer to the values that the institution which built it has always upheld,” said CNB Governor Aleš Michl.

The current central bank building, designed by architect František Roith, was built by Živnostenská banka in 1935–1942. Originally, the plans did not include decorative elements. In the final stages of construction, the bank’s management requested modifications to the façade, which even František Roith considered too austere. As a result, he proposed modifying the second-floor windows, changing them to French windows with small balconies, and added decorative elements to the window grilles on the ground floor, featuring the golden initials “ŽB”.

Following the occupation of the Czech lands by Nazi Germany, Živnostenská banka was forced to comply with the occupiers. It changed its name, adding the German translation (Gewerbebank), and was forcibly drawn into financing the war economy. Due to developments on the front, the occupying power ordered the removal of decorative elements from buildings, which were to be melted down for the war effort. As a result, in 1943, the initials ŽB also had to be removed from the window grilles. After the liberation, and especially after 1950, when the State Bank of Czechoslovakia was established, the importance of Czech and Czechoslovak banking in the nation’s emancipation was deliberately no longer spoken about, and the awareness of Živnostenská banka as the creator of the monumental building at the crossroads near the Powder Gate gradually faded from memory. Similarly, the decorative elements in the form of the initials on its grilles were forgotten and, as a result, were not restored during the reconstruction of the building in 1997–2000.

They were only rediscovered during the preparation of a publication about the CNB building, when the central bank’s archivists thoroughly examined historical documents. “The installation of the bronze initials of Živnostenská banka will return the central bank building to its appearance shortly after its completion, while also restoring one of its key original decorative elements, which was removed in the 1940s by order of the Nazi occupation administration,” said CNB chief archivist Jakub Kunert.

Petra Krmelová
Director of the Communications Division and CNB Spokesperson

Notes for journalists:

The Czech National Bank is the central bank of the Czech Republic and the supervisor of the Czech financial market. The objective of the CNB is to maintain price and financial stability. The CNB sets monetary policy, issues banknotes and coins and manages the circulation of currency, the payment system and settlements between banks. It also performs supervision of the banking sector, the capital market, the insurance industry, pension funds, credit unions, electronic money institutions and non-bank consumer credit providers. In addition, it is involved in consumer protection and performs foreign exchange supervision. The CNB has offices in Prague, Plzeň, Hradec Králové, Brno, Ostrava, České Budějovice and Ústí nad Labem.