Constanta Casino In Romania – An Art Nouveau Beauty From A Lost Era
The Constanta Casino: An Art Nouveau Beauty
Many European gamblers have probably heard talk of what was once the best casino situated on the edge of the Black Sea in Romania. The famed Constanta Casino was built entirely of wood in 1880. It was a situation next to that Genevieve’s lighthouse and went by the name of “Kursai”, which means a room for relaxation.
As a client of the casino, you could take a break from the card table and walk down to the sea via steps directly from the gaming room. But its glory days were very short as in 1890, a heavy rainstorm literally destroyed the wooden building. Nevertheless, this now wrecked structure would form the foundations of Romania’s very own Monte Carlo. After accessing the damage, there was a general consensus for the building of a new casino that would spring up featuring a stone foundation along with two terraces facing the Black Sea.
Rebuilding The Destroyed Constanta Casino
At that time, probably the most famous remaining architect was Horia Creanga, who happened to be the nephew of the famous writer Ion Creanga. Thanks to the experience of the original wooden casino, Romanians understood that foreigners were only too happy to make the trip to Romania in order to gamble. They would be spending copious amounts of money. As a result, many related businesses such as hotels and restaurants were quick to position themselves in the vicinity. They were offering both employment and the possibility of a livelihood for many local people.
The Constanta Casino had a number of gambling rooms, mostly dedicated to table card games. There was also a huge ballroom showing off the latest haute couture fashions along with the latest dance moves. As the building was under construction, the idea was to create an even bigger edifice. Soon the project was growing in size to rival any casino you might find on the French Riviera. This new building was to be from the hand of the architect, Daniel Renard.
One Of The Most Luxurious Casinos In Europe
Having a Swiss father and a Romanian mother, Renard studied in Paris. In his early career, he designed several smaller hotels and buildings in the style of Art Nouveau. At that time the opposition political party was unhappy with the project as they couldn’t imagine how it might look. Nevertheless, because you could view the architect’s efforts in the form of the beautiful new casino, everybody was happy. It officially opened for business on the 15th of August 1910. At the grand opening, King Ferdinand appeared. Without a doubt, the Constantia Casino was the biggest and most luxurious casino in Romania. In fact, it rivalled the casinos of Paris and Monte Carlo for style and refinement.
Walking into the entrance, you’d see a huge welcoming room along with magnificent interior staircases leading to the upper levels. There was a permanent orchestra playing every day along with a number of gaming rooms. Here clients could play blackjack, jackpot poker and roulette. Talking of casino table games, if you head over to 1xBet Casino, they have a great welcome offer for all ner players of 200% up to €1500 plus 150 free spins. That should certainly help increase your jackpot winning chances.
In the casino, there was also a ballroom, a showroom and a snooker room. There was a wardrobe downstairs next to a reading room. This contains many Romanian newspapers as well as those especially bought in from abroad. There was also a spectacular international buffet with a specialist kitchen next door. The whole caboodle oozed sophistication and luxury.
The Golden Age Of The Constanta Casino
Around a year after it officially opened, the management decided to promote the casino internationally. As a result, more tables were added and within a very short time, the Constanta Casino became one of the busiest and most respected casinos of its kind in the whole of Europe. With its fabulous location and superb, but gaudy architectural style, it’s no surprise that gamblers flooded in from all over the world to play there. Everything was luxurious and very tasteful with gorgeous Rococo and Art Nouveau furniture with massive crystal chandeliers towering overhead. We should point out that the casino was not open to commoners. You needed to be exceptionally wealthy in order to play there. Many of society’s wealthiest from around Europe came to play at the casino, whilst at the same time enjoying the facilities of tourism on the Black Sea.
Used For The Red Cross In WW1
Every day, gamblers were winning and losing huge sums of money. One rather tragic part of the whole casino story is that it was not uncommon for those who have lost everything to throw themselves into the sea below the casino. In around 1916, just after the beginning of the First World War, The Constanta Casino was repurposed for the Red Cross. It became a hospital for wounded soldiers. In Romania, it became known as the “Stone Guardian.” It was bombed by the allies quite severely during wars. Yet it still managed to save the lives of the injured who were sheltered there. Later it was time for the Constanta to try and regain some of its former glory. So in 1934, Renault was contacted again and summoned to restore the building.
WW2 And The Constanta Casino
Barely had this work complete, then in 1941, it was to suffer bombing again by the allies. And this time German troops were using it for shelter. The Constanta Casino had to wait until 1951 before proper repairs could restart. The Socialist Labour Party took over the ownership of the casino. And around 1950, its syndicates formed a trusted company that was tasked with bringing tourists to spend their holidays at the Black Sea.
Unfortunately, the ideas of socialism and gambling do not really go happily hand in hand. As a result, there was a suppression of the trappings of the bourgeois lifestyle. During this period of grey politics, no one wanted to be responsible for spending money to maintain this old symbol of pure capitalism. As a result, the casino fell out of favour. It became an empty but elegant decaying edifice on the sea. You would have thought that the local government would have been happy to inject a relatively small amount of cash and a huge amount of effort to create a business. One that could once again benefit the local population, as well as bring the building back to its former glory for the sake of tourism.
Greed And Corruption Play Their Ugly Hands
As with many countries in Central and Eastern Europe, many ideas may be lofty. But corruption means that any money that might benefit a project simply goes missing. The local city hall granted a concession for the casino to an investment group for 50 years in 2007. As you’d expect, the winning company announced that in the first 5 years alone they would invest huge sums of money into the restoration of the Constanta Casino. But within a very short space of time, the project was cancelled. Later on, the Ministry of Tourism claimed that they wanted to begin work on restoration. But, once again, after a couple of years, nothing happened.
In 2013 the city announced that they would get European funding in order to restore the building. Thanks to endemic corruption, any money that did come through, quickly disappeared into the ether. Leaving nothing left for the project itself. In an act of desperation, the city mayor actually went to visit a group of representatives from Europe’s largest casinos in Switzerland. Unfortunately, there were political misunderstandings, along with deep-seated issues of trust. This meant that these businesses were reluctant to invest cash into the casino. After all, it could become an endless pit of graft and corruption.
Today, the Constanta Casino remains abandoned. Though it enjoys World Heritage status, no one appears willing to take a punt on restoring this once enchanted structure back to its former glory. If you happen to be visiting Romania and looking for casinos to win the jackpot, then remember that you can always win the jackpot online by playing at 1xBet Casino. They have a huge variety of casino games as well as many live dealer tables.
