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The Sinaia Casino (Cazinoul din Sinaia) is an international conference center located in Sinaia in the park “Dimitrie Ghica”, Prahova County, Romania. It has been designated by the Romanian Ministry of Culture and National Patrimony as a historic monument.

The Casino currently serves numerous conferences, congressional getaways, national and international assemblies and other various congregations. It is also hosts numerous local and national art and photography expositions, along with book launches, concerts and musical performances.

Construction and Early Years
The Casino was built at the initiative of the King Carol I. Its construction begun in 1912 and ended a year later, in 1913. There are versions that claim the Casino was built earlier, starting at the end of 1911 until June 1912. In those years, Sinaia was the summer residency of the Royal Family. The architect who designed the building and supervised the work was Petre Antonescu. The main shareholder was the Baron Egdar de Marçay, who also invested in the Monte Carlo Casino. The two Casinos have some similar interior architectural elements. However, the Sinaia Casino is not a copy of the one in Monte Carlo, despite rumors that stated the contrary when the Casino was built. By building this Casino, King Carol I wanted to help Sinaia flourish, by attracting more tourists. The Casino has a ground surface of 3800 square meters and five levels. The most famous rooms are the Theater Hall, the Lobby where guests are welcomed, and Hall of Mirro which is the biggest room of the Casino with a surface of 650 square meters. Other rooms worth mentioning are the Baccara Hall and prince Dionisie Ghica Hall that can welcome between 1000 to 3000 people. (3)

Its inauguration was a real celebration, with the presence of the Royal Family and Titu Maiorescu, the prime minister in those days, and being hosted by Alexandru Davilla the director of the Bucharest Theater. The show included a concert by George Enescu. (2)

In the first years after the inauguration, the Sinaia Casino was visited by a large number of tourists. They would come with the “train of pleasure”, taking gamers from Bucharest to Sinaia. The train would arrive in Sinaia at 16:30 and at 17:00 the Casino would open its doors. Every day the Casino would welcome around 800 people interested in games like the roulette, card games, rummy, chess, and more. At some point King Carol I started to worry about the large amount of money people were playing, and often loosing, at his Casino. The starting point was in a tragic event that took place only two days after the Casino’s inauguration. The Loebel brothers took their own lives after they lost their entire fortune playing at the Sinaia Casino. The Baron de Marçay try to compensate this issue by making large donations to widows and orphans. Subsequently, the King became more indulgent with the activity of the Casino. As a result, the number of players kept increasing constantly so much so that the number of tables in the Hall of Mirrors increased from 13 to 20. It is worth mentioning that this was only the number of tables for roulette games. Other rooms, such as the Oval Hall or the Baccara Hall each had its designated set of games. For example, the Baccara Hall was dedicated to games of cards, such as Poker, Black Jack or Baccara.

Such a large building had to have a corner dedicated to music and dance, and the Sinaia Casino was no exception. There was also another room, much smaller than the others, called “la salle privée”, where there were only two tables and the stakes were five times higher than in the other rooms. It is said that before going into the Casino, the players would throw money in the fountain near the building to increase their chances of success. (4)

At the time, near the Casino, one could find the most original market of Sinaia. There a well-known Turkish man named Hagi Benlian, or simply Benli as everyone knew him, wearing a dark red turban, tried to convince people to purchase original garments: silver filigree, metal inlays, jade, amber, pearl, coral, marigold. He would also sell sweets original from Istanbul such as chocolates, syrups, nougat, sesame, baclava, apricot, jams and sherbet, but also tobacco, cigars, and coffee.

Benli could also read the future. He would usually pick a lady out of his customers, telling her to turn her cup of coffee upside down. Afterwards, Benli would personally collect all the cups of coffee. He would then give the lady two or three numbers (from 1 to 9) for which she would discretely pay him. She would then rush inside the Casino to play the roulette using the numbers Benli had given her. (5)

World War II and the Years that Followed
During World War II the Casino was closed. Afterwards, the Ministerial Commission for Economic Recovery and Monetary Stabilization decided that some objectives, including the Sinaia Casino, should become property of the State. As a result, the Casino will be used by the Red Cross for humanitarian activities. A few years later, in 1955, after several renovations, the Sinaia Casino became the headquarters of the House of Culture. As a result, many events were organized here such as theater shows, concerts and more. Later on, in 1978 the Casino was used for protocol activities, while in February 1990 it entered the area of the Ministry of Culture and after a few days the Ministry of Tourism. Finally, in 1995, the Casino was passed to the State Protocol Administration. (2)

The Sinaia Casino Today
Today, the Casino has become an International Conference Center and is under the administration of the Local Council. The building can also be visited by tourists, in guided tours that are organized when there aren’t any major events. Several rooms are open to the public. The Lobby is the first such room, with a surface of approximately 200 m2. Just like in its early days, this is where participants to major events are welcomed and where the coffee breaks during events take place.

The Theater Hall, which has 225 m2 and can accommodate 400 people, is another room open to tourists. Before World War II, the room could only accommodate less than 100 people because it had to Royal lounges which were destroyed by the communists. The ceiling here is made of glass. However, it is now completely covered, so light can no longer come in through it. The famous Hall of Mirrors is also open to the public today. The chandeliers are not the original ones but they are made of crystals from Medias, just like the original ones. An interesting aspect regarding them is that they function as speakers having an audio system incorporated.

Other famous rooms, like the Baccara Hall or the “Prince Dimitrie Ghica” Hall are also open to the public. The later has 80 m2 and it is also known as the Hall with Grapes. This name comes from a border on the ceiling shaped precisely as grapes. The ceiling was also painted with an image of Bachus as a central character, but it was considered indecent and repainted in white. The border with the grapes, however, remained intact. (6)

There are several other rooms that can be visited, but they don’t have the same history and beauty of the other ones. They are the more modern rooms, that are currently used during various events, conferences, or concerts. Of them, the “Nicolae Grigorescu” Exposition Hall has 160 m2 and is host to an impressive collection of paintings. Halls Carol I and Ferdinand, having a surface of 80 m2 and 200 m2 respectively can be used for conferences or private events. The Queen Mary Cabinet has only room for 20 people and is perfect for small events or meetings. Finally, the Business Lounge is mostly used as a coffee break room during various events. (6)

As long as there aren’t any events, the Casino is open for anyone to visit. A guided tour can take up to an hour. Visitation without a guide is not allowed and there are discounts for organized groups of more than 10 people. It is estimated that in 2014 approximately 10000 people visited the Casino. (7)