Casino of Sinaia (Les jeux sont faits... Rien ne va plus!)

Les jeux sont faits! "From French (literally, "the games are made"), used by croupiers at a roulette table after the wheel has begun spinning. That's it, the spin has begun.
Rien ne va plus! No more bets!"

Source

Language is specific to casino croupiers. Used here because I'm going to present the Sinaia Casino. One of Europe's famous casinos of the early twentieth century.

The casino is located in the park in Sinaia, a small mountain resort in Romania, 120 km from Bucharest. The Casino was built on the initiative of King Carol I, the first king of Romania, in 1913, and quickly became an attraction for the "good people" of Romania and Europe between the two world wars. The "good people" here mean people with lots of money! The main investor was the Baron of Marçay, who was also an investor in the Monte Carlo Casino.

The period between the two wars was a good one for Romania, perhaps the best. Then, after the end of the Second World War came the decline. Romania was placed in the Soviet sphere of influence and headed for almost half a century of communism. This also meant the end of the Casino. Gambling was banned, the "good people" disappeared, the money ran away... The Casino building was used for other purposes, the best use being as a conference hall.

As we know and have seen, everything has an end. Communism in Romania had its end at the end of 1989.

For the Casino in Sinaia, this meant renovation and transformation into a museum... for now. In the future, it will probably become a gambling hall again, because money has started to pile up in some people's accounts... "the new good people!"

I visited the Casino in Sinaia two weeks ago. I have traveled to Sinaia several times but this was my first time in the Casino. Visiting the Casino is actually a tour through the halls of the building that housed the gaming tables and other necessary outbuildings for such a location... Empty rooms!

Superb architectural achievements and interior decoration. The fact that the halls are empty helps a lot to observe the superb decorations. A tour of the Casino means empty halls and full stories about the building, those who built it, and those who used it. About fortunes made and fortunes lost in a few days. About a once shining world now gone for good!

Before I start showing you how I saw the Casino, I put some links from others more skilled than me in giving advice and directions, in case you want to visit too!

Tripadvisor - Cazinoul Sinaia

Visiting schedule and ticket prices

The visit to this building is done in organized groups and each visit lasts one hour. The access hours are fixed. For a fee of $4 per person, with some discounts for pupils, students, pensioners, and people with disabilities.

The visit starts with the auditorium. A large and beautiful hall with 400 seats. Theatre performances with French and Romanian actors have been held here for as long as the Casino has been in operation. In the auditorium, we meet the guide who will give us all the information. Unfortunately, the very poor light prevented me from taking pictures, so there are no images.

Between the auditorium and the Hall of Mirrors, there is an extensive foyer of 200 square meters. This is practically the entrance to the hall with the gaming tables.

At the top of the foyer, on the first floor, there are several rooms that had VIP tables. People who didn't want to be seen in the Casino. These rooms were not open for visitation.

Also, on one side of the foyer, there was a secret tunnel that led directly to the hotel next to the Casino. It was made for the protection of those who won large sums of money, who thus did not have to leave the building to reach their room in the hotel. This tunnel was also not open to visitors.

Finally, this is where it starts. The lady dressed in pink is our guide and the first two ladies in the picture are my wife and a good friend.

The Hall of Mirrors is the most important room of this casino, with an area of 650 square meters. Just enter here and our guide starts telling us stories about the builders and users.

About the casino's customers and how it worked. It operated on the model of the most famous casinos in Europe, namely those in Monte Carlo and Nice. The croupiers were French!

This presentation is for the building and decorations of the casino and not about its activity. For this reason, below I put some of the pictures I took in this beautiful hall.

A small detail of the bas-reliefs decorating this room. There are two symbols that are not placed at random. At the top is Athena, the goddess of wisdom, and at the bottom, is the lion, the symbol of power and money.

The message is simple. Use your money wisely! Of course, a warning that no one has taken heed of.

The Hall of Mirrors because they are huge mirrors that contribute a lot to the beautification of the hall, multiplying images and special effects.

The Hall of Mirrors is the biggest but I like another hall better. It's called the Bacarra Hall and, of course, we all understand why it's called that. It's a smaller hall, only 336 square meters.

The first thing that happens is that the guide gives all the details about the construction, decorations, and the way it was used.

Baccara was played here but I don't know the differences between the different cash games in casinos. The guide didn't know much either. This room is also called the Oval Room and it is easy to guess why. The shape is oval, of course!

Sumptuous chandeliers, bas-reliefs, and lots of windows, all oval. I like this room because it's smaller.

We ended up at an even smaller hall. Prince Dimitrie Ghica Hall is also called the Grape Hall. A hall of only 80 square meters. This was not a hall for games. It functioned as a bar restaurant. The players could have a drink or a bite to eat, especially since some of them stayed for hours at the game. Interestingly, there were no chairs in this room. This was so that players would not stay too long at the bar and miss the gaming room.

The last room that was part of the gaming area is also this side hallway, on the side that is attached to the park. This is where the ladies waited. Husbands or lovers played roulette and the ladies were given cakes and refreshments and, of course, hoped that their partner would win, not lose...

This is what this Casino museum looks like, or in other words, this is what this Casino looks like, without furniture. The very large rooms, the huge windows and mirrors, the glass ceiling, and the polished marble floors are much easier to admire without furniture covering parts of them.

The tour was over by the time the guide had finished everything she had to say. Then it was free to photograph. Because photography was allowed, only filming was prohibited. I think it might be interesting to see how visitors take photos!

The author (i.e. me) was also caught in the mirrors in the Hall of Mirrors.

The Casino in Sinaia is a beautiful building and is a pleasant museum to visit. Proof of people's ability to build well, beautifully, and quickly, even more than a hundred years ago, with many inferior logistics than what is now available.

A superb building located in a beautiful place, close to the mountains and at the edge of a park. This is the view that can be admired through the Casino's windows...

The conclusion is that this small mountain town, a resort made famous by the Royal House of Romania who decided to spend the summer in this place, where they built a beautiful castle, the Peles Castle, is a place to visit.
Especially as it is easy to reach given its proximity to the capital Bucharest.

I hope that this post if it will reach the eyes of some future visitors to Romania, will convince them that it is worth making a day trip to Sinaia!