Constanța Casino, Art Nouveau casino on the Black Sea waterfront in Constanța, Romania
Constanța Casino is a historic monument and former gaming house in Art Nouveau style on the Black Sea coast in Constanța County, Romania. Curved windows, columns and shell motifs decorate the white facade, which extends across several terraces facing the shore.
The first wooden casino of 1880 was destroyed by a storm, and its 1893 successor stood nearby. Daniel Renard's Art Nouveau design, begun in 1904 and completed in 1910, replaced earlier plans by Petre Antonescu. The casino operated for 38 years, serving as a wartime hospital in both world wars, before becoming a community centre in 1948 and a restaurant in 1960.
The casino's name comes from the German Kursaal, meaning spa hall, used for the first wooden pavilion of 1880. Its 1910 interior held a ballroom, two reading rooms for local and foreign press, two gaming halls and a terrace on the sea. Writer Petre Vulcan described couples dancing the Boston there under lanterns hung toward the water.
The casino reopened to visitors on 21 May 2025 after five years of renovation. It stands on the seafront in the Peninsulă district, next to the Genoese Lighthouse, and is reached from the waterfront promenade.
Francis Ford Coppola filmed scenes here in 2007 for his movie Youth Without Youth, based on Mircea Eliade's novel. The terraces and interior served as a backdrop for the story set between the world wars.
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