The Therapeutic Baths' Casino of Vatra Dornei, also known as the Vatra Dornei Casino (Cazinoul Băilor or Cazinoul din Vatra Dornei in Romanian), is an historic monument located in Suceava County, in the historical region of Bukovina, northern Romania in the town of Vatra Dornei. It was built in 1898 by Austrian architect Peter Paul Brang while the territory was part of Austria-Hungary (more specifically the Austrian-ruled part or Cisleithania). It is located on the Dorna River. It was initially constructed as an entertainment venue for tourists of Austria-Hungary who would flock to the nearby therapeutic baths. The baths offered mineral water treatments, carbonic acid baths, and mud wraps for visitors while the nearby casino offered poker, craps, and roulette. The casino initially was designed to attract Viennese tourists looking for treatment. Local authorities hired traveling bands from Vienna and the structure itself was built as a sister casino to the current Grand Casino in Baden bei Wien, Austria, mimicking its design. During its heyday, the casino attracted tourists from all over Austria-Hungary, mainly from Vienna, but also Berlin, and Budapest, but also Italian and Jewish travelers. The casino opened its doors in 1898 and served personalities such as Emperor Franz Joseph and Archduke Franz Ferdinand, but also other regional notables, such as Lucian Blaga, Nicolae Iorga, Corneliu Zelea Codreanu, Nichifor Crainic, Emil Bodnăraș, Eugen Jebeleanu, Zaharia Stancu, and Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej. The casino also hosted Soviet generals on their way to Berlin in World War II. The casino was abandoned and fell into disrepair. In 2023, a four-year programme of restoration works was completed on the building and it was reopened to the public as a museum, exhibition and event venue. The 2024 Economic Forum Moldova was held in the casino.
History
Background Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor, instituted a series of policies between 1765 and 1790 now known as Josephinism, which acted to decentralize church institutions. In essence, this policy prohibited local churches from speaking directly to the Curia in Rome or other centralized bodies as with Orthodox churches. Practicing Jews of Bukovina were also targeted by the occupying Monarchs. The consequence of the policy was the bankruptcy and shuttering of over 800 monasteries and local churches and the forfeiture of their funds and vast properties to the government. It also resulted in the centralization of active church property. The newly acquired funds and properties were turned into public, secular church-fund bureaucracies (in German: Religionsfonds) resulting in the creation of 1,700 new welfare institutions and parishes. After the annexation of Bukovina by the Habsburg monarch from the Principality of Moldavia in 1775 (which later became part of the Austrian Empire in 1804 and Austria-Hungary in 1867), the monarch appointed Baron Erzenberg as governor over the new military administration of the region. At the time, churches and monasteries owned two-thirds of all wealth and land in Bukovina. Under the June 19, 1783, imperial decree of Joseph II, the Baron was ordered to begin the centralization of church-owned lands and wealth. The local Eastern Orthodox Eparchy of Bukovina, seated in Chernivtsi, was placed under spiritual jurisdiction of Metropolitanate of Karlovci. Translated from Romanian, the decree ordered, in part:
fără amânare să se reducă numărul mănăstirilor, iar pământurile şi fondurile să treacă sub povăţuirea stăpânirii împărăteşti şi crăieştii Mării. Averea preoţilor care nu trăiesc în Bucovina să se confişte, iar din întreg fondul care se va forma pe această cale să se întreţină clerul ortodox şi să se creeze cel puţin o şcoală, fie la Cernăuţi, fie la Suceava, iar restul să se întrebuinţeze pentru scopuri folositoare. Without delay, by order there will be a reduction of the number of monasteries, and the lands and funds will pass under the wisdom and responsibility of the dominion of the Kingdom and in the care of the Monarch. The wealth of priests who do not live in Bucovina are hereby confiscated, and from the entire confiscated church-fund will support the Orthodox clergy but will also create at least one school, either in Chernivtsi or in Suceava, and the rest to remaining church-fund shall be allocated for useful purposes. The order additionally required the confiscation of wealth from priests who lived outside of Bukovina to establish a school in the territory, either in Chernivtsi or in Suceava. In 1786, the Church-Fund of Bukovina was created from the possessions of the Orthodox churches in the territory, and like similar funds, it was to be a secular institution whose wealth was to be used for public benefit and public reinvestment. The communal land upon which the Casino resides was old church land managed by the local church-fund bureaucracy known as Fondul Bisericesc al Bucovinei (Church-Fund of Bukovina). A portion of confiscated church money, which was secularized, was used to fund the casino. In 1805 after a scientific analysis and study of the natural and mineral springs in Vatra Dornei by chemist Hacquette de Nurnberg, Dr. Ignatius Plusch advocated authorities for the construction of public therapeutic baths in Poiana Negrii. In 1810, he proceeded to lobby in Vienna for the Vatra Dornei baths. The land on which the communal therapeutic baths were located was purchased by the secularized church-fund in 1870. For those with extreme illnesses, a 20-cabin property was erected where, later, Hotel Nr. 1 would be built.
Casino inauguration and construction
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