A symbolic building of Cluj, the old Casino in “Simion Bărnuțiu” Central Park is excellently located in the green heart of the city. With a generous upland, the Chios Lake, and a gazebo nearby, the building has many assets for organizing cultural events, giving each of them their former glory. The Casino Urban Culture Centre is the ideal setting for a wide range of events, generating excitement and cultural effervescence through concerts and various artistic moments, film screenings, theatre and dance performances, folklore, urban art, conferences and colloquia, exhibitions, openings, fairs, or festivals.

An old eclectic palace of Viennese inspiration, the building was erected at the end of the 19th century according to the plans of the famous architect Pakey Lajos. The palace originally housed a casino for Cluj's wealthy, and was later converted into an ethnographic museum, a school of fine arts, a hospital, or a restaurant. The building was taken over by the Cluj-Napoca City Hall and rehabilitated with non-reimbursable European funds, to be offered to the people of Cluj - since May 2012 - in its new capacity as Urban Culture Centre.