Bring on the Vegas glitz! How Roma families are defying their persecutors with bling palaces

Keen to show off their newfound riches, and to kick back at a society that suppressed them, Roma families are filling rural Romania with exuberant symbols of wealth – boasting gilded turrets and gleaming staircases that lead to nowhere

In the village of Hășdat in the heart of rural Romania, geese roam the dusty streets, bonfires burn in back gardens, and the houses are not quite what you would expect. Not at all. One sports a pair of golden Versace Medusa heads and Rolex crown emblems on its tall metal gates, flanked by marble pillars topped with trios of cherubs. They mark the entrance to a compound where a creamy stuccoed pile groans with balconies and plaster mouldings, its roof dripping with ornamental guttering. A group of women stand around a table in its courtyard, plucking feathers from freshly slaughtered chickens behind a fence of gilded scrollwork.

Across the street, the neighbours have gone even further. A shoal of metal fish surmount the four-tiered pagoda roof of this five-storey mansion, where gold-painted columns glitter on either side of bulging mirror-glass doors. A bright blue Ford Mustang is parked in the forecourt next to an Audi and the discarded box for a widescreen TV. Two girls in matching velour tracksuits and gold jewellery race in circles on their scooters.

Bring on the Vegas glitz! How Roma families are defying their persecutors with bling palaces

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