Buzescu is a village of obscenely wealthy gypsies. Palaces of millionaire gypsies in Romania Gypsy houses

This post will introduce us to Artur Mihailovich Cherare, a gypsy baron living in Soroca, Moldova. He kindly agreed to talk about his life, show his house, talk about the current situation of the gypsies and many other interesting and educational things that we did not know before.

Arthur Cerari is the son of the famous gypsy baron Mircea Cerari, who, together with his brother Valentin, made a fortune in sewing underwear under the “Cerar” brand back in Soviet times. Mircea and Valentin Cerari were among the first, if not the first, millionaires in the USSR. According to rumors, Mircea even had a personal plane, and his shepherd had gold teeth. But there were so many rumors around him that nothing could be said for sure.

Luxurious houses on Gypsy Hill in Soroki began to grow in the mid-to-late 80s, just during the heyday of the Cherary cooperative business. In 1998, Baron Mircea Cerari died and Arthur became his heir. He assures that his candidacy was approved in full elections, 98% of Roma voters cast their votes for him. He has not yet become a king.

Baron is now 55 years old; he was born in 1960 in Soroki. After school, he studied at a local vocational school and state farm technical school, receiving education as a commodity expert and engineer. Then, in his own words, he studied at MGIMO. He never graduated from any educational institution, but he once worked at the famous gypsy theater "Romen". The baron has a son, Arthur, his future heir, and two daughters.

It is very easy to communicate with the gypsy baron. You must have a business with him that can bring money. Well, what did you want - this is the legendary gypsy baron! I arrive in Soroki and look for Arthur’s house. The first gypsy shows the direction, the little gypsy insists that we won’t find the house without his help, and demands to put him in the car. The house is located 50 meters along the same road.

Three-story brick house in the center of Soroca. Arthur and his wife greet the guests. “I have a good wife, but it’s a pity that there’s only one!” – the baron immediately jokes. The house is not completed and, apparently, will never be completed. The gypsies have run out of money...

We have everything, we just don’t have one thing.
- What?
- Money!

My family, the family of barons, is more than a thousand years old. Someone recently told me: “You know, Mr. Baron, you have a name.” All! My father was a recognized baron - I think that he was a king, a king, an emperor! This was a great Empire. People came to him from all over the Soviet Union: for money, for advice, for judgment, and to ask for help. Everyone came to Mircea Cerari. He started in '65... I was 5 years old then, and since childhood I went to all the gatherings, to all the showdowns. And, frankly, I do not regret that I have been this man’s right hand all my adult life. He is worthy of respect: he was handsome, smart, had a 5th grade education. The famine passed in 1946. Grandfather reached Berlin, took Berlin, and returned back. Father's elder sister Aluna was pulling water from the well, saw him, shouted “Dad!”, had a heart attack, and died before evening. Here's a tragedy for you: out of joy - heartbreak!

In the yard there are two Seagulls and some other junk cars. The Baron dreamily says that he will definitely restore the Seagulls, and immediately boasts that one of the cars belonged to Andropov.

If it weren’t for the fucking customs, the Union would have survived, we would have wiped the noses of many. I will not hide: we were the first millionaires officially when the cooperative movement opened in the former Union. A company worked for us, we were sponsors of all programs, including the program “Petalo Romano” (“Gypsy Horseshoe”)...

Many cars in Soroki have Russian license plates.

There are Gypsies in Soroki, but most leave. They build houses in the Moscow region, in Serpukhov, and have dual citizenship. The houses have been left here and are not being sold, but some already want to sell. They say: “What prospects do I have? I’d rather take a plot of land there somewhere in the Moscow region - in Serpukhov, Chekhov, Pushkino. The main place for me. I’ll build myself a hotel there, and Uzbeks and Tajiks will come to me every day.” .

"ABOUT! You have Brightling!” – Arthur unmistakably identifies the brand of the watch two meters away and asks to look at it. We sit down at the table. The wife brings homemade wine, lard, onions and radishes.

Romania has slippery gypsies, including the king of the Romanian gypsies. Supposedly he is a king... And who chose him? He came here for the first time when, Kingdom of Heaven, his dad was alive and well, 3-4 years ago. When my dad was a recognized baron of the Soviet Union, the best friend of Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev, I was the only gypsy in the Soviet Union, the first who studied at MGIMO Moscow... And who is he? I look at him and think: did you come to appoint me? Yes, I don’t need your appointment... It’s not something out of pride. Simply: who are you, what have you done for the people and, in general, what have you done? Then they told me: his father worked with the cops. He screwed over the cops, their “Securitate” there... And this is the field in which they rose. What's next? It’s another matter when you, like my father, were a sponsor, helping both the poor and fools. He took from himself, gave away the last - as long as it was good and peaceful. Maybe he was wrong. But he said: “You are also right. Go and do it so that it will be good, so that there will be peace. There are already few of us.”

The Moldavian way of pouring wine. The lid does not unscrew completely and the wine flows slowly.

I am among the people who are in favor of us preserving our republic and not joining anyone. And we are for the Eastern Partnership, for the former Soviet Union, we are for the Customs Union. The West are crooks. Yes, maybe everything is beautiful with them, but this is not what we have lived, what we know and what we have seen. Their whole life is in loans, and they want us to be dependent on loans too.

It used to be like this: do whatever you want. The one who didn't work didn't have it. Yes, even he had! May the Lord forgive me, and forgive me, but I always say: there is no one in the world nicer, kinder, sometimes stupider, stronger and richer than the Russian people. It’s not like you came to visit me today. I told them all – Romanian-speaking people and everyone else – that you can live next to a Russian’s ass for another 8,000 years.

An official request has now been made about my official status as the Gypsy King of the CIS and beyond. The official inauguration will take place here - not somewhere in Moscow, Kyiv or Minsk, but precisely in Moldova. When else will Moldova have such an honor that all the royal courts of the world will come here for this inauguration? Including Elizabeth, Queen of England. What do I need from Chisinau? He doesn't give anything at all, he takes from us. People live and work here, I need to create jobs.

The house is very poor, especially by gypsy standards. The baron and baroness are sleeping right in the living room...

Some media write that the income of the Cerarei family could be 20-40 million euros per year. Doesn't seem real.

Indeed, our people are talented in everything. Trading - they know how, they are good psychologists. People are making money. Some of the gypsies have been doing this since ancient times, they are great. But some of them started doing bullshit.

Am I doing all this for myself? I won't take anything with me to my grave. Not this house, which I want to raise another 10 floors up... Make an office, make a throne room... Plus I also want to open the International Institute of Barony. I held a general meeting and said: “Let’s open here not a Roma university, but an international university center with a faculty of Roma studies.” And everyone gave their consent. They came to me from the Sorbonne, from Paris, and said: “Whatever you need, we will help you.”

In addition to the “Faculty of Gypsy Studies,” Arthur dreams of opening a Gypsy newspaper and television in Moldova.

Arthur in his youth

For all the gypsies of the former Soviet Union, Soroki is like Mecca for all Muslims of the world, a cultural and historical center. Some people don’t like the idea that we’re not good at stealing. No, we are hard workers, we are blacksmiths, brother. We are the most ancient military-industrial complex in the world, we have shackled all the kings, kings, pharaohs - everyone. Even Damascus steel, damask steel. You should say "bottle". “Boot” means “many”, many layers of armor. “Lat” is still with you, the Russians. We are ancient Aryans, and we speak Sanskrit.

Pictured is father and uncle

From Ukraine, most Roma left for Belarus and Russia. Everyone has relatives there. They left them at home and ran away. What, go to war? Who to fight with? Against brothers, against sisters, against children? What are we, monsters? We have not yet forgotten what these people did to us... Ask me why we are not very good with the Romanians. Because they are worse than the Germans were. They made Jewish and Gypsy ghettos. Holocaust. We haven't forgotten yet.

The house is not finished, there is no money...

On the second floor everything is also modest...

Guests are brought here

The baron's main treasure is a collection of porcelain figurines...

Sometimes you go to a gypsy’s house and he doesn’t have a piece of bread for the mouse to chew on. But a gold chain also has gold teeth. He creates his own status. But I create a status for myself from friends. Although I know that 50% of them are enemies. I always said: “Don’t praise me, because I know how much I weigh. On the contrary, criticize me so that I become more perfect.”

Gypsy weddings last three to four days. Previously, under the Soviet Union, a week. All the Soroki - the police chief, the entire city executive committee - are all at our wedding. Do you think we had a wedding? We had a concert, not a wedding, a performance! Now no less than 300-400 euros need to be put on the table. But what about 300-400 euros today? But you made a thousand noises! Music is very expensive here. How does a girl choose her groom? A Russian is better than a gypsy drug addict. Or better yet, a Jew.

Arthur plays the button accordion and piano for all guests. He plays and sings great! His other talents include knowledge of several languages. He himself says that he knows 15, including, for example, Yiddish and Farsi.

I won't hide it. We had times when we cooked nigella for the house, we had a lot of fun, a lot of boys died from an overdose. There were mothers, wives, children, tears, you know... We put things in order. Cops to the side - and they went there. Full of bullshit. They poured gasoline on them and said: “What you got as a pussy, you got it for doing this and that. We have children growing up, we have grandchildren growing up, we have great-grandchildren, and you want to make money on tears - easy money, big money. Okay, yes “It’s good for you, but for people...”

We went into houses, bombed everything and said: one match - and now you will burn together with your family members and your house, and we will say that this is what happened. And choose for yourself: or you stop, leave our city and go live there among strangers, and not among the gypsies. And they will drive you away from there, because the tail is coming behind you, the tail is already there. And it says on it that you are a goner. That's it: you're a killer. In Russia and Ukraine, and in the same Baltic states, this blouse-puff predominates everywhere.

And in Ukraine it was that the gypsies themselves were getting involved - both children and youth. These are people who have completely lost their sense of dignity. Humanity – everything has been lost. Therefore we were forced...
.

There is devastation in the yard...

We walk along broken roads to the very top of Gypsy Hill...

Across the river is already Ukraine, Vinnitsa region. A ferry carries people to the other side. Arthur dreamily says that he wants to build a bridge here like in San Francisco and make it a toll bridge, and use the proceeds to rebuild Soroki.

People on the streets recognize him, but they don’t feel any special awe of the baron. At some point, a gypsy boy accosts me and starts begging for wine, food and money. Arthur tries to drive him away from the car, but the boy does not listen. Arthur gets nervous and raises his voice, but the boy just laughs and continues to reach for the bag.

View of Soroki, Gypsy Hill...

The empire began to collapse after the death of Arthur's father... The last high-profile event that shocked the Magpies was his funeral. Before Mircea Cherari was buried, his body was kept in the house for 40 days so that all the gypsies of the world could say goodbye to him. To do this, the baron had to be embalmed and the bed where he lay was covered with a ton of ice every day. The ensemble "Lautarius" played near the house, and visitors were shown episodes from the baron's life.

During this time, a coffin was brought from Italy for $14 thousand, and the family crypt was lined with Indian tiles and electricity was installed there. In addition to the coffin itself, a TV, a computer, a printer, a fax machine, a gun, a bottle of whiskey and even a set of Gillette shaving accessories were placed in the crypt. There are rumors that the baron's beloved Volga was also driven there, but Arthur Cherari says that this is nonsense.

Today, almost all the houses are abandoned or unfinished. There is no one left in Soroki, and the only reminders of the baron’s former wealth are articles in Soviet newspapers, which told readers about shepherd dogs with gold teeth and a private plane.

Next, we want to show you the gypsy village of Buzescu, which is located 80 km from the capital of Romania, Bucharest. In this small town with a population of only 5,000 people you can find a large number of luxurious houses, striking with their architecture and unusual solutions. Some houses surprise you with their strangeness, what all this strangeness is about, you will understand when you look at this post.

Have you seen a stainless steel fence? The one that sparkles in the photo?
The gypsy, who owned a “firm” for the robbery of copper extracted on European railways, also dreamed of one and stole, it turns out, for the sake of something sacred, namely, a house in his homeland. The employees of his “company,” who received 50 euros per outing, were given a suspended sentence, and Dan Julien, as the leader, was sentenced to 4 years in prison and a 70,000 euro fine. This very house should be used to pay this fine.

This is the main street of the village.

There is a competition here - whoever has a taller and fancier house is cooler.

It is clear from the architecture that the gypsies love the Belle Epoque style.

People are rare on the streets of the village, since the majority of the population spends a lot of time in Western Europe to work.

But some residents prefer the antique style - with porticoes.

Roofs clad in metal rival the sophistication of their shapes.

Here is a close-up of the forged roof of one of the houses in the previous photo. Probably also made of stainless steel.

When a house is located on the outskirts of a village, that is, in a less prestigious location, its owner tries to increase the number of floors.

Where does the view of this type of fairy-tale town come from?)))

There are many unfinished houses among these houses - their owners have still earned enough to complete them.

Limousines are part of the bragging rights of the villagers.

Of course, there is no arguing about tastes.
The owners of these houses declare their spiritual values in their decorative decoration.

In some houses, the fence ends with pins made of pure silver!

However, many members of the families living in these “villas” continue to do traditional work and ride horse-drawn carts.

This house is modeled after a courthouse.

His owner is a drug dealer. When he was tried, he vowed that if he was not convicted, he would build a house in the style of a courthouse in Buzesko.
Apparently, he was cleared out.

Roma children usually study little. Girls get married early, and boys get used to real “business.”

But the owners of the pompous pitchforks do not keep an eye on the outskirts of their village.
The same toilets on the streets.

And they also keep their original houses. Often their relatives simply do not want to move to “palaces” because they do not feel comfortable there.

The interior of one of the houses.

If we abstract from the display of attributes of spiritual values, the interior of these houses, like their facades, also imitates villas from Hollywood films.

But the inhabitants of Buzescu retain their own gypsy style of clothing.

The owner of the house shows off a portrait of her daughter in a wedding dress.

Men shine with gold.

And this is the burial of a thief who died while stealing wires in Spain.

Alexander Kozhokhin

Balashikha is the largest city in the Moscow region. It was founded in 1830, but this land near Moscow also preserves more ancient legends. Like any place with a rich history, it has its own beliefs. The RIAMO in Balashikha columnist selected the most common legends and learned from local historians which of them actually have some truth.

City name

Website of the hotel "Zolotoy Sazan"

There are many versions regarding the origin of the name “Balashikha”. One of them talks about a tavern that was located not far from the Vladimirka road - now it is Gorkovskoye Highway. The fact is that the word “balash” is of eastern origin and is translated as overnight stay or hotel. According to another legend, the city received its name from a noble Tatar named Balash, who had lands in these parts.

Commentary from local historians

On the territory of the modern city, not far from the Pekhorka River, there once existed a tiny village called Bloshino, and then Bloshikha. There were only four courtyards, and the residents were mainly engaged in growing and collecting flea beetles - a set of medicinal plants that included fern, forest mint and a number of others.

In 1830, the owners of the manufacturing partnership decided to build a cotton spinning factory on the lands of Bloshikha, which still operates to this day. At first they began to call it “Balashikha”, but soon the abbreviated name “Balashikha” spread among the people. When a railway was built to these places at the beginning of the 20th century, the nearby station was named Balashikha.

Obiralovka

The city of Zheleznodorozhny, which recently became part of Balashikha, was called Obiralovka until 1939. They say that it received such an unflattering name because of the constant robberies that happened on the local roads leading to Moscow.

Commentary from local historians

In ancient times, vast spaces of the Russian land were connected by roads along which horse-drawn carts and carts moved. The roads leading to Moscow were especially busy. Merchants carried their goods, and robbers hid in roadside ravines and forests, stopped travelers, robbed them, unharnessed their horses and disappeared safely with the loot. Most often, the robbers were peasants from surrounding villages.

The most suitable place for robberies was on the Vladimirskaya and Nosovikhinskaya roads - these are the modern Gorkovskoye and Nosovikhinskoye highways. The dense forest above the marshy swamps served as a reliable refuge for robbers. The Vladimir road ran along the edge of the forest, and although from here to Moscow it was no more than 20 miles, few managed to safely pass the remote places. It was even more dangerous on the winding Nosovikhinskaya road, which ran through the forest. Passers-by, robbed by robbers, called the surrounding area Obiralovka.

"Waterway" of Catherine II

Travel guide website Spb.Hi

The Troitskoye-Kainardzhi estate, located on the territory of the modern Pavlino microdistrict, belonged to Field Marshal Rumyantsev-Zadunaisky, who commanded troops in the Russian-Turkish war. In honor of the victory over the enemy, the count organized a celebration in his possessions; the celebration was attended by Empress Catherine II herself, who, as they say, sailed here along the Pekhorka River.

Commentary from local historians

This beautiful legend first appeared in Mikhail Pylyaev’s book “Old Moscow”. Probably, the author really wanted the holiday in Trinity, dedicated to the victorious end of the Russian-Turkish war under the command of Rumyantsev-Zadunaisky, to be magnificent and beautiful. Therefore, he came up with three-day festivities and the arrival of the queen on a ship along Pekhorka.

In the Chamber-Fourier journal - a real historical ceremonial document, there is an entry: “On October 28, 1775, on Wednesday, Catherine II arrived at 13 o’clock in Troitskoye. She was met by the owner of the estate, Pyotr Alexandrovich, and his eldest son, Lieutenant General Mikhail Petrovich. In the empress's retinue were: Praskovya Alexandrovna Bruce, the field marshal's sister, Count Grigory Alexandrovich Potemkin, Lev Alexandrovich Naryshkin and 9 other courtiers. Count Kirill Grigoryevich Razumovsky and Prince Alexander Mikhailovich Golitsyn were also invited to the celebration. During the arrival, the orchestra of the Belarusian Hussar Regiment played. A festive dinner took place at the palace. After lunch, Her Imperial Majesty deigned to leave for Moscow.”

In addition, the empress could not sail along Pekhorka by ship for a simple reason: at that time there were more than a dozen dams on the river, since there were mills along the banks.

Death of Anna Karenina

Some believe that the tragic end of the life of the heroine of Leo Tolstoy's novel Anna Karenina is a real incident that occurred at the Obiralovka station. At one time, the city wanted to erect a monument to this literary character, and the platform at Zheleznodorozhnaya station was chosen as the location for it. It was from there that Anna Karenina allegedly threw herself under the train.

Over the centuries, attitudes towards the Gypsy people have been very contradictory, and their way of life has always caused at least bewilderment and misunderstanding among everyone. While most people associate gypsies with thieves and beggars, the gypsy elite are literally drowning in gold and wealth. Today, some gypsies continue to lead a nomadic lifestyle, constantly on the road, and some have chosen a settled, stable life, which, by the way, does not at all prevent them from invariably remaining a separate group and in no way assimilating with the rest of society. TravelAsk presents 20 bright and eloquent photographs that fully demonstrate the peculiarities of life, everyday life and culture of the Roma people.