The Gypsy Mansions of Huedin

I passed hrough this town on a bus on the way to Cluj. I thought "What the hell are all these cool looking houses doing here?" At first they looked really nice, like mansions. But I saw several that were being built and they were really poor quality. We call that lipstick on a pig.

A lot of them were falling apart during the construction phase. I've seen that before. It looked like some of the owners ran out of money during construction.

People on the bus were pointing and laughing. The intricate metal work on the roofs looked really cool but then I noticed a lot of them were twisted and falling apart, even though they were not that old. They actually look like they're made out of aluminum foil. I definitely had to look that up.

I found a blog by a Romanian woman who gave a little background. Between her blog and Wikipedia I found that they are called Gypsy Mansions. The BBC did a documentary years ago tying a gypsy pickpocket ring in England to this village. About 1,000 people in about 100 families were involved. Those numbers sound a little too rounded but you get the picture. And of course some of the money must have came from legitimate work abroad. Right?

The mansions are a sign of status, wealth, and pride to the local gypsies. And a lot of them are left unfinished on purpose for tax purposes. Apparently you don't have to pay property taxes if the house is unfinished!Read more