Magpies and gypsies (19 photos)

Gypsies are a unique people. They live all over the world, but at the same time they are all related to each other in some way, some beg, and some are swimming in gold, but at the same time they are all brothers and try to help each other. They have their own, special gypsy language, and they do not allow strangers into their lives. I tried to get to the gypsies, but I didn’t succeed. But I’ll tell you something anyway.

In the north of Moldova there is a city called Soroca, famous for two things: its medieval fortress and the unusual gypsies who have lived here settled for several hundred years. They live compactly in one of the districts of the hilly city. This place is called Gypsy Hill.

1. But first, about the Soroca Fortress, which is considered almost the main architectural landmark of Moldova. The fortress is located in a lowland, on the picturesque bank of the Dniester.

2. And here is the fortress. The first feeling you see is disappointment. I drove 300 kilometers, but it turned out to be a tiny, unremarkable building. But Wikipedia says that this fortress is unique in that it has not been rebuilt or changed since its construction. Shall we take a look?

3. No, we won’t look in. The fortress is locked, although apparently it should be working hours. We turned around and went to the gypsies.

4. I park my car near the bread store. Nearby stands an old Volkswagen minivan with license plates near Moscow. Inside, of course, there are no Muscovites. They open the window and ask a strange question (looking at my numbers): “Where are you from, brother?”

I say that I’m from Moscow, I make innocent eyes: “And you too?”

- No, brother, we are gypsies, we are from everywhere. And for the holidays we come here to Soroki. We roam all over the world, but here is our home and our brothers.

I answer that I am exactly looking for gypsies, I specially came to their city to make a report. I pronounce the name of the baron, Arthur Mikhailovich Cherare (I read his name on the Internet and really wanted to meet).

- Arthur Mikhailovich is in the hospital, brother. In general, a lot of people come to us from all over Europe, they want to see how the Soro gypsies live. We even have a tour guide, but he is away today.
- Maybe you can take the tour yourself?
- No, brother, there is no time. You go for a walk yourself, no one will touch you. In general, we, Moldovan gypsies, live honestly: we make money from trade, no drugs, no begging, like the Romanians. In our country, even women do not trade in the market, but sit at home. It's a shame for your woman to work. And stealing is also a shame. Take a photo of us for memory, brother.

5. And I went for a walk in the gypsy area. This house, closest to the street, is being built for the son of a gypsy; in the photograph he is second from the left in the previous photograph. And the other day his father bought him a new Toyota Avensis. The boy is 18 years old. The house is cool, by the way, a real palace, but it is not the largest or most beautiful in the area, there are bigger and more beautiful ones. By the way, on the other side of the street, a couple of blocks away, I came across another unfinished building of exactly the same house, exactly the same.

6. In general, most of the houses here are not completed. “Crisis” - as the gypsies themselves say. For now they live in small houses in the neighborhood. The house has not been built, but you can already dry your clothes, so the area will not be lost.

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8. Gypsies have always lived in large families. Once they huddled in shacks like this, now they live in palaces.

9. In the area there are cars with license plates from a variety of countries, most of all with Moscow license plates. Maybe the guests really have arrived?

10. And here is a car from Minsk.

11. The architecture of the houses is very different from anything I have seen before. The building materials are modern, aerated concrete blocks, double-glazed windows - but from this standard “cottage” set the gypsies make works of architectural art.

12. There is a lot of land and no one demolishes old houses, they just abandon them.

13. Even if the house is small, it must be different from its neighbors. No money - use your imagination.

14. Another thing that surprised me is that the gypsies not only profess Orthodoxy, they are deeply religious and often go to church.

15. Someone built himself a house with horses on the roof. The neighbors won't say whose house it is, but they say it looks like the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow. The owner visited there, he liked the horses, and he decided to build himself the same building. I assure you: the house does not look like a big theater, and in general the theater is yellow :)

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17. The Gypsy Hill area is very different from the rest of the city.

18. Walking along the street, I noticed a huge three-story brick house, probably the largest in the area. Behind the fence are two old rusty ZILs. Remember the film "The Hare over the Abyss, about the Moldovan gypsies and Brezhnev?" Then one young man in love stole exactly such a car from Leonid Ilyich, who came on a working trip to Moldova. And he gave it to the baron so that he would marry his child to a simple gypsy.

While I was photographing the cars, a girl came out of the house and called out to me. He asked her the first thing that came to mind: “Isn’t this where the baron lives?” It turned out that I hit the mark. The girl confirmed that the baron was in the hospital, but invited him to enter. The girl turned out to be the daughter of a baron. I asked her to call her father. She dialed the number and gave me the phone. I introduced myself, told them who I was and that I wanted to make a report about the life of the Roma.

- Yes, many come to us, many write. But the government of our country does not provide us with any help, and I have many hungry mouths. Do you understand what I'm talking about?

I answer that I don’t understand, then the baron says openly: we will be happy to show and tell everything, but it would be nice to pay us for it. I was even afraid to imagine how much money we were talking about, because this man is the richest of all the gypsies, he has a huge house. And also, when I was preparing for a meeting with the gypsies, I read in the media that a couple of years ago Arthur Mikhailovich said that he wanted to create a gypsy kingdom that would unite all the gypsies of the former USSR. I politely ended the conversation, thanked him for his hospitality, and went back empty-handed. I could try asking to visit other houses; some people I met on the street seemed quite friendly. But I realized that here I’m unlikely to be able to make a beautiful photo report about gypsy life: yes, they have large ornate houses, but still a gypsy is a nomad, their happiness is in freedom, and not in a high fence and an expensive car.

This is how one interesting story from my life ended, how the gypsy king asked me for money.

By the way, one of these cars, according to one of the baron’s relatives who lives in his house, once belonged to General Secretary Andropov. To believe it or not is a separate question, but in any case, this is a completely different story.