Urbanities,
Vol. 3
·
No 1
·
May 2013
© 2013
Urbanities
The symbolism and ornamentation of the houses are extremely varied and do not necessarily
correspond to any particular architectural style. They tend to symbolise wealth and power in
the form of the material used, white marble and the animals which are represented – lions,
and eagles. Similarly, the emblems can be seen as astral (stars) or as a car brand (Mercedes),
depending on the number of branches they show. The two can actually be mixed. A common
feature of the palaces is the fact that they are unfinished and often uninhabited. The fact that
they are empty emphasises on the one hand their symbolic value as pure representations of
wealth, but can also be seen as the sign of an unsustainable wealth cut short.
Are these characteristics enough to give the palaces an ethnic identity? This is what
Gräf tends to take for granted. Despite his very serious attempt to approach this new
phenomenon, I do not share this view and consider it an old fashioned and narrow minded
ethnical approach. His ethnographic bias, studying only the architecture of the new rich
Roma, brings him to assume that Gypsies have built a typical kind of architecture that relates
to, or even worse, that partakes in their ethnicity or culture. This resembles too much the
national approach of rural architecture that has dominated the ethnographic scene for a
century (Ruegg 2011). In addition, Gräf bases his analysis on another old fashioned
ethnographic-folkloristic dichotomy, where culture is divided in two parts, the material and
the non-material culture, and tends once more to essentialise Gypsies as a particular ethnic
group. The fact that Roma are still often living in a separate district of the town is not enough
an argument to establish an ethnic style of housing. Similarly, the fact that a majority of the
palaces owners are
caldarari
and so tend to isolate themselves from the rest of the
community does not give license to ethnicise the house style.
On the contrary, it is possible on the one hand to identify different styles
corresponding to different models taken by the owners of the palaces. On the other hand, it is
necessary to compare these ‘Roma’ palaces with other new flashy buildings in Romania and
elsewhere. Since our research is still on-going it is not yet possible to demonstrate
systematically that there are many other architectural expressions of wealth which are as
kitsch or pretentious as the Roma palaces. A good example however is this neo-classic mini-
palace built by a medical doctor which I found in Cluj. Through the chosen building materials
(marble) and its neo-classic quasi temple design, as well as by its iron gates, it expresses also
the willingness to be separated from the neighbouring profane world and to show off in the
darkness!
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