A Romanian Mayor Accidentally Built a Villa For His Wife on an Archaeological Site

This article originally appeared on VICE Romania

Being a mayor can be challenging, even if you're mayor of a small eastern European village where nothing much ever happens. Cristinel Lambru, mayor of the Romanian village of Gura Ialomitei, found out exactly how much more challenging the job was than he'd anticipated when he built a villa for his wife on the outskirts of the village. A nice gesture, but one problem: he built it over two archaeological dig sites that were discovered in 1970, according to local news station PRO TV.

Initially it went unnoticed, until a team of archaeologists mapping the local sites in the county stumbled upon it. Several medieval artefacts had been found at the site, including some of the first signs of Christianity in the area. The curators at the local museum say that the mayor should have seen the dig sites on the map when he got his building permit.

The thing is: Lambru didn't actually have a building permit, because he didn't think he needed one – being mayor of the village and all. He was wrong. Lambru also stated that he is "no historian", and that he thought he was building the villa on farmland, which is actually also illegal. When asked by a local reporter why he didn't have a building permit, he shrugged and said: "Well, that is the million dollar question, isn't it?"

The mayor is now under investigation by the police.

Previously:

This Romanian Mayor Might Have Accepted Millions in Bribes, But at Least He Looks Fabulous