An outline of semiotics and esthetics of the Roma sacred corners

Looking at the character, significance and the esthetics of the “sacred corner” – a phenomenon of the Polish folk culture, longest present particularly in the Eastern and North-Eastern Poland, the author analyses contemporary decorations made in the Roma houses of the Carpathian Mountains as well as those of the Roma middle class of various groups. The article aims at opening a discussion about the sources of the „Gypsy style” and invites the question of whether the Roma esthetics is a combination of elements borrowed from the poor strata of the majority group and frozen in the material culture of the Roma, while the majority ceased to employ these elements or rather a new space where new, specifically Roma things are being created.