Ռուս «օրենքով գողերի» արտասովոր տապանաքարերը. Photo

ՖՈՏՈ 22 January, 2018 18:43

Ռուս «օրենքով գողերի» արտասովոր տապանաքարերը Եկատերինբուրգ քաղաքում։

A young woman immortalized with golden jewels and a Lada.

Saratov says the spectacular tombstones are

Although the shoot-outs of the 90s are a distant memory for many in Yekaterinburg, the style favored by gangsters of the era is echoed by more recent markers for the graves of people from different walks of life.

The strikingly detailed tombstones can cost upwards of $15,000.

The etchings are made with lasers.

Most are artists impressions based on photographs of the deceased.

But more frequently, they emphasize the deceaseds wealth and taste for the

Some of the life-size tombstones show a devotion to the church.

Expensive leather jackets were another status symbol in the early 90s in Russia.

A young man and his Audi in the Roma section of a Yekaterinburg cemetery.

Owned by very few in the Soviet Union, foreign cars of almost any kind became status symbols after its collapse in 1991. This man is pictured with his Toyota.

Local photographer Denis Saratov says the tradition of flaunting wealth in full-length tombstone portraits began with the Roma community in the city.

At the other end of town, the gravestone of Mikhail Kuchin, reputed former leader of the Central Mafia gang, with Mercedes keys in hand.

The graveyard is in a section of Yekaterinburg that was largely controlled by Uralmash, one of two gangs that gained notoriety in the Urals region city in the 1990s. Uralmash is also the name of a major factory in Yekaterinburg.