‘Hobbit houses’ might just save a village in MoldovaAFP, ROGOJENI, MoldovaThey call Moldova’s Rogojeni the “hobbit village,” and its little half-buried houses, built to resist Moldova’s cold winters and hot summers, do look like something from The Lord of the Rings. The traditional dugout houses have put the shrinking settlement on the tourist map and locals hope they might also help to save it. “We do fear that the village could disappear, considering that there are so few people left,” Rogojeni Mayor Ruslan Groza said, adding that only 30 people were left in a hamlet that once had a population of 200. Resident Maria Ardeleanu, 86, sits inside a “basca” museum-house in Rogojeni village, Moldova, on Jan. 4. Photo: AFP“My goal is to develop this locality, build roads, repair where possible the houses that can be preserved and develop tourism,” he said.

Source: Taipei Times January 16, 2026 17:00 UTC