Romanian Gabriel Antoniu Lavrincic has set the world record for most letters received, the World Record Academy said.

At age 11, Lavrincic started corresponding with children from the former Soviet Union, following his passion for Russian culture. Between 1987 and 1991, he received 22,018 letters. 

He corresponded with peers from all over the former Soviet Union, including Kyiv, Moscow, Kaliningrad, Novgorod, Saint Petersburg (former Leningrad), Arkhangelsk, Vilnius, Minsk, Kazan, Syktyvkar, Grozny, Makhachkala, Tbilisi, Baku, Ashgabat, Tashkent, Dushanbe, Bishkek, Yekaterinburg (formerly known as Sverdlovsk), Siberia, Omsk, Chelyabinsk, Novosibirsk, Barnaul, Abakan, Irkutsk, Magadan, Kamchatka, Vladivostok, Birobidjan, Khabarovsk, Nakhodka, Kazakhstan, or the Yamal Peninsula.

Lavrincic’s grandfather, Juca Petru, inspired his passion for Russia and Russian culture and was his first teacher of Russian. Petru fought in the Second World War and was a prisoner in Siberia camps. 

Lavrincic is now the commercial director of furniture manufacturer Simex, based in Simleu Silvaniei.

(Photo courtesy of Simex)

editor@romania-insider.com