The name of Chernobyl has become common as a symbol of the greatest human disaster. But the men’s memory is organized to lose some life details or pungency of feelings in the lapse of time, all happened things become fuzzy and vague, as somebody reduced the depth of focus. The same story concerns Chernobyl and its lamentable fame. We hoped and sincerely believed that this huge catastrophe would never recur. But dreams didn’t come true. One day an enormous 10-metres wave induced by the earthquake near Japanese shores damaged the nuclear power plant “Fukushima-1″.
The exhibition “Chernobyl 25 years After” takes place in the Moscow Art Museum. Pictures from the exhibition convey the feeling of stopping, of the end. Nothing is here, just oppressive silence and a thick duct layer. All that remained from Prityat is ashes of buildings, roads, furniture, dishes and respirators.
The exact number of victims (people who died of radiation emissions) is difficult to define. However, pictures indicate that is was the catastrophe of a great scale that has left a deep scar in the earth body.
One of main topics of the pictures is litter. People produce a large number of litter that rest for a long time after their departure. And nuclear power stations also become a waste waiting for its breaking up into safe particles.
The town Pripyat was built for the station maintenance and existed for 15 years, now it needs much more time for self-destruction. Pictures of dust toys, squares where the red flags formally waved remind about the fundamental universe law – the entropy, telling that the time flow is related with an unavoidable transition from order to chaos.
The accident in Chernobyl coincided with the beginning of perestroika in USSR, then began reforms, privatisation, the USSR breakup, and in the 90s practically nobody remembered about the catastrophe. Meanwhile thousands of people continued to work in Chernobyl, generally it was scientists: biologists, radioecologists, chemists and atomic scientists. Right up to 1998 the scientific life was in full swing. In the town several enterprises worked, there was water and electricity, a garage and even a swimming pool. Few know this, but Pripyat became widely famous only in 2000s when first pictures from this zone appeared.
Then all business stopped in Pripyat and the town began to collapse. And in some 6-7 years it transformed in that we see today. Removal of all belongings from the town hastened the process of destruction. It is worth saying that people got indemnities for their houses, cars, furniture, etc. All this turned to the state, and government structures move and realise all that belong to the state. Such evacuations are held constantly, only during week-ends they fade for a little bit.
Paryshevsky District Hospital
For heroes who fell in fights for the Chernobyl liberation.
Location:Chernobyl
via mir_na_karte
The biggest A-disaster is happening right now in Japan.
OMG, another post of Pripyat. I am getting really tired of them. Every second post is about this damn Chernobyl, wtf.
I hate to see the cat and kitten there. I know there are probably pets that were left behind, which is another horrible thing to happen because of Chernobyl.
I think every square inch of that town mustve been photographed by now, probably more than once.
Left behind? Cats don’t live for 25 years, so they weren’t left behind.
Where do you think this cat and kitten came from?
Do we really need any more pictures of crumbling ruins, discarded teddy bears and unused gas masks?
Also, to compare this with Fukushima is ignorant and dare I say it, hopeful of the Russians that maybe the world will forget their mistake and pick on Japan.
why would we pick on japan?
Hey. Pictures of abandoned places is partly why i love this site so much. Keep them coming please!
Are you sure this isn’t Detroit?
There are still people living there. Those would be their cats. The pace is not as contaminated as advertised. At least not miles away. Myslef, I would not dare set a foot in Prypriat. But the surrounding areas are probably alright.
chernobol36gs23.jpg: where was that ? I don’t recall seeing that place and it doesn’t look like Pripyat or Chernobyl, was is at the plant ? (it does look like an exhaust pipe) If so, how did you/the source get allowed in there ? I couldn’t get anywhere near beside at the memorial.
compare these photos with those of battleship island in japan (also abandoned)- here you have spacious rooms, huge windows, a swimming pool, an amusement park.. life standard in pripyat (or other parts of ussr, don´t know, have never been) seems to have been much higher than in other places of similar purpose. i guess most people don´t imagine communist regime to be much concerned about comfort of its workers and families..
for those who are tired of Chernobil’s posts…stop watching them and instead watch the posts with wet t-shirts…for me is an interesting subject to watch
Fallout 3