Pripyat was founded in 1970 to house workers for the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. It was officially proclaimed a city in 1979 but was abandoned in 1986 following the Chernobyl disaster. Currently Pripyat is being supervised by the Ministry of Emergencies of Ukraine as part of the Zone of Alienation jurisdiction.
The city was named after the river it was founded by.
This old picture shows the road from the bridge to the city.
This is what it looks like now.
“Lenin’s Party is the power of the nation! It is meant to lead to country to triumph of Communism!”
–nextpage–
The city has become overgrown with trees and it is difficult to see the houses now.
An elite residential house on Kurchatov Street.
Now it doesn’t look like it’s elite at all.
A telephone booth.
You can still find it here!
–nextpage–
This 16-storeyed condominium was one of the tallest buildings in Pripyat.
Today, they don’t let people in because it may collapse any minute.
Downtown Pripyat with its administrative buildings, hotels and stores.
A hotel.
Kurchatov Street.
–nextpage–
It’s hardly recognizable today.
Whose traces are these?
You can see a lot of dog roses growing in the city.
“Dead kids don’t cry…”
So, here’s the hotel.
–nextpage–
Its lobby.
Its elevators are out of order.
Let’s take the staircase.
Its roof is leaking…
Its terrace opens a magnificent view of the city!
–nextpage–
In 1972, they would complete and rent out one apartment complex a month! It was amazing. The city was growing, developing and changing so fast!
In seven years, they opened six kindergartens for 2,100 children, schools for 2,348 pupils, a hospital and a clinic!
In 11 years, they rent out 337, 318 m2 of rentable area, 12 stores, a restaurant, recreation center, hotel, pool, sports complex, college, music school with a concert hall, movie theater, laundry, sauna, communications center and other important city facilities.
–nextpage–
Each year, the city’s population would increase by 1,500 people with 500 to 600 people having moved to Pripyat from other regions of the Soviet Union.
You can see the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant from here.
The city’s central square.
Where are gone all the furniture and other things from a hotel? Do they were utilized or someone has stolen them?
Most likely stolen, a lot of things got carted away shortly after the evacuation, but when radioactive TV-sets showed up in stores in nearby cities military patrols were set up around the town. Of course with time those were withdrawn and the plunder got under way again. There are a lot of pics taken in Pripyat over the years often of the same spots. If you compare the early one’s (say those taken by Elena Filatova) to recent one’s one of the most striking differences is that most of signs of life that were left earlier (i.e. personal photos, toys, books and whatnot) are now gone. One could have hoped that the UE-code could have been observed (take nothing but pictures, leave nothing but foot-prints) but alas so was not the case
The zone was cleared out/decontaminated after the accident happened. However, some buildings were put to use for workers at the Power Plant/surrounding area (The infamous swimming pool was used until the mid-90′s) flats were reused, and the culture palace was used as a HQ.
So at a guess, some of the furniture was removed for decontamination purposes. I have heard a story that the military personnel in the ‘Zone’ at the time were ordered to destroy all toilets, basins, baths and furniture to discourage former residents from coming back and reclaiming anything.
Who knows?
http://www.thetimechamber.co.uk/Sites/Chernobyl/index.php
Most likely someone has stolen them for sale or utilisation. Many contaminated vehicles and helicopters on radioactive junkyards are disassembled, many parts are stolen.
Everything was or is radioactive. Some valuable items, like TV sets from local electronic store, later appeared in other Ukraine cities (and yes, there TV sets were radioactive).
One of the most mind-boggling scenes in a movie or TV-show I have ever seen is from Pripyat.
It is included in a NatGeo DVD called Welcome to earth, population 0 (or something like that)
The scene is shot in the stands of Pripyat-stadium and shows a girl sitting in the stands talking about how one can imagine what it would have been like to sit there on a Sunday as the home-team took to the field.
As she says this the camera turns 180 degrees and the foot-ball fiedl has turned into a forest, you can’t even see the field for trees, and this was shot almost ten years ago….
cool story bro
Excellent photos.
when i saw this in tv 3 year back, i was stunned seeing how people had to leave their houses, seeing belongings left and remain untouched for years. i am from india and most of people unaware of that, its also a big economic loss for ussr leaving such big infrastructure where huge population can live