Pripyat / Prypiat (Part Three)
Day Two - Chernobyl / Chornobyl & Kyiv - 2016
Concluding the walk through Pripyat / Prypiat, we visit the Middle School and swimming pool before visiting the home of a resettler.
Editor’s Comment: When I first posted this travelogue, I used Russian-to-English transliterations for place names. However, subsequent events -namely the 2019 adoption of Ukrainian-derived places names by the U.S. Board of Geographic Names and the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine- have subsequently compelled me to update this travelogue. Broadly speaking, place names associated with the 1986 nuclear accident will have both versions listed; prominent structures (such as the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant or Pripyat Hospital) will continue to use their now-popularized 1986 names, as will instances where these locations are referenced metonymically (“traveled to Chernobyl,” for example); locations not directly associated with the 1986 disaster (primarily, Kyiv) will use modern Ukrainian-derived nomenclature; and, maps and URLs will continue use names from the original post until such a time as I can update them.
Map Credit: OpenStreetMap
Map Credit: OpenStreetMap
1. Return to Sender
Like many man-made objects in the Exclusion Zone, this postbox is being reclaimed by nature.
After leaving the amusement park area, we passed several residential buildings en route to Middle School Number Three. On the, we passed this postbox, which is slowly being devoured by a nearby tree.
2. Middle School Number Three #1
At the time of the accident, Pripyat / Prypiat had five secondary (middle) schools, in addition to 15 kindergartens and elementary schools, a trade school, and a music school.
Entering Middle School Number Three, we soon passed a room filled with child-sized gas masks. While the masks have become synonymous with the 1986 accident, there is no evidence they were used in April 1986. While schools in Pripyat / Prypiat kept an adequate supply of such masks, the residents of Pripyat / Prypiat were intentionally not told of the disaster, and -as such- the masks would have remained in their cabinet. Two working theories as to why the masks are on the floor: first, stalkers thought it would make for a neat photograph (it does!), or more likely secondly, the masks’ filters were scavenged for their silver content.
Regardless of the background, the masks are chilling and worth the visit. Eight more photographs from the school follow.
3. Middle School Number Three #2
4. Middle School Number Three #3
A learning aid depicting the months of the year.
5. Middle School Number Three #4
A poster depicting some of the planets of the solar system.
6. Middle School Number Three #5
A poster depicting designs for bushings and bearings.
7. Middle School Number Three #6
A page from Nikolai Gogol’s “The Government Inspector”.
8. Middle School Number Three #7
9. Middle School Number Three #8
Requisite Soviet communist imagery.
10. Middle School Number Three #9
This should really underpin how bad a state some of these buildings are in. Another middle school in Pripyat, Number One, has already collapsed, and I fear many similar buildings -to include this one- will follow suit. Please be careful, explorers, and trust nothing you are stepping on. Be sure to have an exit strategy at all times, and always let someone know where you will be if you go off on your own.
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Now back to the travelogue!
11. Azure Swimming Pool Building #1
Unlike most buildings in Pripyat / Prypiat, the Azure Swimming Pool building remained open for years after the accident for use by decontamination workers.
Next to Middle School Number Three lies the Azure Swimming Pool. As it remained in use for years after the accident, it is in a much less deteriorated state than the surrounding buildings.
Two additional swimming pool building photos follow.
12. Azure Swimming Pool Building #2
13. Azure Swimming Pool Building #3
14. Vehicle Graveyard #1
Vehicles used or left in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone generally met three fates - stockpiled at a site called Buriakivka in the Red Forest, buried in a pit on the west side of Pripyat / Prypiat, or abandoned in a lot in Pripyat’s / Prypiat’s southwest.
After leaving the swimming pool building, we passed through the village police station (in use until fairly recently as a unit was posted there to catch looters) before arriving at the vehicle graveyard in the southwest corner of Pripyat / Prypiat. While not as impressive as Buriakivka (the lot where the vast majority of vehicles -including the Joker robot- were disposed) this trip through the graveyard gave me an idea of just how much materiel had to be abandoned after a very brief life given in service of the Exclusion Zone’s cleanup
Five additional graveyard photos follow.
15. Vehicle Graveyard #2
16. Vehicle Graveyard #3
17. Vehicle Graveyard #4
18. Vehicle Graveyard #5
19. Vehicle Graveyard #6
20. Resettler’s Home #1
Samosely -or, resellers in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone- number fewer than 200, and are comprised almost entirely of elderly settlers.
Our last stop in the Exclusion Zone was to visit a reseller’s home near the Belarusian border east of Chernobyl / Chornobyl. The home’s occupant was an elderly man, whose wife -who also resettled- had died a few years earlier. The man’s son must drive frequently from Kyiv with supplies for his father; of course, he also assists him with chores while he is there. The man was very accommodating to our group, and he was more than happy to show us around - and he was very happy to show off his rear-engined modified car.
Three additional photographs of the resettler’s home follow, including a photograph of the man himself.
21. Resettler’s Home #2
22. Resettler’s Home #3
23. Resettler’s Home #4
After saying goodbye to the resettler, we boarded our van to head back to Kyiv. First things first, we had to pass radiological control at the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone checkpoint. This requires stepping into a full-body dosimeter as well as a thorough inspection of all goods being moved out of the Zone. Having successfully passed, our group proceeded to Kyiv, and I made my way to the Cityhotel. Around this time, the weather began to deteriorate and I simply opted to have dinner at the restaurant in the hotel.
