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Reborn in Slavutych
Reborn in SlavutychGhost Town: Pripyat
Though along the railroad tracks you will certainly find many abandoned villages, the largest population center within the Chornobyl Exclusion Zone is Pripyat. Built in 1970 as a home for the Chornobyl plant's workers, the city had a population of around 47,000 in 1986. The entire population of Pripyat was evacuated on the 27th of April because of the Chornobyl disaster. The city remains abandoned, and has been subjected to twenty-eight years of battering by both the environment and looters.
Sign at the entrance to Pripyat, spelling the name in Cyrillic letters. The city was established in 1970 as a home for the people that would work at the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant. [ geotagged ]
One of Pripyat's smaller swimming pools inside the Palace of Culture. [ geotagged ]
An abandoned gymnasium in the Palace of Culture. [ geotagged ]
An abandoned basketball court near Middle School #3. [ geotagged ]
The Hotel Polissya. [ geotagged ]
It has been many years since this piano has worked. Of all of its keys, only one still plays a note. [ geotagged ]
Some of the most well known imagery from Pripyat is the amusement park that was to be opened for the May Day celebrations. Unfortunately, the city was evacuated and the park never opened. [ geotagged ]
Pripyat's abandoned ferris wheel - the most iconic landmark in the ruined city. [ geotagged ]
The ferris wheel can be seen from inside one of the abandoned buildings in Pripyat. [ geotagged ]
A nearly destroyed auditorium. [ geotagged ]
Inside the Pripyat hospital. The first injured and radiation sick patients arrived here, some of the most serious were later transported to a hospital in Moscow. [ geotagged ]
An operating room in the Pripyat hospital. Found within the walls of the hospital is the gear that some of the firefighters were wearing while battling the fires at the Chornobyl plant, which remains radioactively contaminated to this day. [ geotagged ]
Strewn throughout Middle School #3 are hundreds of books, including this one titled "Правила Дорожного Движения" which translates as "Rules of the Road". [ geotagged ]
The remains of a television set in Middle School #3. [ geotagged ]
Before its abandonment, Pripyat was a new city, filled with attractive art, like the remains of this building. [ geotagged ]
Constructed from many panels of glass sandwiched together, this attractive window mural was visible at the Cafe Pripyat, located alongside the River Pripyat. [ geotagged ]
Swimming pool "Лазурный" is one of three swimming pools in Pripyat, and at Olympic size, the largest. The name is transliterated as "Lazurny" and translated as "Azure". For several years after the abandonment of the city, the pool was still in service for the people that worked at the Chornobyl plant. [ geotagged ]
A crumbling corridor in Pripyat's abandoned School #3. [ geotagged ]
A view of the city of Pripyat from the roof of one of the tallest apartment buildings in the abandoned city. [ geotagged ]
From this Pripyat roof the entire city is visible, and the Chornobyl plant can be seen in the far distance. [ geotagged ]
