Pripyat - A Virtual Trip to Chernobyl

For reasons I can’t fully explain, my mind has been taken by the city of Pripyat, Ukraine, or better known as the city which housed the Chernobyl disaster. About 25 years ago, there was a terrible accident (caused by bad technology and autocratic bureaucracy and incompetence) at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant which led to deaths of 52 people. (Later, the explosion accounted for the deaths of 4,000 individuals). While I was aware of the nuclear disaster, I never pondered the city living around the reactor.

The city of Pripyat, over 20 years after the disaster.

I found out that this city of 50,000 people was evacuated about three days after the accident, completely emptying the town. Apparently, the Soviet government was not entirely truthful about the scale of this nuclear disaster, and led many to believe that the evacuation was temporary and that everyone would soon be able to re-enter the city. Due to their belief of a quick return, many left their most prized possessions within the town.

The city was never opened again. I suppose this is the fact which intrigued me the most, the entire city became a ghost town over night. It is the best example of a post-apocalyptic city that I have ever seen, and because of the way the city was emptied. There are still chairs within classrooms, cups upon coffee tables, and cars within parking lots. It’s as if a piece of the citizens of the town never left the city, as evidence of their presence is strewn throughout the town. In the past twenty years, buildings throughout the Pripyat have begun to deteriorate as vegetation has begun to claim the city.

This ferris wheel was going to open about three days before the disaster, however, it would forever remain unused due to the catastrophe of Chernobyl.

I would love to one day visit this city, to feel the traces of the souls which still hover throughout Pripyat. I am unsure for the exact reasons why, but lost cities are something which have always and will always enrapture my fascination, and I hope I’m able to wander in such places within my lifetime.