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Evening all,
Had the opportunity to visit Chernobyl and Pripyat last October. This involved time to explore Pripyat and the abandoned funfair which is an Urbex icon.
Welcome to Chernobyl - edge of the Red Forest.
History
Pripyat was a city in the Ukraine built to house workers for the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. At its height it had around 50,000 inhabitants with provision for up to 70,000.
The city was built in a triangular plan and featured alternating five-story buildings and high-rises, with the city lined with broad vistas, open spaces, and the horizon visible from almost every corner. Unlike the old cities with their tiny yards and narrow streets, Pripyat had been initially planned to look free and vivid, all for the comfort of its inhabitants. Besides the calculated boost of street space, the goal had been achieved by making the streets and blocks symmetrical. Taken together, these solutions were intended to immunize Pripyat from such scourges of modern times as traffic jams.
Facilities in the city included:
- Population: 49,400 before the disaster. The average age was about 26 years old. Total living space was 658,700 m2: 13,414 apartments in 160 apartment blocks, 18 halls of residence accommodating up to 7,621 single males or females, and 8 halls of residence for married couples.
- Education: 15 primary schools for about 5,000 children, 5 secondary schools, 1 professional school.
- Healthcare: 1 hospital that could accommodate up to 410 patients, and 3 clinics.
- Trade: 25 stores and malls; 27 cafes, cafeterias and restaurants could serve up to 5,535 customers simultaneously. 10 warehouses could hold 4,430 tons of goods.
- Culture: 3 facilities: a culture palace, a cinema and a school of arts, with 8 different societies.
- Sports: 10 gyms, 3 indoor swimming-pools, 10 shooting galleries, 2 stadiums.
- Recreation: 1 park, 35 playgrounds, 18,136 trees, 249,247 shrubs, 33,000 rose plants.
- Industry: 4 factories with total annual turnover of 477,000,000 rubles. 1 nuclear power plant.
- Transportation: Yanov railway station, 167 urban buses, plus the nuclear power plant car park of about 400 units.
- Telecommunication: 2,926 local phones managed by the Prypiat Phone Company, plus 1,950 phones owned by Chernobyl power station's administration, Jupiter plant and Department of Architecture and Urban Development.
On 26th April 1986 an experiment involving a power-down of the reactor caused an explosion at Reactor 4. The resulting fire burned for over 9 days, sending radioactive clouds over most of Europe. The inhabitants of Pripyat were told to take a minimum of belongings for a temporary evacuation, and everyone was bussed out of the city over 48hours. Little did they know they were never to return.
A link to the movie we were shown when we were there is here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKKz45ORPQQ
I think we can all admit before even watching this how sad and upsetting such a disaster is for the world.
On with some photos from the funfair.
#1
#2
#3
#4 - from the roof of the hotel
#5
Thanks for looking in.
Had the opportunity to visit Chernobyl and Pripyat last October. This involved time to explore Pripyat and the abandoned funfair which is an Urbex icon.
Welcome to Chernobyl - edge of the Red Forest.
History
Pripyat was a city in the Ukraine built to house workers for the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. At its height it had around 50,000 inhabitants with provision for up to 70,000.
The city was built in a triangular plan and featured alternating five-story buildings and high-rises, with the city lined with broad vistas, open spaces, and the horizon visible from almost every corner. Unlike the old cities with their tiny yards and narrow streets, Pripyat had been initially planned to look free and vivid, all for the comfort of its inhabitants. Besides the calculated boost of street space, the goal had been achieved by making the streets and blocks symmetrical. Taken together, these solutions were intended to immunize Pripyat from such scourges of modern times as traffic jams.
Facilities in the city included:
- Population: 49,400 before the disaster. The average age was about 26 years old. Total living space was 658,700 m2: 13,414 apartments in 160 apartment blocks, 18 halls of residence accommodating up to 7,621 single males or females, and 8 halls of residence for married couples.
- Education: 15 primary schools for about 5,000 children, 5 secondary schools, 1 professional school.
- Healthcare: 1 hospital that could accommodate up to 410 patients, and 3 clinics.
- Trade: 25 stores and malls; 27 cafes, cafeterias and restaurants could serve up to 5,535 customers simultaneously. 10 warehouses could hold 4,430 tons of goods.
- Culture: 3 facilities: a culture palace, a cinema and a school of arts, with 8 different societies.
- Sports: 10 gyms, 3 indoor swimming-pools, 10 shooting galleries, 2 stadiums.
- Recreation: 1 park, 35 playgrounds, 18,136 trees, 249,247 shrubs, 33,000 rose plants.
- Industry: 4 factories with total annual turnover of 477,000,000 rubles. 1 nuclear power plant.
- Transportation: Yanov railway station, 167 urban buses, plus the nuclear power plant car park of about 400 units.
- Telecommunication: 2,926 local phones managed by the Prypiat Phone Company, plus 1,950 phones owned by Chernobyl power station's administration, Jupiter plant and Department of Architecture and Urban Development.
On 26th April 1986 an experiment involving a power-down of the reactor caused an explosion at Reactor 4. The resulting fire burned for over 9 days, sending radioactive clouds over most of Europe. The inhabitants of Pripyat were told to take a minimum of belongings for a temporary evacuation, and everyone was bussed out of the city over 48hours. Little did they know they were never to return.
A link to the movie we were shown when we were there is here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKKz45ORPQQ
I think we can all admit before even watching this how sad and upsetting such a disaster is for the world.
On with some photos from the funfair.
#1
#2
#3
#4 - from the roof of the hotel
#5
Thanks for looking in.
