postcards from Pripyat
При́пять (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. It was the ninth nuclear city (“атомоград” (atomograd) in Russian, literally “atom city”) in the Soviet Union at the time. Its population had been around 50,000 before the accident. 1
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this is not a place for words. my thoughts are jumbled and scattered. feelings rise and swell in the top of my belly. this is a place frozen in time yet still moving. nature is making her way back into the cracks and peeling paint. i am not yet sure how i feel about the trip. “it was educational” seems like such a dumb and trivial thing to say. nothing about this trip was trivial. but the rest of the words won’t come. maybe later…
(more photographs in the chernobyl & pripyat gallery)
- source: wikipedia
- some photos, and words, from nic’s thoughtful perspective
- if you want to know more about the chernobyl disaster, this documentary is a great place to start
Emily
01/09/2011 at 07:43 //
what a fascinating place to visit! reading nic’s post about how it could have been worse made me feel really sad and uncomfortable too. i read this week that china is building nuclear plants with 1960′s technology. it all serves to make me feel really quite small and powerless at the state of our world and what goes on… *big sigh*
xo
bella
01/09/2011 at 11:26 //
I’ve never seen pictures from Chernobyl before. So sad..
no worries
01/09/2011 at 12:24 //
Haunting beautiful pictures!
its the 2nd time in a week that I see pictures of this place… coincidence?! seems magical and scary all at once
jane
09/09/2011 at 09:12 //
Not possible to use words to say what those photos can…
Swirly
11/09/2011 at 16:15 //
These pictures are AMAZING.
E'Layne Koenigsberg
20/09/2011 at 02:31 //
wow..I am blown away…how haunting..daunting….amazing what we choose to forget…thank you for helping us remember
Tara Bradford
20/09/2011 at 18:55 //
Well done, you! You have brilliantly captured the sadness and emptiness, as well as the echoes of life that once occupied the space. xx