Pripyat, once a model working class city built for the employees of the Chernobyl nuclear plant, is now the world’s largest ghost town. Crumbling socialist era apartment blocks tower over what remains of a city founded in 1970 and evacuated on April 26th, 1986. The city was once home to 49,000 residents, it boasted over 13,000 apartment units, 25 shops, a cinema, a cultural centre and 10 gymnasiums, three of which were equipped with indoor swimming pools. Pripyat now stands abandoned, frozen in time, in the middle of Ukraine’s Chernobyl Exclusion Zone.
CBS recently traveled to the zone to shoot a documentary and within this team, filmmaker Danny Cooke used drone footage to show Pripyat from an angle and perspective never before seen. Drones take you over and above the increasingly decrepit town and the footage is absolutely astounding, haunting and ultimately beautiful.
For a short, three minute peak, it is well worth taking a look at this remarkable short film:
