PRYPIAT (Ukraine): Chernobyl workers' home

 Prypiat is an abandoned city in the "zone of alienation" in northern Ukraine. It was home to the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant workers, abandoned in 1986 following the Chernobyl disaster. Its

population had been around 50,000 prior to the accident.

 Until recently, the site was practically a museum, documenting the late Soviet era. Apartment buildings (four of which were recent constructions not yet occupied), swimming pools, hospitals and other buildings were all abandoned, and everything inside the buildings was left behind, including records, papers, TVs, children's toys, furniture, valuables, and clothing, etc. that any normal family would have with them. Residents were only allowed to take away a suitcase full of documents, books and clothes that were not contaminated. However, many of the apartment buildings were almost

completely looted some time around the beginning of the 21st century.[citation needed] Nothing of value was left behind; even toilet seats were taken away. Some buildings have remained untouched. Many of the building interiors have been vandalized and ransacked over the years. Because the buildings are not maintained, the roofs leak, and in the spring the rooms are flooded with water. It is not unusual to find trees growing on roofs and even inside buildings. This hastens deterioration, and due to this, a 4-story school partially collapsed in July of 2005.