Chernobyl Exclusion Zone – Third Chapter: Pripyat

April 13, 2020April 13, 2020 CarloRLeave a comment

Among all oddities populating the extensive area of the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone – the immense cordoned area surrounding the ill-fated nuclear power-plant – Pripyat does not need any further presentation.

Pripyat was founded anew in 1970, and mainly intended for workers of the immense ‘Lenin’ power-plant, where the nuclear reactors started operations in the mid 1970s, and which went on being continuously expanded over the years. When tragedy struck on April 26th, 1986, four reactors were active, two were under construction – what remains of the ‘ghost construction works’ can still be seen (have a look to this chapter) – but about as many reactor cores were on the drawing board as the number of those already running.

Such a big and relevant industrial asset was managed and operated by a massive workforce of technicians. As a matter of fact, with a population of slightly less than 50’000 at the time of the accident, Pripyat turned out to be the largest village in an extensive and otherwise eminently rural region around the power-plant. An area with an extension comparable to the metro area of Chicago, IL, was cordoned out and totally evacuated in the days following the accident, forming the ‘Chernobyl Exclusion Zone’, which is still today off-limits without a guide, and where people carrying out technical work around the former power-plant, and related labs and businesses, live under a special regulation. Besides Pripyat, this extensive region includes also the nuclear power-plant, the town of Chernobyl, dozens of smaller villages (see Chapter 2), as well as a one-of-a-kind soviet military installation (see Chapter 1).

Being intended mainly for highly-skilled workers – like engineers and physicists in charge of the power-plant processes – Pripyat was built according to relatively high-level soviet standards. The town had five so-called residential ‘microdistricts’, made of high-rise apartment buildings, and each with a school and some other public services, like a small market, a library, sporting facilities, possibly a small theater, etc.

The geographic center of the town was another multi-functional district, with a kind of community center with a community hall for social meetings, a big hotel, a central market, a post office, a travel agency, a sporting center with a stadium, an amusement park – with the now iconic Ferris wheel… – a green urban park, and of course the local presidium of the Communist Party.

The town also featured a large hospital – ‘Medical Center 126’ – covering alone the size of another microdistrict.

All these services, the above-standard quality of the buildings and urban decor, and the setting in the nice countryside of northern Ukraine, in an area rich of rivers and creeks – Pripyat was built close to the right bank of the homonym and nice ‘river Pripyat’ – and not far from Kiev, made Pripyat a nice place to live. Even the workplace of many, the ‘Lenin’ nuclear power-plant, could be conveniently reached less than 3 miles away… The perfect worker’s life in this prototypical socialist village went on for some thousands workers and their families day by day without any major event for about 15 years.

Suddenly, Pripyat was evacuated in a few hours in the early afternoon of April 27th, 1986, about 36 hours after the explosion of reactor N.4, which had taken place in the first hours of April 26th. Notice of the evacuation was given to the citizens about three hours before the operation started. They were told they would have been taken away for precaution for just three days. The combined effect of the hurry and of the presumed short term of the quarantine was that basically everything was left behind by those leaving the town. As an effect of the cordoning-off and the spread of nuclear radiation, contaminating everything in the area, and making any items unattractive except for the most brave metal-looters, the mid-1980s life of Pripyat soviet citizens was crystallized like in a magic life-size 3D picture that you can even walk in! – the incredible ghost town that today everybody knows.

All villages and installations in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone were evacuated too (more than 100’000 were relocated in total), creating as many incredible time capsules from the Cold War era (see Chapter 1 and Chapter 2). What is unique to Pripyat is the overall size of the town, of the buildings in it, and the ensuing concentration of soviet relics around. Furthermore, being directly struck by radiation, due to the direction of the wind on the night of the explosion, together with the power-plant Pripyat is in the innermost, highly contaminated zone where nobody is allowed to live – unlike Chernobyl town, to the south of the power-plant, where some form of business is still going on this day, and where you are likely to spend the night on a multi-day tour. As a result, it is totally uninhabited – at least at night…

Actually, the successful HBO series of 2019 has increased the interest of the western public for this place even further, making Pripyat a de-facto tourist attraction, with tens of thousands visitors per year. Most of them take the ‘typical’ one-day trip from Kiev, where you spend a few hours in the Exclusion Zone, mostly in Pripyat. The ‘Soviet ghost aura’ around this town is so intense you will surely get impressed even by a visit so short. However, the ‘highlights’ in town may turn crowded to an almost paradoxical extent for a ghost town, so that enjoying the unreal silence and loneliness you would expect in a creepy soviet village contaminated by radiation may turn possible only in less known spots, where you will be taken only by private guides, on tours typically lasting two days or more, and purpose-designed to allow you also to take good pictures.

The latter was my option. You can see in this chapter several unusual photographs of Pripyat, taken during a stay of many hours in this ghost town, during a visit to the Exclusion Zone lasting two (freezing) days in late autumn 2019. Practical info about the visit are provided in a section at the end of another chapter (and links therein).

Sights

Photographs will follow the course of our visit. We started early in the morning from nearby Chernobyl, where we had spent the night. We were in Pripyat before one-day visitors from Kiev came in – possibly the most impressive part of the visit in terms of ‘ghost aura’, thanks to the silence and loneliness of the place at that time.

You may see the light changing over the day, until we finally left in the afternoon for another part of the Zone. You won’t see people in my pics, but this is the result of the ability of our guide, as well as of some effort on my side especially in the central hours of the day and around the central district.

Red Forest, Bridge of Death and Pripyat Access

One of the most severely contaminated areas in the zone, the ‘red forest’ used to cover the area between the power-plant and the town of Pripyat. Exposed to an unprecedented level of radiation, the trees in the forest changed color to an unnatural red soon after the explosion. As a matter of fact, all those trees have been wiped out and buried underground. A completely new blanket of younger trees now covers the area.

The route coming from the power-plant and going north to Pripyat, only less than 3 miles away, is usually covered by car/bus on visits to this sector – a route likely covered every day by workers living in town and working at the nuclear plant. The road goes through the former area of the red forest, where many radiation danger and warning signals can be seen, and where you are unlikely to stop.

Ghost Town Pripyat Cold War Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Exclusion Zone

Ghost Town Red Forest Pripyat Cold War Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Exclusion Zone

Reactor Funnel Contaminated Cold War Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Exclusion Zone Pripyat

The same road finally points straight into Pripyat, and goes over a railway track. The bridge is a vantage point from where the power-plant could be observed, especially the ill-fated reactor N.4, which lies next to it. On the day of the accident people from nearby Pripyat came to this bridge out of curiosity, to check out the emergency operations taking place around the reactor. Similar to the red forest just ahead of it, the bridge was invested by a massive flow of invisible radioactive debris, also due to the wind direction on the day of the accident. The name ‘Bridge of Death’ given afterwards to this site suggests the epilogue of the story for the most unlucky among those who ventured on the bridge on that fateful day.

Ghost Town Pripyat Cold War Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Exclusion Zone

From the bridge you can spot the tall buildings of Pripyat, and soon reach the entry checkpoint.

Ghost Town Pripyat Cold War Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Exclusion Zone

‘Azure’ Swimming Pool and School (Microdistrict 3)

Accessing in the early morning, despite the very cold temperature, we could enjoy a few hours of a really evoking, silent and lonely visit. Venturing in Pripyat, you soon meet an array of many bulky multi-storey apartment buildings close by each other.

Leaving the car close to a major crossing, and walking between microdistrict 3 and 4 to the first highlight on our visit – the sporting center called ‘Lazurnyy’ – or ‘Azure’ in English – we could appreciate the size of some of these builidings. The silence was really striking! Old road signs can be seen along the road.

Ghost Town Pripyat Cold War Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Exclusion Zone

From the outside, the sporting center must have looked really nice in its heyday. A decorated metal fence can be seen around the complex, which lies in front off School N.3. A giant clock hangs on top of the building. Some soviet decoration can be found in the entrance hall of the complex.

Ghost Town Pool Pripyat Cold War Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Exclusion Zone

Ghost Town Pripyat Cold War Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Exclusion Zone

Ghost Town Pool Pripyat Cold War Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Exclusion Zone

Upstairs, a first hall hosts a gym, with a basketball court. The pool is in an adjoining hall. It is modernly designed, with a large window looking on to the next buildings, some hundreds feet away. The roof is inclined, making this hall look somewhat roomier than it actually is.

Ghost Town Pool Pripyat Cold War Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Exclusion Zone

A clock and a ‘coat of arms’ of a swimming team (?) adorn the wall. The springboard is also still in place.

Ghost Town Pool Pripyat Cold War Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Exclusion Zone

Unfortunately, some total idiot writer felt and urge to add his signature on the side of the pool. Luckily, similar accidents are not typical to Pripyat, which is still today heavily guarded.

Next door, you can find School N.3. A rather big building with an inner courtyard, you can find here many interesting sights, including tons of science-themed posters, a full physics lab with experiments – and items looking like models of heat-exchangers of a power-plant… – and more usual classrooms.

Ghost Town School Pripyat Cold War Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Exclusion Zone

There is also a room where the floor is covered with gas masks. This is an example of a staged post-apocalyptic scenery, which have been prepared for tourists, and is actually not totally original – sure the masks were already stored there for civil protection, but they have been apocryphally scattered on the ground only for photographers.

Ghost Town School Pripyat Cold War Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Exclusion Zone

Panoramic View from Rooftop (Microdistrict 5)

Walking from microdistrict 3 to the northwestern corner of microdistrict 5, you get past entire blocks of multi-storey buildings. The tallest in Pripyat are a couple of 16-storeys ‘twin towers’ on two sides of a street on the northern edge of the town – i.e. the farthest from the power-plant.

Ghost Town Pripyat Cold War Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Exclusion Zone

Climbing to the roof terrace on top of one of the twins – a nice workout with a heavy full complement of photographic gear, especially useful to warm up on a freezing autumn morning! – you get the chance to enjoy a great panorama view over the entire town of Pripyat. From there you may better appreciate the concentration of high-rise buildings in town, as well as the sharp border between the settlement and the wilderness all around – like many industrial towns in the USSR, Pripyat was built basically in the middle of nowhere!

Ghost Town Rooftop Panorama Pripyat Cold War Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Exclusion Zone

The proximity to the power-plant – with the colossal hangar-like sarcophagus containing what remains of reactor N.4 – is really striking. While convenient for commuting workers, in the event it turned deadly for Pripyat. See Chapter 2 for more on the power-plant.

Ghost Town Rooftop Panorama Pripyat Cold War Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Exclusion Zone

The colossal Duga anti-ICBM early-warning over-the-horizon detection antennas can be clearly spotted from here too, despite being some 7 miles away – they are really big! See Chapter 1 for more on this incredible, one-of-a-kind Cold War relic.

Ghost Town Rooftop Panorama Pripyat Cold War Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Exclusion Zone

Considering the buildings have been in total disrepair from some decades now, they are pretty well conserved, testifying about the overall not-so-bad quality – better than expected especially for soviet standard. Traces of architectural decorations are also to be found on the balconies, definitely unusual for industrial towns (see for instance the depressing northern suburbs of the large port of Murmansk in this post).

Ghost Town Pripyat Cold War Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Exclusion Zone

Amusement Park

Likely the most photographed spot in Pripyat, the Ferris wheel is to be found in an amusement park in the central district of the town, close by administrative and service buildings.

Ghost Town Amusement Park Pripyat Cold War Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Exclusion Zone

Considering its age and disrepair, it is not in so bad a shape. The Ferris wheel is not the only item in this small amusement park. There are a bumper car track, a big swing, what appears to be the skeleton of a chairoplane, and a smaller indoor shooting range.

Ghost Town Amusement Park Pripyat Cold War Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Exclusion Zone

The deer painted on the wall of the shooting range appear very well preserved, and it is hard to tell whether they are from the time.

Ghost Town Amusement Park Pripyat Cold War Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Exclusion Zone

Post Office

Again part of the central district, the central post office is home to one of the finest murals in the whole Chernobyl Exclusion Zone. A true protagonist in the iconography of the USSR, a cosmonaut occupies the central scene of the mural, which is centered on the idea of writing, language and communication in history.

Ghost Town Post Office Pripyat Cold War Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Exclusion Zone

While often kitschy and of poor artistic value, in some cases Soviet murals are more interesting, featuring a unique mix of ingenuity, rhetoric and design skill which most suitably adorn public offices, military halls or front facades.

Ghost Town Post Office Pripyat Cold War Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Exclusion Zone

This is also the case for the external ceramic frieze on the side the southern side of the same post office. Traces of public phone booths, an original mailbox and the opening timetable of the post office are still there to see!

Central Square

The central square of Pripyat is one of the most crowded places in the whole Exclusion Zone. Not only tourists can be found everywhere in the adjoining buildings, but buses of every size are parked ahead of it, making it look possibly more jammed than in the years before 1986.

Despite that, some highlights of Pripyat are to be found around the square, so it is of course worth a stop. To the west of the square you can find a large restaurant, with its big banner still on top of the building. In an adjoining building, the central shopping mall is an impressive sight, with indications like ‘Fruit’, ‘Vegetables’ and so on still there.

Ghost Town Pripyat Cold War Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Exclusion Zone

Ghost Town City Center Pripyat Cold War Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Exclusion Zone

Ghost Town Pripyat Cold War Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Exclusion Zone

Ghost Town City Center Pripyat Cold War Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Exclusion Zone

One block away still to the west, a big, tall building has the coat of arms of the USSR on top.

To the north of the square, a massive civic center (‘Palace of Culture’) can be found, once hosting a hall for social events, and an adjoining indoor sporting facility.

Ghost Town Pripyat Cold War Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Exclusion Zone

Ghost Town City Center Pripyat Cold War Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Exclusion Zone

The hall features another interesting soviet fresco, and what appears to be a large ballroom.

The sporting facility includes a very big basketball/soccer court, a very small pool, and a boxing ring.

Ghost Town Gym Pripyat Cold War Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Exclusion Zone

Ghost Town Pripyat Cold War Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Exclusion Zone

Ghost Town Gym Pripyat Cold War Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Exclusion Zone

To the east, the square is completed by the Hotel ‘Polissia’, which is joined to the Palace of Culture via a long curved patio.

Ghost Town Pripyat Cold War Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Exclusion Zone

Hospital – Medical Center 126

As said, the hospital occupies a large area, equivalent in size to a microdistrict. This large medical center is composed of many buildings, and on the day of the accident it found itself on the front line, trying to give assistance to the death-bound firefighters, hit by acute radiation syndrome, as well as to many inhabitants of Pripyat, who were exposed to extreme – albeit not immediately lethal – doses of radiation, experiencing physical symptoms in the hours following the accident and preceding evacuation.

For some reason, this area is one of the most contaminated in Pripyat today, and venturing is usually a matter of a few minutes for safety reasons. Adding to the unhealthy aura of this place, rumors support that the uniforms of the firefighters, hastily thrown in the basement when they were given medical assistance, are still there, somewhere beyond a bricked-up door…

We walked inside the largest building in the complex, and kept on the floor of the gynecology and pediatric department. Here you can find baby cots, delivery rooms, medical cabinets and more standard hospital bedrooms as well.

Ghost Town Hospital Gynecology Pripyat Cold War Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Exclusion Zone

Empty cradles, abandoned registers, medical posters and hardware make for a really spooky sight.

Ghost Town Hospital Gynecology Pripyat Cold War Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Exclusion Zone

To the far end of the building, you can find a kind of conference room, with traces of decoration on the wall.

Ghost Town Hospital Gynecology Pripyat Cold War Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Exclusion Zone

Leaving the main building of the hospital, walking past a water reservoir, we reached the morgue and dissection room. Already pretty horrible in normal life, this is one of the spookiest sights in Pripyat’s post-apocalyptic setting!

Ghost Town Hospital Morgue Pripyat Cold War Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Exclusion Zone

Ghost Town Hospital Gynecology Pripyat Cold War Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Exclusion Zone

Chemical reactants and a smoky incinerator for medical waste complete the picture – who knows whether they incinerated some used clothes and gauze after the accident… better to avoid touching the soot-covered walls here!

Ghost Town Hospital Morgue Pripyat Cold War Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Exclusion Zone

Ghost Town Cafe Pripyat Cold War Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Exclusion Zone

Cafe Pripyat, Passenger Port and Floating Pier

Cross the road on the northwestern corner of the hospital district, you find a very peculiar building, appearing like the set for some James Bond movie scene. The assembly is made of two small buildings with large windows, connected by a covered passage.

The eastern end of the complex is Cafe Pripyat.

Ghost Town Cafe Pripyat Cold War Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Exclusion Zone

Besides some sculptures on the outside, the main hall of the cafe features a very nice – and well preserved – example of artistic stained glass windows. The incredible light of the day added to the ensemble – making it for sure the most pleasant sight in Pripyat.

Ghost Town Cafe Pripyat Cold War Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Exclusion Zone

The covered passages features triangular concrete posts.

Ghost Town Cafe Pripyat Cold War Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Exclusion Zone

The complex is on top of a low cliff, on the bank of a backwater of river Pripyat, and a descending stair takes you to a former pier.

Ghost Town Cafe Pripyat Cold War Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Exclusion Zone

Ghost Town Floating Pier Pripyat Cold War Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Exclusion Zone

The geography of waterways here is not very clear. Today, it appears that the water you access from this complex is basically an isolated pond. However, this may be an artificial result. As a matter of fact, the area around the power-plant, and down to Chernobyl some miles away, used to be served by hydrofoils. It appears unlikely that a pier this big was built without this type of service in mind, so maybe what is now a reservoir, used to be a receptacle of river Pripyat, and a stop in the water transport lines.

An interesting element to be sighted somewhat downstream with respect to the pier is a floating part of the pier, which got detached from the fixed part and got stranded after floating abandoned for a while.

Ghost Town Floating Pier Pripyat Cold War Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Exclusion Zone

This can be boarded today, a rather sad sight – also giving you a sense of nausea, as it is lying in a somewhat banked attitude which makes you loose the sense of the horizon.

KBO Service Center

Not far from Cafe Pripyat you can spot the original fence put in place immediately after evacuating the village. This old fence is today totally rusty, and largely cut through.

Ghost Town Cafe Pripyat Cold War Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Exclusion Zone

Pointing to the central square, you meet an interesting mall named ‘KBO’, where services offered included a barber shop and other small shops. The barber shop is especially interesting. Despite being in a relatively bad shape, gear including combs, razors, mirrors, soap trays and so on are still there.

Ghost Town Barber Shop Pripyat Cold War Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Exclusion Zone

In its early life, the mirror could never imagine he would reflect the image of so many westerners one day – some would even be excited to take pictures of their reflection!

Ghost Town Barber Shop Pripyat Cold War Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Exclusion Zone

The building features some decorated glass windows. Timetables and announcements are still painted ahead of some of the shops.

Prometheus Movie Theater and Music School

What makes these two adjoining buildings unique is the elaborate mosaic decoration on the curved facades. Again, an example of architecture from the Cold War era.

Ghost Town Music Academy Pripyat Cold War Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Exclusion Zone

Inside the music school a small theater hall still features a piano on the stage!

Furniture Shop and Home Appliance Shop (AGD)

Not far from the central square in microdistrict 2, you can find a small single-storey building made to host shops. Two shops are particularly interesting.

One is a furniture shop, where you can see several vertical pianos! Most of them bear a ‘Made in the USSR’ sign.

Ghost Town Piano Shop Pripyat Cold War Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Exclusion Zone

There are also some signs, including some ‘dos and don’ts’ for safety.

Ghost Town TV Shop Pripyat Cold War Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Exclusion Zone

Ghost Town Piano Shop Pripyat Cold War Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Exclusion Zone

An adjoining shop used to sell home appliances, and on the scaffolds you can still find a set of cathode ray tube old TV sets!

Ghost Town TV Shop Pripyat Cold War Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Exclusion Zone

Ahead of this shops, you can find a disturbing abandoned playground and an outdoor basketball court, possibly once part of the nearby School N.2.

Ghost Town Abandoned School Pripyat Cold War Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Exclusion Zone

School N.2 (Microdistrict 2)

This big multi-storey school building offers an incredible quantity of memorabilia to be photographed, and even taken alone it would already make for a valid reason to come to Pripyat, for a committed hunter of Soviet relics!

Entering the hall, you soon meet interesting posters, based on standard soviet iconography.

Ghost Town Abandoned School Pripyat Cold War Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Exclusion Zone

Everything is in total disorder, so you literally walk on books sometimes, and you may find notebooks, school reports, diplomas and other handwritten stuff scattered over any flat surface!

The common areas and corridors are decorated with murals, some of them really nice.

Ghost Town Abandoned School Pripyat Cold War Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Exclusion Zone

A geography classroom features folded maps, textbooks on the geography of the USSR, and even models of some mountains.

Ghost Town Abandoned School Pripyat Cold War Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Exclusion Zone

An intriguing room is a linguistic lab – where they apparently taught English. As observed (see this chapter), this sounds strange, considering the poor level of English penetration even in today’s former USSR Countries, and the fact that English was the idiom of the ‘western enemy’. Maybe the relatively privileged status of the inhabitants of Pripyat included a special level of education.

Ghost Town Abandoned School Pripyat Cold War Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Exclusion Zone

The chemistry lab is very ‘lively’, with complicate molecular models and bottles of reactants on the desks.

Ghost Town Abandoned School Pripyat Cold War Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Exclusion Zone

There are archive rooms packed with diplomas and hand written paperworks.

Ghost Town Abandoned School Pripyat Cold War Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Exclusion Zone

Some posters in the corridors are really funny, including some related to sport, some explaining good practices for preserving your teeth, and others displaying encouraging numbers related to Soviet industrial production – they are updated to 1985, and the trends do not appear to show any indication of what would happen to the USSR and the whole communist bloc in less than 6 years…

Ghost Town Abandoned School Pripyat Cold War Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Exclusion Zone

The biology lab is packed with models describing the anatomy of fishes, birds, and humans as well!

Ghost Town Abandoned School Pripyat Cold War Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Exclusion Zone

More and more classrooms are full of interesting items to check out!

Ghost Town Abandoned School Pripyat Cold War Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Exclusion Zone

An example of a rather interesting iconography style, not far from some Japanese manga, can be found on a few posters close to the main entrance, with lyrics including the anthem of the USSR.

Ghost Town Abandoned School Pripyat Cold War Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Exclusion Zone

In the library on the ground floor you can find interesting textbooks on many subjects. On a particular book left open by chance, we could see a portrait of the massive monument to the Soviet Army in Treptower Park, Berlin (see this post).

Ghost Town Abandoned School Pripyat Cold War Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Exclusion Zone

The school building used to feature a canteen, which can be easily recognized – with a menu board still hanging on a wall!

Ghost Town Abandoned School Pripyat Cold War Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Exclusion Zone

In another wing you can find a music room, and the unmissable gym!

Ghost Town Abandoned School Pripyat Cold War Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Exclusion Zone

Visiting

Together with a friend, we arranged a two-days visit to the zone with the very competent guide Mikhailo Teslenko (website here). For a curious visitor, one-day trips are really just a quick starter. I could notice the difference between that options and ours when visiting School N.2. We spent 45 minutes there, and despite collecting hundreds of good pics and exploring all the floors, we left with the sensation of having left behind millions of photo opportunities and unchecked items. A group of around ten people on a day trip spent there – literally – 5 minutes. They could not venture beyond the ground floor.

So, if you need to multiply photo opportunities, you will need to go on a private tour. Furthermore, do not underestimate the problem of crowds, which may obstruct your camera scope and spoil your pics of any mystery aura. A small party and a guide with a knowledge of peak hours and crowded hot-spots may help much in avoiding disappointment.

Choose the season accurately, for in summer it gets very warm and humid, and you are not allowed to wear sleeveless shirts, plus the trees obstruct the view more than in winter. Winter of course can be extremely cold. Despite the freezing temperature, we got two perfect days for pictures in late November.

Pripyat is big, and the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone is immense, so simply forget to see everything even on a multi-day trip. Yet most highlights will be covered decently on a two-days tour – three chapters on this website are from photographic material collected on such a trip!

More suggestions and practical info can be found in this dedicated section.

Chernobyl Exclusion Zone – Second Chapter: Nuclear Power-Plant & Nearby Villages

March 6, 2020March 7, 2020 CarloRLeave a comment

The nuclear power-plant of Chernobyl took its name from an early medieval village – actually one of the oldest settlements in the Ukrainian region – not far from the right bank of river Dnepr. Following the construction of the plant in the early 1970s, the village of Chernobyl changed appearance, turning into a modern town (for the soviet standard of the 1970s…) for workers of the plant.

Actually, an entire new village was eventually built anew closer to the power station, the ill-famed Pripyat. The proximity to the place of the accident, as well as the north-bound air stream on that fateful day on April 1986, meant that Chernobyl town was hit much less by contamination than more modern and populated Pripyat.

As a matter of fact, today Pripyat is included in the inner ‘high-contamination’ sector of the exclusion zone, whereas Chernobyl town to the south has been spared a contamination so severe, and albeit to a much more limited extent than before the accident, it is still partly inhabited today. You are even likely to spend the night there, if you elect to embark on a multi-day tour of the zone!

Maybe less known to the general public is how large the (relatively) ‘low-contamination’ belt of the exclusion zone is. Considering only the Ukrainian part of the cordoned territory, the limited-access area extends roughly as Greater London, i.e. the whole area inside the Orbital! Clearly, on a territory so big – basically an entire province! – there used to be many villages, in most cases rural settlements, existing before the power-plant was erected. Unlike Chernobyl town, some of these smaller villages had retained their early-soviet, or even pre-soviet appearance.

Another relevant item in the area was the huge military plant centered around the ‘Duga’-type early warning system, installed in the 1970s together with a small secluded military village, Chernobyl-2 – see this dedicated post.

When tragedy struck in 1986, the government of the USSR had the area evacuated very fast, in some cases almost overnight. Where Chernobyl town and the power-plant area soon turned into a nest of new activities, mainly connected with the sealing, monitoring and recover of the leaking plant, most of the villages in the isolated zone turned into ghost towns.

Due to its large size and to the drama investing the families of the workers of the power-plant living there, Pripyat is for sure the most famous of all ghost towns of the zone, and probably also of the world. Yet scattered over the Chernobyl exclusion zone are many other smaller ghost villages, crystallized in time. Scattered over the Ukrainian countryside, immersed in the overgrown vegetation, these places offer an authentic and unique view of the rural life in the Soviet Union in the decades before the 1980s, deep in the Cold War era. Abandoned schools, kindergartens, private housing, public offices, patriotic monuments, etc. are abundant there, and make for mysterious sights, in some cases more intriguing to relic-hunters and urban explorers than what you may find in Pripyat – where the atmosphere may turn a bit too touristic even in a freezing weekend of late November, due to the hundreds of one-day trippers from Kiev, Ukraine’s capital city.

This post from a multi-day private photographic tour to the zone (see details and suggestion for the organization of the trip here) covers Chernobyl town and power-plant, plus many less-known and highly-mysterious villages and locations scattered over the exclusion zone. Photographs were taken in November 2019.

Sights

Chernobyl Town

The town of Chernobyl, originally a settlement in the countryside on the left bank of Pripyat river, about 70 miles north of Kiev, and dating from the 12th century, found itself located roughly six miles south of the ‘Lenin’ nuclear power-plant since the 1970s. This fact changed the shape of the town, which was largely expanded with blocks of typical multi-storey soviet monolithic apartment buildings. The population rose quickly from some hundreds to some thousands. A new welcome sign was erected, with some symbolism recalling the industrial vocation of the town.

Chernobyl Chornobyl Monument Ghost Town Contaminated Cold War Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Exclusion Zone Pripyat

The town was also an administrative center, with an unmissable KGB building, a justice court, a big communication center and many services for the local population.

Following the accident, the population decreased again to some hundreds, as the town is since then basically in the geographical center of the exclusion zone, albeit being by a small distance out of the inner ‘high-contamination’ sector. According to the rules of the exclusion zone, residents are not allowed to spend all the time there, so there is basically no permanent population.

Today, Chernobyl town may be not the most interesting center in the zone for tourists and explorers, but it is still one of the most active administrative and logistic centers in the cordoned area. It is located on the only major road serving the exclusion zone, going from the southern access point of Dytyatky to the power-plant and Pripyat. It is likely in this ill-famed village that you are going to spend the night, if you are on a multi-day trip!

Chernobyl Chornobyl Monument Ghost Town Contaminated Cold War Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Exclusion Zone Pripyat

Despite being there for the night, on our visit we could not tour the town extensively – there is a curfew at night, plus you are not allowed to move away from the hotel without a guide, who will likely leave you at the hotel to pick you up the next morning. Here are a few pics of the hotel ’10’ (this is the name of the hotel, probably linked to its address…).

Food Visit Canteen Hotel 10 Ten Cold War Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Exclusion Zone Pripyat

One of the highlight of the tour was the visit to the memorial to the victims of the accident, including the deported populations of the villages in the zone. This monument features the names of all the many villages forcibly evacuated following the accident. As said, many of these villages dated from much earlier ages, so people living there for generations were forced to pack up and move away – all of the sudden and forever.

Chernobyl Chornobyl Monument Ghost Town Contaminated Cold War Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Exclusion Zone Pripyat

The names are reported on entrance signs aligned along an alley climbing uphill. On top of the hill, a concrete platform reproduces the profile of the exclusion zone, distinguishing between the innermost and outer parts. Each village is represented here by a metal stud planted in this kind of map. Finally, a modern statue of an angel with a trumpet has been placed in a position overlooking the map.

Chernobyl Chornobyl Monument Ghost Town Contaminated Cold War Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Exclusion Zone Pripyat

The angel is there for a precise reason. As a matter of fact, the name ‘Chernobyl’ in the local idiom corresponds to ‘Wormwood’. From the Book of Revelation, one of the angels of the Apocalypse let a star fall upon the Earth, causing the extinction of a portion of mankind. The name of the star was – guess – ‘Wormwood’! The cold weather, the fading evening light, the dark silhouette of the angel and the ghost appearance of the nearby housing created an ideal setting for listening to this story from our guide – you too would have been deeply impressed!

Not far from the monument, you can find the local courthouse, where the technicians found responsible for the disaster were trialed. Just cross the road from that building, you can find a statue of Lenin, and close by a big communication center from soviet times, still featuring its huge metal antenna.

Chernobyl Chornobyl Monument Ghost Town Contaminated Cold War Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Exclusion Zone Pripyat

Cooling Towers of the Nuclear Power-Plant

Moving north from Chernobyl town, you soon get into the innermost part of the zone, centered around the former nuclear power-plant. You realize you are getting closer as you start seeing a huge funnel emerging from the top of the trees in the distance.

Road Contaminated Cold War Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Exclusion Zone Pripyat

Reactor Funnel Contaminated Cold War Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Exclusion Zone Pripyat

This funnel is one of a couple, and they were never finished. This is actually one of the parts of the power-plant which is easier to visit. Access is cross an artificial channel for the cooling of the plant. You will need to walk along a modern and active railway track, leading to the power-plant some miles further. It is only when you are close to the funnels that you realize how monster-size they are. One of the funnels is largely unfinished, whereas the second one is much higher, and close to completion. We also accessed the latter.

Reactor Funnel Contaminated Cold War Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Exclusion Zone Pripyat

For me, this was the first time ever I walked close to such a plant, and the appearance – a mix of its actual size and shape – made this item really impressive! Furthermore, it may look surprising but the walls of the funnels are suspended on a tubular structure all around the base, so that the walls are not planted in the ground. This is in accordance with the working principle of the funnel, which is basically a heat exchanging surface. The wind blowing through the tubular structure at the base increases air circulation.

Reactor Funnel Contaminated Cold War Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Exclusion Zone Pripyat

Walking past the concrete tubes supporting the funnel, you can even better appreciate its size.

The inner surface of the funnel should have been covered with heat-exchangers. As a matter of fact, at the time of the accident work on this highly contaminated part of the plant was immediately suspended, and never resumed. Only a little part of the heat-exchangers is in place – the scaffolds for masons and plumbers working at the construction of the funnel and of the exchangers are still in place close to the top rim!

Reactor Funnel Contaminated Cold War Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Exclusion Zone Pripyat

An oversized pipe emerges from the ground inside the funnel, likely the primary duct of hot cooling water coming from the plant. It is surrounded by a complex concrete structure. An artistic mural from a famous photograph, portraying a doctor assisting the victims of the nuclear emergency, has been authorized on the base of this concrete structure.

Reactor Funnel Contaminated Cold War Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Exclusion Zone Pripyat

A particular making this part of the visit especially disturbing is that this is one of the radiation hot-spots of the exclusion zone! The guide will let you go in for a limited time, while waiting for you at a distance – going there more frequently, it would turn dangerous for him on the long run. Your guide’s Geiger counter will emit a worrying whistle close to the funnel, which despite other visited places in the zone, was never seriously decontaminated. On top of the cake, the ground at the center of the funnel is covered in moss, reportedly a natural collector of radiation contaminated powder! Our guide recommended not to step over moss, something we took very seriously – as you see, there are no pictures from the center of the funnel…

The freezing wind blowing through the slot at the base made the visit of the funnel particularly uncomfortable – where in most places of the zone we would have liked to stay days instead of hours, here we were glad our guide gave us only ten minutes!

Nuclear Power-Plant

The centerpiece of the exclusion zone is clearly the plant, officially named after Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, but known to the general public through the name of the ancient village nearby – Chernobyl.

Construction of the plant was started in 1970, and the first reactor (N.1) was commissioned in 1977, followed by N.2 in 1978. A second couple of a slightly modified model were commissioned in 1981 (N.3) and 1983 (N.4) respectively. The latter – the youngest – was the one that failed on April 26th, 1986.

The four running reactors at the time of the accident constituted the first unit of the overall design for the power-plant. They physically shared room in a single, enormously long building, where they were arranged in a row, with N.4 at the western end.

The catastrophic failure of N.4 did not mean the immediate cease of operations for the power-plant, as the other reactors went on producing power until they were gradually deactivated (N.2 in 1991, N.1 in 1996 and finally N.3 in 2000). Following the 1986 accident, N.4 was encapsulated by the Soviets in an emergency containment structure, which despite generally doing its job was affected by significant leaking problems. Only in 2016-17 the so-called ‘New Safe Containment’, a huge hangar-like structure capable of more effectively containing radiation, was placed over N.4, immediately showing its effectiveness through a stark reduction of the measured emission, now at much more acceptable levels even in the close vicinity of the plant.

The size of the building can be better appreciated from the distance.

Road Contaminated Cold War Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Exclusion Zone Pripyat

Contaminated Power Plant View Monument Cold War Chernobyl Nuclear Plant Exclusion Zone Pripyat

Reactors N.1 and N.2 can be spotted beneath the cubic domes to the end of the building opposite to the New Safe Containment.

Contaminated Power Plant View Monument Cold War Chernobyl Nuclear Plant Exclusion Zone Pripyat

Close by the plant, a large node of the Ukrainian distribution grid, with cables, capacitors and connectors, is still active today.

Contaminated Power Plant View Monument Cold War Chernobyl Nuclear Plant Exclusion Zone Pripyat

Road Contaminated Cold War Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Exclusion Zone Pripyat

For some reason, the plant cannot be photographed – there are clear signs all around its perimeter. This may be due to the fact this is still an active plant – the power-plant is off, but decommissioning activities are making this area one of the busiest and ‘lively’ in the exclusion zone. There is only one position where you can take a picture, and which is actually very close to the place of the disaster. This observation point is close to the containment structure of reactor N.4, where you can find also a monument to the heroes of the accident.

Contaminated Power Plant View Monument Cold War Chernobyl Nuclear Plant Exclusion Zone Pripyat

From here you can appreciate the top-ranking size of this structure. Besides the immense financial cost, this item will need replacement in less than a century, due to natural loss of its containment function.

As said, this first block of four reactors was just part of the intended design. A second block of two further reactors (N.5 & 6) was already under construction at the time of the accident. This was cross an artificial channel, and closer to the cooling funnels portrayed above. Similar to the funnels, construction work on the new reactors ended abruptly on the very day of the accident.

Today, you can spot the concrete casing of N.5 & 6, with many cranes and scaffolds still suspended around, just like construction of the new building was still going on! A rather strange sight…

Contaminated Power Plant View Monument Cold War Chernobyl Nuclear Plant Exclusion Zone Pripyat

Road Contaminated Cold War Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Exclusion Zone Pripyat

Further six reactors had been envisaged on the drawing board, but they never materialized.

Kopachi Village Kindergarten

Less than two miles south of the funnels, deep into the ‘highly-contaminated’ sector, you meet what remains of the former village of Kopachi, one of the many pre-existent settlements totally abandoned due to the accident. Kopachi used to be a village of wooden houses. Wooden houses close to the plant had adsorbed much radioactive powder soon after the accident. With the passing of time, the naturally disintegrating wood had started to spread radiation in the air, so the administration of the exclusion zone had the village literally wiped out and buried. Only a few non-wooden buildings are still standing.

Among them is listed most notably a kindergarten. Despite being close to the main road and much visited, this place is rather eerie. Despite the relatively high level of radiation especially close to the ground, you can get access for a few minutes.

Contaminated Kindergarten Monument Cold War Chernobyl Nuclear Plant Exclusion Zone Pripyat

Inside the classrooms, music sheets, dolls and children’s toys can be seen everywhere. Hangers with funny symbols for the children’s small coats make for a disturbing sight, similar to the sleeping room with small beds aligned in rows, and even some blanket still there. There is also a ‘Menu’ board still hanging on the wall…

Contaminated Kindergarten Monument Cold War Chernobyl Nuclear Plant Exclusion Zone Pripyat

Ahead of the kindergarten, a Soviet war memorial has been inherited by the Ukrainian government, and adorned with the national blue and yellow flag.

Contaminated Kindergarten Monument Cold War Chernobyl Nuclear Plant Exclusion Zone Pripyat

Zalissya Village

The abandoned village of Zalissya is located about 1.5 miles southwest of Chernobyl town, and is conveniently reachable along the main road from there to the Dytyatky entry point.

Likely dating from the years of the Tzar, this village is a prototypical example of a rural settlement in pre-Soviet and early-Soviet times. The only noticeable construction from the main road is a Soviet war memorial, pretty plain in design, yet not small.

Chernobyl Chornobyl Monument Ghost Town Contaminated Cold War Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Exclusion Zone Pripyat

Zalissya Abandoned Village Town Contaminated Cold War Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Exclusion Zone Pripyat

To the left side of the monument you can take an unpaved alley leading into the trees. You soon meet an array of small buildings, once hosting public services – a post office, a market. Soon after, you come across the most conspicuous of the buildings in the village – a meeting hall. This is rather disproportionate to the size of the private houses you will see later. The front facade of the building carries a huge communist emblem, and the construction year, 1959.

Zalissya Abandoned Village Town Contaminated Cold War Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Exclusion Zone Pripyat

Similar meeting halls were not uncommon in Soviet villages, and were intended for meetings of cultural-political kind, where local people got brainwashed by communist politicians. There are at least three adjoining halls in the building. The larger of the three features a stage with a soviet slogan still hanging from the ceiling!

Zalissya Abandoned Village Town Contaminated Cold War Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Exclusion Zone Pripyat

The decor of the halls is in stark contrast to the simple make of the houses nearby. As you proceed further into the trees, you finally find the village of Zalissya – a group of old wooden chalets. Similar – maybe more – than in Pripyat, you find much hardware left behind by the evacuated population – bottles, pans, pots, cans, baskets, cutlery, clothes, candles, toys,…

Zalissya Abandoned Village Town Contaminated Cold War Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Exclusion Zone Pripyat

Among the strange items to be found here, you will see an abandoned car – cars were left behind during the evacuation, which was carried out by public transport. As a result, the personnel in charge of the decontamination and survey operations after the accident had at their disposal plenty of abandoned cars! When one broke, it was simply left for another, and used for spare parts. This apparently was the fate of the one you see here…

Zalissya Abandoned Village Town Contaminated Cold War Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Exclusion Zone Pripyat

Accessing the houses maybe tricky, as some are badly damaged due to the years spent in disrepair. Nonetheless, this village provokes an incredible time-capsule effect, offering a hands-on glimpse into the everyday life of common soviet people from a rural setting in the years of the Cold War!

Isolated School & Kindergarten

As previously said, the exclusion zone features a quantity of larger and smaller villages. All of them have been abandoned, and some, originally close to the roads once forming a network in the countryside, are today hard to reach except with a walk in the trees – they are not accessible by car.

An inconvenient location has spared some of the spots in the exclusion zone from being battered by day-trippers. You can reach them only with a guide. As a result, these places are especially exciting to visit, as they feature an intense ghost aura – just like inhabitants had just left!

Over our trip, we visited one such village, and in particular we were directed by our guide to spend some time in the school and kindergarten, put on the side of a former small sporting ground, now invaded by vegetation. The evening light and the loneliness played a part in making this one of the eeriest parts of the overall visit to the exclusion zone!

Isolated School Kindergarten Abandoned Cold War Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Exclusion Zone Pripyat

Starting from the school, by the entrance hall you soon meet tons of posters and notice-boards, with quotes from Lenin speeches, flags and emblems.

Isolated School Kindergarten Abandoned Cold War Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Exclusion Zone Pripyat

Adjacent to the hall are two smaller rooms, with literally thousands of letters, copybooks, books, boards, postcards,… most of them hand written! You could easily spend one day taking an inventory of what is in there!

Isolated School Kindergarten Abandoned Cold War Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Exclusion Zone Pripyat

The long building features only one floor, and the classrooms are organized mostly based on themes like geography, biology, language, physics,…

Isolated School Kindergarten Abandoned Cold War Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Exclusion Zone Pripyat

Especially interesting is the language classroom. Most apparently, they used to teach English there! Considering the very low penetration of English in today’s ex-USSR countries – except maybe in the most touristic towns – and the fact that this was the language of the ‘western enemies’, it is surprising to find this level of commitment in teaching this idiom, especially in this small peripheral school.

Isolated School Kindergarten Abandoned Cold War Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Exclusion Zone Pripyat

A very intriguing lab is that devoted to chemistry and biology. Here you can find models of molecules, microscope specimens, collections of plants and seeds, minerals, etc. The silence, the evening light filtering through the windows on a cold autumn day completed the picture at the time of our visit..

Isolated School Kindergarten Abandoned Cold War Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Exclusion Zone Pripyat

Similarly interesting are the geography classroom, stacked with boards, similar to the main corridor of the building.

Isolated School Kindergarten Abandoned Cold War Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Exclusion Zone Pripyat

To the far end of the school, you can find what appears to be a kind of ‘propaganda lab’ – a relatively large room with tons of purely-Soviet items – history books, portraits of heroes, bombastic propaganda posters, and so on. It is apparent that teachers started pouring in some ideas in the minds of soviet children already from an early age…

Isolated School Kindergarten Abandoned Cold War Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Exclusion Zone Pripyat

Close by, the physics lab makes for another interesting sight, with kinematics and thermodynamics small-scale experiments bolted to the desks.

Isolated School Kindergarten Abandoned Cold War Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Exclusion Zone Pripyat

Compared to the school, the kindergarten is somewhat more morbid.

Isolated School Kindergarten Abandoned Cold War Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Exclusion Zone Pripyat

Puppets, toy trucks, dolls and even baby-size slippers make for a few sights that speak by themselves.

Isolated School Kindergarten Abandoned Cold War Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Exclusion Zone Pripyat

Children’s Camp ‘Emerald’

Not far north of Chernobyl town and close to the main road going to the plant, you can find another unique sight – a summer camp made for children from the large area around Chernobyl, before the nuclear disaster changed everything forever.

The location is not far from river Pripyat. It is today immersed in a tall forest, which makes contributes to the dim and shady aura of this place. Of course, some trees used to be there also before the accident, but today some have grown also in unusual places. The summer camp is made of pretty log cabins, placed on the side of a hill, gently descending towards the river. Nice place, except for a nuclear plant a few miles apart.

Abandoned Ghost Summer Camp Cold War Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Exclusion Zone Pripyat

The cabins are basic and today generally empty, but they feature original wall paintings with animals and some popular characters from fairy tales.

Abandoned Ghost Summer Camp Cold War Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Exclusion Zone Pripyat

In between some of the cabins, grouped in small clusters, you can find a playground, as well as some notice-boards and water fountains.

Abandoned Ghost Summer Camp Cold War Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Exclusion Zone Pripyat

There are also some service buildings – a small market and an administration cabin.

Abandoned Ghost Summer Camp Cold War Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Exclusion Zone Pripyat

Abandoned Barges on Pripyat River

The famous ghost town of Pripyat took its name from a nice river, a tributary of the majestic Dnepr, which flows from Russia all across Ukraine (via Kiev) and to the Black Sea. The Pripyat river features a meandering path, and thanks to its slow stream, it is ideal for water transportation of people and goods. As a matter of fact, hydrofoils were used by the locals for commuting before the accident, and barges were used for supplies of any kind, both for the local companies and people. Hydrofoils were especially characteristic of the area – you can find an image of a hydrofoil in the welcome sign entering Chernobyl town (see above).

Following the accident to the power-plant, most barges in the vicinity were contaminated, and also lost any use due to the escape of the population from the badly contaminated area. As a result, most of these ships turned into floating wrecks, slowly descending downstream and finally stranding somewhere on the banks of the river and its smaller tributaries.

A concentration of these relics can be found very close to Chernobyl town, descending to the bank of a receptacle of river Pripyat from the town.

Drifting Barges Stranded Boats Cold War Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Exclusion Zone Pripyat

The rusty, partly sunken barges make for a rather dramatic sight. The evening light of a freezing late-November day made this visit even more impressive.

Drifting Barges Stranded Boats Cold War Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Exclusion Zone Pripyat

Visiting

The sites you see portrayed in this and other chapters (see here) were visited on a personalized two-days photographic tour to the Chernobyl exclusion zone with a guide. To make the most of your time in the zone, and especially if you are looking for good photo sets (including the correct timing over the day accounting for sunlight), I suggest considering this type of tour instead of more common and cheaper day-trips from Kiev. The exclusion zone is simply too extensive and rich of photo opportunities for a one-day visit, plus some places might get (somewhat surprisingly) very crowded at some point during the day, spoiling most scenes of their mystery aura.

We visited in a party of two, with the very competent guide Mikhailo Teslenko. Find in this dedicated section from another post rather complete indications for a visit, and the link to Mr. Teslenko’s website here.

Chernobyl Exclusion Zone – First Chapter: Duga Radar and Military Village

February 1, 2020March 7, 2020 CarloRLeave a comment

Especially after the acclaimed HBO series of 2019, the events of the Chernobyl accident, as well as the drama of the local population and emergency staff, are at least basically known to the general public.

Since the nuclear disaster, a large area, comparing well in size with Greater London (but somewhat larger), has been severed from the rest of the world by means of a security cordon, forming the so-called ‘exclusion zone’, on the border between Ukraine and Belarus.

Access to the zone is strictly regulated. You have to carry a radiation dosimeter. Nobody can spend more than some days in a month in it, and no more than four days in a row. Some areas should not be accessed at all, and inside the exclusion zone are two sub-regions, an outer one where also Chernobyl town is, and an inner one, more severely contaminated. The latter is closer around the power-plant, and includes world-famous Pripyat – the mother of all ghost towns. To access this inner zone you are checked further, and stricter permanence restrictions apply.

Despite that, and the obvious – but not so dramatic – unhealthiness of the area, there are many businesses still going on, mainly around the power-plant – decommissioning the whole plant and monitoring the ill-fated reactor 4 is still producing a constant flow of work man-hours – but also in the agencies devoted to studying and monitoring the natural reaction to a never otherwise reached level of scattered radiation. As a matter of fact, huge parts in and around the exclusion zone have been turned into a special natural preserve. There are also services in several centers scattered over the zone, like canteens, hotels, transport companies, ranger stations, etc.

Not least, the Ukrainian Government is somewhat promoting visits to the area by the general public, and following the 30 years anniversary of the accident in 2016, touristic flows have literally exploded, with tens of thousands visitors per year. Clearly, you are not allowed to enter or move around on your own. There are two basic philosophies for visiting.

For those who just like the thrill of being in a contaminated place, an eerie ghost town or in proximity to a damaged nuclear plant for a while, there are quite a few options to get to the zone from Kiev on a one-day guided trip. You won’t see much more than the very basic highlights of the show, but you will be entitled to say ‘I’ve been there’. For those with an interest in taking great pictures, urban explorers, Soviet fans (?) or people with an interest in the history of the accident, private custom-designed multiple-day tours are available, managed by competent authorized guides. Considering the size of the exclusion zone, it is going to be a rush anyway, and you will leave with the sensation of having missed at least as much as what you have seen, but you will definitely see more than on a one-day trip, and not only the most obvious highlights. This was my option when I visited in November 2019 (more practical info at the end of the chapter – scroll down for this), and photographs in this post and related posts on this site (see here for chapter two) cover this incredible experience.

Soviet Over-the-Horizon Anti-ICBM Early Warning System ‘Duga’

Among the highlights most typically overlooked on a short visit to the zone is a one-of-a-kind relic of the Cold War. The Soviet early-warning radar Duga-3, aka ‘the Russian Woodpecker’ (or the ‘Steel Works’ or ‘Steel Yards’ to Western intelligence), started the testing phase in 1976, well into the electronic age. This system was intended to counteract the American intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) threat, by detecting a single or more missiles soon after launch from the continental US. This implied detection beyond the line of the horizon, hence the name of this class of defense system – OTH, ‘over the horizon’ back-scatter radar. The physical effect exploited by this device was an alteration of the ionosphere by missile exhaust plumes, studied since the late 1940s, and such to be detectable by the back scatter of a purpose-designed radar beam.

The radar was made of a couple of two gigantic receiver antennas, one a little bigger than the other, and of a set of emitters. The couple of receivers make for a staggering total length of about 2’200 ft! The two antennas worked on two different frequency ranges. The bigger one was the low-frequency antenna, about 450 ft tall, whereas the smaller high frequency one was ‘only’ about 270 ft tall! As a matter of fact, they can be spotted from quite a distance, for example from the taller buildings of Pripyat.

The receivers were built about 7 miles in a straight line northwest of Chernobyl town – and they found themselves about the same distance southwest of the power-plant, today in the inner, highly contaminated circle within the exclusion zone. A segregated residential area for military technical staff and their families, known as Chernobyl-2, was built nearby. A large and sophisticated control center, as well as a training academy for the technical staff, was installed on site too.

The emitter antenna was located some tens of miles to the northeast of the receiver, closer to the village of Rozsudiv (aka Rasudovo), out of the exclusion zone. Nothing of the original antenna remains there today.

Building this radar system close to a Gigawatt-size nuclear power-plant might have been done in purpose, for the system needed an outraging electric power supply to work (in the order of some tens of Megawatts). By the way, the system reportedly cost to the USSR about twice the money needed for building the nuclear power-plant…

Historical Overview

The Duga system was built in only two operational examples. A set of smaller-scale prototype installations had been originally completed as Duga-N and Duga-2, both located in the village of Kalynivka, near Mykolaiv (aka Nikolayev), southern Ukraine. These systems were successfully tested in the early 1970s, detecting simultaneous launches of four missiles from Baikonur, some 1’600 miles away. As a result of the success, it was decided to deploy two full-scale Duga-3 installations, capable of covering the North American sector. The two selected locations were Chernobyl, Ukraine, and Bolshaya Kartel, in the easternmost part of Russia. As said, these were completed around 1976.

In the event, the whole OTH detection system never went fully operative. Major technical issues related to the instability of the ionosphere in the polar region – an effect that inland-looking testing with the experimental small-scale Duga systems had not highlighted – made the north-pointed Duga-3 largely unreliable. The Soviets military finally accepted the Bolshaya Kartel installation in 1980, whereas testing went on for years in the Chernobyl installation, until it was hastily shut off following the power-plant accident in 1986. Parts of the Chernobyl system were transferred to the twin site in Bolshaya Kartel. The latter ceased operations in 1989, even before the end of the USSR, without having been fully commissioned ever.

The contamination of the plant in Chernobyl-2 made its disassembly economically disadvantageous. As a result, this humongous witness of the Cold War is still standing today, notably the last of the group of OTH early warning radars deployed by the USSR in the years of the confrontation with the West, now totally or partly demolished – for sure, this is the only surviving ‘Steel Works’ antenna.

Navigate this post – Click on links to scroll

Access and Radar Antennas
Control Center and Technical Buildings
Training Center
Chernobyl-2 – Firefighters Station and Village
Chernobyl-2 – School
Chernobyl-2 – Entertainment Center
Visiting

Sights

Similar to all villages in the Chernobyl exclusion zone, the military town of Chernobyl-2 was evacuated and abandoned following the nuclear accident in 1986. It had been built anew for the 1’500 staff of the Duga classified radar station and their families, and as such it was a segregated, secret military town, sufficiently small and far from larger Chernobyl and Pripyat to attract little attention. The local firefighters station was reportedly the only one from the area not taking part in the emergency operations connected with the 1986 accident – it had to devote itself completely to the local military installation and village. This illustrates how serious the concepts of ‘secret’ and ‘segregated’ were for the Soviet military staff!

There are three main focuses in the exploration of this site – the monster antennas, the radar control center & training academy, and the Chernobyl-2 village. In my view, the mixture of a secret Cold War military past, unique Star-Wars-like vintage hi-tech, a history of forced abandonment and nuclear contamination, together with the general ‘something wrong’ atmosphere of the exclusion zone, makes this area one of the most intriguing on the ‘Chernobyl-menu’ of weird sights!

Access and Radar Antennas

You get access to the area after leaving the main road connecting Chernobyl town to the power-plant soon after the inner-zone checkpoint. You drive some miles deep in the trees along a typical Soviet military road, made of prefabricated concrete slabs. The evergreen trees effectively hide the giant antennas, which you spot only when basically at a walking distance from the target.

Radar Duga Woodpecker Early Warning Soviet Military Red Army Cold War Chernobyl Nuclear Plant Exclusion Zone Pripyat

You may stop immediately ahead of the original fence of the segregated area – the gate still bolsters the Red Star Soviet military markings! A likely apocryphal huge head of Lenin has been placed besides the entrance. From there on, you must go by foot. By the way, there are a few guards living (at least on shifts, in accordance with contamination limiting regulations) in the original checkpoint by the gate!

Radar Duga Woodpecker Early Warning Soviet Military Red Army Cold War Chernobyl Nuclear Plant Exclusion Zone Pripyat

Walking to the bigger low-frequency antenna – the taller one, located closer to the site entrance – you pass by a nice Soviet military-themed mural.

Radar Duga Woodpecker Early Warning Soviet Military Red Army Cold War Chernobyl Nuclear Plant Exclusion Zone Pripyat

Walking closer to the antenna, and going past an abandoned inner control booth, you start to realize the abnormal size of this item – as well as its rather complicated make.

Radar Duga Woodpecker Early Warning Soviet Military Red Army Cold War Chernobyl Nuclear Plant Exclusion Zone Pripyat

The overall shape is roughly rectangular. To the far ends you can find two pylons, as tall as the central part of the antenna, and holding an array of horizontal cables.

Radar Duga Woodpecker Early Warning Soviet Military Red Army Cold War Chernobyl Nuclear Plant Exclusion Zone Pripyat

The most visible part of the antenna is composed of an incredible tubular structure, apparently made of several pod-like substructures. Seen together in the pics, these pods may deceive their actual size – their diameter compares to the height of an adult man!

Radar Duga Woodpecker Early Warning Soviet Military Red Army Cold War Chernobyl Nuclear Plant Exclusion Zone Pripyat

The pods are connected by cables and pipes. The arrangement make for impressive pattern geometries – almost a nice design object!

Radar Duga Woodpecker Early Warning Soviet Military Red Army Cold War Chernobyl Nuclear Plant Exclusion Zone Pripyat

Walking along the base of this thing, you will notice it changes shape depending on your point of view. Taking the whole larger antenna in a single photo frame is not an easy task, even with a wide lens – it is really big!

Radar Duga Woodpecker Early Warning Soviet Military Red Army Cold War Chernobyl Nuclear Plant Exclusion Zone Pripyat

Right besides the taller and longer low-frequency antenna, you find another cable-holding pylon, as well as the ‘smaller twin’, i.e. the high-frequency antenna.

Radar Duga Woodpecker Early Warning Soviet Military Red Army Cold War Chernobyl Nuclear Plant Exclusion Zone Pripyat

Our visit was rather early in the morning of a very cold late November day, and the sight of this monster antennas was made even weirder by the unreal silence of the area, broken only by the low metallic clacking sound of this mega-structure, dilating after catching the first beams of the morning light… Visiting later in the day would have not been the same – when we left, some other small groups of visitors could be seen around, somewhat breaking the mystery atmosphere.

Past the antenna, you find a concrete technical building running all along it, with a very long corridor.

Radar Duga Woodpecker Early Warning Soviet Military Red Army Cold War Chernobyl Nuclear Plant Exclusion Zone Pripyat

Control Center and Technical Buildings

The major building in the technical area to the back of the antenna hosts the radar operation and control center. Originally, this sheltered arrays of signal-conditioning electronics, computers and related technical stuff, as well as control rooms much similar to NASA space mission control centers you can see in Houston, TX or Cape Canaveral, FL.

Accessing the building, you will be overwhelmed by the number of photo opportunities. A pinnacle for Soviet vintage fanatics is a couple of fine murals – despite most of Soviet military-related artistic works are really naive, there exist exceptions, and these two murals are among them. One of the paintings is fancy-space themed, whereas the other is science-themed.

Radar Duga Woodpecker Early Warning Soviet Military Red Army Cold War Chernobyl Nuclear Plant Exclusion Zone Pripyat

A highlight is of course the huge control room. Original control stations for the subsystems can still be seen, with plenty of vintage cathode tubes. The main report panel, once occupying the entire end wall of the room, has been largely dismantled, but traces of electronics can clearly be seen.

Radar Duga Woodpecker Early Warning Soviet Military Red Army Cold War Chernobyl Nuclear Plant Exclusion Zone Pripyat

In the same building, you can find dark rooms with arrays of cabinets once holding electronic boards or electric material.

Radar Duga Woodpecker Early Warning Soviet Military Red Army Cold War Chernobyl Nuclear Plant Exclusion Zone Pripyat

Another highlight is a kind of propaganda room – not uncommon in Soviet military towns, see this post. Here you can find quotes of Lenin, articles from the Soviet law, as well as photographs and descriptions of US and NATO military assets. A stained glass board portrays the might of the Red Army, whereas another poster denigrates the ‘Yankees’…

Radar Duga Woodpecker Early Warning Soviet Military Red Army Cold War Chernobyl Nuclear Plant Exclusion Zone Pripyat

From the top of the control building, you can enjoy a nice mid-height view of the antennas.

Radar Duga Woodpecker Early Warning Soviet Military Red Army Cold War Chernobyl Nuclear Plant Exclusion Zone Pripyat

Back inside, you find another interesting room, with a scale model of the Darth, the Duga radar system and its function. In the same room you can find many control panels. Also interesting are the decorated glass windows, with military-themed stained glasses.

Radar Duga Woodpecker Early Warning Soviet Military Red Army Cold War Chernobyl Nuclear Plant Exclusion Zone Pripyat

Training Center

Walking back to where you had started your exploration of the antennas, you find a flat building, originally hosting a training center for the technical staff operating the Duga. A training room is a major highlight of the show. Here you can find descriptions of the working principles of the OTH antennas, as well as a sample list of the US/NATO strategic missile and anti-missile assets! This is really interesting, also because portraits are made by hand and complemented by basic technical data.

Radar Duga Woodpecker Early Warning Soviet Military Red Army Cold War Chernobyl Nuclear Plant Exclusion Zone Pripyat

There are also technical schemes, and some further purely decorative portraits in naive style.

Radar Duga Woodpecker Early Warning Soviet Military Red Army Cold War Chernobyl Nuclear Plant Exclusion Zone Pripyat

Military buffs – like myself – would easily loose track of time in this ‘didactic area’! Among the interesting things carelessly left on ground, tons of original Soviet radio and signal conditioning material!

Radar Duga Woodpecker Early Warning Soviet Military Red Army Cold War Chernobyl Nuclear Plant Exclusion Zone Pripyat

Chernobyl-2 – Firefighters Station and Village

Leaving the innermost technical area, you may then walk to Chernobyl-2, the segregated military village. A rather interesting place here is the firefighters station. Very well preserved, you can find in it an incredible scale model of the Duga and of the village, i.e. the area in the range covered by this station. In the same room, you can find tons of technical posters, and a nice epic mural dedicated to firefighters.

Radar Duga Woodpecker Early Warning Soviet Military Red Army Cold War Chernobyl Nuclear Plant Exclusion Zone Pripyat

Chernobyl-2 is a ghost town in its own respect. Made of large prefabricated blocks, it is not even one-tenth of Pripyat in size, but it resembles similar military towns in former Soviet-occupied areas of Europe (see for instance this post). Not much visited and very quiet, it makes for a really mysterious sight.

Radar Duga Woodpecker Early Warning Soviet Military Red Army Cold War Chernobyl Nuclear Plant Exclusion Zone Pripyat

Moving around the deserted blocks, you come across a small playground – basically intact, as if children had left the day before, a really impressive time-capsule effect!

Radar Duga Woodpecker Early Warning Soviet Military Red Army Cold War Chernobyl Nuclear Plant Exclusion Zone Pripyat

Chernobyl-2 – School

But the time-machine effect reaches its top in a visit of the local school. Similar to other schools in villages of the exclusion zone, this is really in good shape, and offers tons of interesting sights for explorers. In the music room you can see portraits of Russian and European composers – strangely enough, including Stravinsky and Rachmaninoff, which left the USSR for the West… – a vertical piano, and tons of didactic stuff in the cabinets.

Radar Duga Woodpecker Early Warning Soviet Military Red Army Cold War Chernobyl Nuclear Plant Exclusion Zone Pripyat

A very Soviet room features a kind of celebration of youth service.

Radar Duga Woodpecker Early Warning Soviet Military Red Army Cold War Chernobyl Nuclear Plant Exclusion Zone Pripyat

There is also a math/science room, with books, models, portraits.

Radar Duga Woodpecker Early Warning Soviet Military Red Army Cold War Chernobyl Nuclear Plant Exclusion Zone Pripyat

Most surprisingly to Westerners, you can find a language teaching room, where apparently English was taught. Considering the limited penetration of English in today’s Russia, and the fact that this was the language of enemy propaganda from the Soviet standpoint, this room makes for a rather puzzling sight!

Radar Duga Woodpecker Early Warning Soviet Military Red Army Cold War Chernobyl Nuclear Plant Exclusion Zone Pripyat

Other rooms include a biology lab – with some botanical specimens still in place! – and much more.

Radar Duga Woodpecker Early Warning Soviet Military Red Army Cold War Chernobyl Nuclear Plant Exclusion Zone Pripyat

There is also the unmissable school gym, rather well preserved.

Radar Duga Woodpecker Early Warning Soviet Military Red Army Cold War Chernobyl Nuclear Plant Exclusion Zone Pripyat

Chernobyl-2 – Entertainment Center

A final highlight of the village of Chernobyl-2 is the entertainment center. This offered a theater and a large gym, together in the same building. Both are still in a relatively good shape. A nostalgic quote on a red banner is still hanging from the ceiling in the large theater.

Radar Duga Woodpecker Early Warning Soviet Military Red Army Cold War Chernobyl Nuclear Plant Exclusion Zone Pripyat

The gym is decorated with naive sport-themed paintings, as well as Russian bears on stained glasses.

Radar Duga Woodpecker Early Warning Soviet Military Red Army Cold War Chernobyl Nuclear Plant Exclusion Zone Pripyat

Going back to the entrance, you meet more service buildings, which have been converted to deposits of scrap material.

Radar Duga Woodpecker Early Warning Soviet Military Red Army Cold War Chernobyl Nuclear Plant Exclusion Zone Pripyat

All in all, the Duga radar and Chernobyl-2 military village are for sure an unmissable sight for technically-minded people and Cold War historians!

Visiting

As said in the introduction, this site is often overlooked on one-day trips. However, if you are interested in something more than just being in the exclusion zone, and especially if you want to take good pictures, you will definitely need to take a longer tour. The Duga radar and annexed village are often a part of multiple-day tours.

Depending on the type of tour, you may customize the experience, and ask for a bit longer time here. If you are a technically-minded person, a Cold War historian, or interested in military history, this is among the most most interesting sites you will find in the exclusion zone – and by chance, in the world, since the majority of the BMEW (ballistic missiles early warning) system of the USSR have been demolished today (see for instance Skrunda, Latvia, in this post).

Personally I chose to take a private custom two-days tour to the zone in a party of two (me and a friend of mine, plus the guide). We spent a full morning in the area of the Duga. For serious explorers, I totally suggest to choose at least this option, or better a longer tour, as so long a stay in the Duga (or other similarly interesting) area, while still barely sufficient to satisfy your appetite, is simply not possible on a short and pre-programmed 1-day trip.

General Data and Advice for a Trip to the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone

Type of Trip

You can see this advice in any serious travel account from Chernobyl area, and I can confirm it – just forget to see everything on a single (even multi-day) trip to the exclusion zone, it is simply too extensive and dense of interesting sights. Yet a private two-days tour is surely already ok for a satisfying photographic trip. Of course, personally I am planning to go back for checking out other places in the zone.

Generally speaking, my first two-days visiting experience was extremely positive, largely thanks to two factors – a great travel-mate, my friend Paolo, sharing my passions and most of my crazy exploration ideas, and a great guide, Misha, who owns and operates a guided tour service in Kiev, now totally dedicated to the exclusion zone. Together with Paolo we arranged this trip two and a half months in advance, with a focus on taking pics of some specific highlights of the exclusion zone. We agreed on a schedule with Misha before being there, specifying the Duga among the highlights. Misha totally understood the spirit of our visit, and drove us to unique places, including some not often included in most trips, concentrating on photo opportunities. He took extraordinary care of avoiding the crowds. We felt safe at every time, and I must say the organization of the visit prepared by our guide was virtually flawless – no wasted time, only interesting sights, millions of photo opportunities. The only thing I regret is not having had more time!

Albeit you will be driven in a comfortable sedan around the zone, be prepared to walk a lot and quick even on bad terrain – in many instances there is no way to avoid that. If you want to take good pictures inside, you will need to take a tripod and/or a powerful flash. On top of this, go there with a very good familiarity of your photographic gear. It is essential you can take pictures reasonably fast even with a tripod, or you will not be able to get much of your time in the zone. As I work with a massive Canon reflex camera, I have multiple lenses and gear. I suggest having them in pods around your belt, to be able to switch lenses fast. Let us add that in the freezing air of late November (about 14°F in sunlight during our stay), you will need warm clothes and suitable gloves to both protect your hands from cold air and allowing operation of your camera. So, it maybe obvious to professionals, but a trip to the exclusion zone should not be your first experience with urban exploration or with your camera either, otherwise you will get disappointed very easily.

Time of the Visit

Something you may not think necessary if this is your first time to the zone – arrange your schedule to take countermeasures against the crowds! Listen to your guide’s advice in this respect, and get prepared to start your day out early, have lunch late and finish at sunset, especially if you want to get good pictures without somebody in the frame. This may not be the case in less visited Chernobyl-2 and Duga area, but the central square of Pripyat may turn as busy as in its pre-1986 heyday around noon, with several tourist buses parked side by side, and flocks of 1-day visitors everywhere with their guides – ok, it is not like Venice in the summer, but enough to strip the place of its mysterious aura, and such to severely disturb many potential photographic sets. This was in late November, our guide reported in summer is by far worse.

The best time of the year for the climate is the mid-season. Summer can be very hot and humid, winter can be really cold (well below freezing). In the cold season, the trees hide the buildings to a less extend, and this may be and advantage for pictures. Abandoned places are often invaded by vegetation, to the point you get disoriented, and perspectives tend to be obstructed.

Radiation/Safety

Concerning the radiation/safety aspect, you can be sure you will not be driven by any guide in any dangerous places. Everybody is given a personal dosimeter when entering the zone. This item works in principle like a gas meter – its internal reading runs up every time you are exposed to radiation. The more intense the radiation, the faster it runs up. It will be checked by the local Authority when you leave, and based on the time frame of your stay, the final reading must stay under an assigned threshold. If it is over, your guide will be questioned. For this simple reason, guides are very careful and arrange the visit so that the total dose is below the threshold.

Food Visit Canteen Hotel 10 Ten Cold War Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Exclusion Zone Pripyat

Dress Code

I went with military surplus clothes and undergarments for thermal protection. The only item I did not take back home was a pair of boots, purchased from a made in China shop for 18 dollars just for this trip. As I had imagined, they got covered in dust, and considering their value, I elected not to risk carrying them home. By the law, you should not go around with exposed legs or arms, but visiting in winter will make this rule not difficult to comply with…

Souvenirs

As obvious, you will not be leaving with any unauthorized token, for two reasons – 1) you are checked in dedicated booths when leaving the zone or when accessing the canteen (there is only one central canteen for all tourists), hence if you have sources of radioactive emission with you, you will be stopped, and 2) you need to be a real idiot to dare to take away with you and installing at home something contaminated by radiation! Of course, you will be tempted, but of course you need to resist. This is what make the exclusion zone the world’s best time-capsule from the Soviet era – more than anywhere else, everything is, and is destined to remain, largely as it used to be in 1986.

There are of course souvenir shops, at the entrance of the exclusion zone – where you will stop anyway – in the canteen and in the hotel ’10’.

Canteen

Services include the central canteen and at least a hotel. The canteen is close to the power-plant, inside the highly contaminated area but far from hot-spots. It is modern, clean, and you are given good Ukrainian food. This was included in the guided tour, so I can’t say what instrument of payment they are accepting (cash, credit, …).

Food Visit Canteen Hotel 10 Ten Cold War Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Exclusion Zone Pripyat

Except for the canteen and hotel, we were shown a convenience shop in Chernobyl town, but of course you are not to find much in terms of food services around. You may better carry something with you from the ‘outside world’ (water, snacks,…) if needed.

Hotel

The hotel where we stayed is located in Chernobyl town, and is called ’10’ (‘Desyat’, meaning ‘ten’ in Russian). Facilities are totally ok. We got a twin room with shared toilet services (showers and service are separated from each other, very clean and ensuring privacy – totally ok, just not one for each room). The atmosphere is friendly despite not much English spoken, and they serve dinner and breakfast at pre-determined times with a fixed menu (tasty Ukrainian food), plus there is a bar service running all the evening. Free fully working WiFi. The hotel was reserved and payed for by the guide, we only paid for bar service (water, tea, beer, …).

Our guide left us there after dark, and picked us early the next morning.

Food Visit Canteen Hotel 10 Ten Cold War Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Exclusion Zone Pripyat

There is a curfew after dark, and you are locked in the building during the night – but you are never allowed to move around without a guide, so the only difference when the curfew is active is you can’t move around in the hotel parking… That said, the sight of Chernobyl at night would easily fit in a post-apocalyptic video-game or horror movie, especially in the cold season – silence, big dark Soviet-style apartment buildings with a couple of lighted windows, nobody around, a chilling wind and some dog barking in the distance… you will definitely better appreciate a cup of tea in the bar than being free to move around!

Food Visit Canteen Hotel 10 Ten Cold War Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Exclusion Zone Pripyat

Guided Tour Suggestion

From the website of our guide Mikhailo Teslenko you will get practical info for setting up your trip to the zone. I can definitely suggest to come in contact with this guide, who is always friendly and answers professionally, very fast and with detailed info.

Soviet and East German Relics North of Berlin

September 29, 2019June 28, 2023 CarloRLeave a comment

For the full span of the Cold War, the communist German Democratic Republic has been a highly militarized region.

Due to its position right on the European border between NATO countries and the USSR-led eastern bloc, this relatively small state was kept in high consideration by the Soviet military staff in Moscow. In the re-organization of Soviet forces following the end of the Great Patriotic War (i.e. WWII), of the four Soviet groups of forces stationed in all satellite countries outside the Soviet border, one was specifically named ‘Group of Soviet Forces in Germany’. This group was headquartered in Wünsdorf, the former location of the German OKW south of Berlin (see this post), and had under its command a force of some hundred thousands troops, divided in two tank armies, an entire air army, three mixed armies and a supplementary artillery division. Supplies were in no shortage either, with some tens of fully operational airbases/tank polygons, academies and housing for all the troops and respective families.

Despite the very significant Soviet presence, the GDR invested a huge capital of its own in the development of a full-scale military strength. The East-German National People’s Army (NVA) received top-tier technology from the USSR, and did of course manufacture military supply of all sorts. Sustaining this army, together with the enormous para-military organization of the internal Ministry of Security – the ill-famed STASI – and other governmental organizations, military expenses undoubtedly contributed to the economical crisis hitting the GDR in the 1980s, setting the scene for its final demise.

The region north of Berlin was particularly rich in military and governmental installations, some of them highly classified, their history shrouded into mystery. You can find some information in dedicated posts on this website (see this post, also here and here).

In this chapter, some more items of interest are featured. Four of them are abandoned tokens from Soviet occupation. A nice belle-epoque villa on the shore of the Röblingsee in Fürstenberg, where the headquarters of the 2nd Guard Tank Army was headquartered since Stalin’s era to the withdrawal of Soviet forces in the 1990s, is the first of them. The second is a unique, forgotten Soviet monument, to be found less than two miles south of Fürstenberg. Two more are memorials and cemeteries, for Soviet troops who perished in the last stage of the Great Patriotic War (WWII) around Berlin.

Other three points of interest are instead GDR-related. The first is the former academy for future leaders of the communist party, established in Wandlitz in the years of Stalin, and initially led by Erich Honecker, later to become the omnipotent leader of the GDR for two decades. In the same area north of Berlin – and precisely in Waldsiedlung, today a nice clinical campus in the countryside – are the former private houses of the members of the central committee of the communist party of the DDR – personalities like Walter Ulbricht, Erich Honecker, Erich Mielke and Egon Krenz lived here with their families. Finally, you will find a glimpse from the so-called ‘Honecker bunker’ in Prenden. This big and highly classified installation was prepared in case of war, to protect the leadership of the GDR and ensure safe communication with Moscow.

Photographs were taken in summer 2019 and 2021.

Navigate this post – click on links to scroll

Soviet 2nd Guard Tank Army headquarters, Fürstenberg/Havel
Soviet monument, Fürstenberg/Havel
Soviet Memorial and Cemetery, Rathenow
Soviet Memorial and Cemetery, Blumberg
Free German Youth Academy, Wandlitz
Private Homes of the Members of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the GDR, Waldsiedlung
Honecker bunker, Prenden

Sights

Soviet 2nd Guard Tank Army Headquarters, Fürstenberg/Havel

Among the Soviet forces permanently stationed in the GDR in case of war, there used to be two entire tank armies, the 1st and 2nd. The former was headquartered in Dresden, whereas the 2nd – named ‘Red Banner’ – in Fürstenberg/Havel.

The headquarter in Fürstenberg is basically an old villa, possibly dating to the late 19th century or a slightly more recent time. The villa is somewhat unusual in the panorama of todays Fürstenberg. This is a nice and lively touristic town, where many Berliners come to find a retreat in nature, less than 1 hour driving from home. Thanks to tourism-related activities, the area has got rid of the Soviet/East German grayness, and is now a typical village in the German countryside, graced with a creek and a small lake, where canoes and small boats are always roaming around.

In stark contrast with this, the villa is today completely abandoned, with overgrown vegetation almost hiding it from the main road. Access to the premises is easier from the back, where you first meet a typical Soviet prefabricated wall, and service buildings with evidence of a communist design – the usual yellow paint and railings on the windows with the stylized ‘radiant dawn of communist revolution’.

2nd Guard Tank Army Red Banner Abandoned Soviet Headquarter Furstenberg Havel Berlin Lenin Statue

Getting closer to the house, you meet an access door, possibly going to a bunkerized area underneath. The house is in a really bad shape, with rotting walls, plants growing on the balconies and roof. The inside has been made completely inaccessible. A typical East German light is still hanging from the back wall.

2nd Guard Tank Army Red Banner Abandoned Soviet Headquarter Furstenberg Havel Berlin Lenin Statue

To the front, a temple-like decoration contours the main door. It is difficult to say whether this decoration was there since the beginning, since it appears rather different in style from the rest of the villa.

2nd Guard Tank Army Red Banner Abandoned Soviet Headquarter Furstenberg Havel Berlin Lenin Statue

A highlight of this site is the statue of Lenin still standing ahead of the front facade. The statue is in a relatively good shape. It looks like the man was portrayed during a discussion.

2nd Guard Tank Army Red Banner Abandoned Soviet Headquarter Furstenberg Havel Berlin Lenin Statue

The concrete sculpture was accurately made, as witnessed by the facial expression and details in the embroidery of the tie.

2nd Guard Tank Army Red Banner Abandoned Soviet Headquarter Furstenberg Havel Berlin Lenin Statue

On the front side, the villa used to be reachable with a large flight of steps climbing uphill, with Lenin on top. Today this perspective is gone, for vegetation has totally invaded the steps, and the front of the house is not visible from the street.

Getting there and moving around

The villa is located in central Fürstenberg on Steinförder Strasse (possibly) 44, on the southern side of the road. The house and its large garden estate are abandoned, but all other houses around are not. Getting closer without being spotted is easier from the backstreet. Technically speaking, the latter is accessible for residents only, so you may park somewhere else and come closer by foot. Visiting may take about 30 minutes with time for the pictures, for the house is not accessible inside.

It should be remarked that this site is probably not public, and at an unpredictable time it may be either restored or demolished – so checking it out may be not possible for long.

Soviet Monument, Fürstenberg/Havel

A rare example of Soviet commemoration monument can be found very close to Fürstenberg. Apart from the monumental sites in Berlin (see here), a number of smaller Soviet monuments are to be found around the GDR – impressive ghosts of a bygone era.

Among the best preserved are that in the former tank base of Zeithain (see this post), and this one in Fürstenberg.

The monument is composed of two parts, basically two concrete curtains facing each other on the sides of a small apron.

Soviet Memorial 2nd Guard Tank Army Red Banner Abandoned Furstenberg Havel Berlin Victory

The smaller panel to the south is the most intriguing. It is apparently a celebration of an economic plan of the Soviet Union. It is all about the growth in production in several areas of industry and farming, likely resulting from careful planning by the top of the Soviet government.

Soviet Memorial 2nd Guard Tank Army Red Banner Abandoned Furstenberg Havel Berlin

Soviet Memorial 2nd Guard Tank Army Red Banner Abandoned Furstenberg Havel Berlin Victory

Soviet Memorial 2nd Guard Tank Army Red Banner Abandoned Furstenberg Havel Berlin

Soviet Memorial 2nd Guard Tank Army Red Banner Abandoned Furstenberg Havel Berlin Victory

Between a citation from Lenin and a stylized image of the Kremlin, several panels cite one by one the increases in production of anything from oil to weapons, from milk to corn.

Soviet Memorial 2nd Guard Tank Army Red Banner Abandoned Furstenberg Havel Berlin Victory

To the back of the monument, the only remaining feature is a remarkable head of Lenin, with yet another citation. It is likely that other features have been removed by vandals, as empty frames can be seen aligned along this face of the monument.

Soviet Memorial 2nd Guard Tank Army Red Banner Abandoned Furstenberg Havel Berlin Victory

The larger panel to the north is a celebration of the march to Berlin during the Great Patriotic War, likely related to specific actions of the Guard Tank Armies. The central slab features an image of the Soviet monument in Treptower Park, Berlin – one the most famous commemorative monuments in the Soviet Union, as witnessed by numerous images to be found still today in many museums in the former USSR (see for instance here).

Soviet Memorial 2nd Guard Tank Army Red Banner Abandoned Furstenberg Havel Berlin Victory

Soviet Memorial 2nd Guard Tank Army Red Banner Abandoned Furstenberg Havel Berlin

Soviet Memorial 2nd Guard Tank Army Red Banner Abandoned Furstenberg Havel Berlin Victory

Close by, reproductions of decorations and captions of what happened on some days of 1944 and 1945 are reported.

Soviet Memorial 2nd Guard Tank Army Red Banner Abandoned Furstenberg Havel Berlin Victory

On the left panel you can see a reproduction of the march to Berlin, from the battlegrounds in the USSR, through central Europe and Germany. It is likely that some metal parts of the monument once used to connect the ‘points of interest’, but these have disappeared due to vandalism.

Soviet Memorial 2nd Guard Tank Army Red Banner Abandoned Furstenberg Havel Berlin Victory

On the right wing of the monument the names of Heroes of the Soviet Union possibly from the Guard Tank Armies are cited one by one. Close by, the image of the ‘Soviet Motherland Calling’, pretty usual in Soviet war iconography, can be found together with other typical emblems.

Soviet Memorial 2nd Guard Tank Army Red Banner Abandoned Furstenberg Havel Berlin Victory

Getting there and moving around

This monument is not maintained nor protected. It is open air, unfenced and freely accessible. It will be hopefully restored or moved to a museum, as the weather and vandals are taking their tolls. It can be reached along the road 96 about 1 mile south of Fürstenberg, immediately to the west of the road. A small unofficial parking area can be found ahead of it, making a quick visit really easy.

Soviet Memorial and Cemetery, Rathenow

	Heading to Berlin or the former GDR? Looking for traces of the Cold War open for a visit?
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The Soviet memorial in Rathenow is one of a number of smaller military cemeteries for Soviet troops in the region around Berlin. Soviet soldiers perished in the area in the thousands in the final stage of WWII (1945), when the Red Army entered the northeastern part of todays Germany from Poland, pushing towards Berlin and fighting against the agonizing but still fierce German Wehrmacht.

Apart from the gigantic and formal monuments in Berlin (see this chapter), more modest shrines are scattered around the German capital city, all built roughly in the same period, between the end of the war in Europe and 1950, in the years of Stalin.

The Rathenow site is a small town cemetery, a proportionate, down-scaled version of its larger counterparts in Berlin – especially Schönholzer Heide (see here) – and can be found in the center of the sleepy town of Rathenow. A central obelisk with a commemoration plaque is topped by a golden five-pointed star, the symbol of the Red Army.

Soviet Red Army Memorial Rathenow

A number of soberly designed grave stones for as many Soviet troops are aligned in rows, creating an elegant perspective. Most of the graves bear complete names, as well as the birth and death years. Similar to the war cemeteries dating also from WWI (see for instance here and here), the very young age of most of the troops in the final struggle around Berlin is readily apparent.

Soviet Red Army Memorial Rathenow

Despite being fenced and of course not left in a state of disrepair, the green areas immediately outside of the perimeter of the monument in Rathenow are somewhat neglected, perhaps reflecting a fading interest for this monument.

Getting there and moving around

The Soviet monument in Rathenow can be reached at the crossing of Ferdinand Lassalle Str. with Friedrich Ebert Ring, in central Rathenow. The monument is very compact and can be toured in a few minutes.

Soviet Memorial and Cemetery, Blumberg

	Heading to Berlin or the former GDR? Looking for traces of the Cold War open for a visit?
	A Travel Guide to COLD WAR SITES in EAST GERMANY Second Edition - 2024
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The monument in Blumberg, in the northern outskirts of Berlin and really close to town, is smaller than the one in Rathenow (see above), but shares the general arrangement with it.

A central pillar with a commemoration slab is surmounted in this case by a statue of a Soviet soldier, holding a Red Banner flag.

Soviet Red Army Memorial Blumberg

Ahead and around the pillar, gravestones put flat on the ground are aligned in a perspective. However, the overgrown vegetation is basically hiding these lines of tombs, so that even from a small distance the central monument appears as an isolated item, put in the middle of a grassy area.

Soviet Red Army Memorial Blumberg

Actually, the major difference with other monuments of the kind lies in the rather remoteness of the one in Blumberg. It is a listed historical landmark, and therefore at least minimally cared for, but on the other hand, it is located relatively far from todays nearest settlement, hidden in the trees, and out of sight for anybody except people going there specifically for it. This makes it rather mysterious, a silent memento of old memories.

Getting there and moving around

The monument is conveniently located just out of the A10 highway (the external ring of Berlin), in the settlement of Ahrensfelde. You may reach Chausseedreieck and drive to its western dead end, where you can conveniently park. From there a grassy path points south into the trees, and in less than 150 yards you will find the monument. The size of the monument is small, hence no further walking is needed. A mosquito repellent is highly recommended in the warm season.

Free German Youth Academy & Joseph Goebbels Manor, Wandlitz

Deep in the countryside about 25 miles north of Berlin, about 3 miles from the small touristic village of Wandlitz, you can find a couple of highlights from the troublesome past of Germany, sitting side by side, close to the small Bogensee lake.

The first is the country estate of Joseph Goebbels, the famous minister for education and propaganda in the years of the Nazi dictatorship. This villa has been built in the war years, and often used by its owner, also for receiving guests. Goebbels obtained the estate as a birthday present from the Nazi Party.

Incredibly, the manor, built in a typical German country style, was not demolished after the war – so unlike other residences belonging to Hitler or his fellows, it is still there to see. It survived denazification, Soviet occupation and 40 years in the GDR as part of a school (see below).

The outside is the only part you can see. The appearance is sober, with simple lines and not much vertical elevation – it nicely integrates in the natural setting.

Joseph Goebbels Manor Nazi Leader Bogensee Wandlitz Hitler Present

Access to the courtyard is from a small road, now part of the inner network of the larger complex surrounding the manor.

This complex is actually the other peculiar item you can find in Wandlitz. This enormous academy was built in 1951, on behalf of the Free German Youth (FDJ), a youth-training organization founded and originally run by Erich Honecker, later to become the general secretary of the communist party of the GDR in the 1970s and 1980s.

The academy was designed by Hermann Henselmann the same architect who designed Karl-Marx-Allee in the Soviet sector of Berlin – one of the most iconic ‘Stalin’s-style’ perspectives in the world. The complex is composed of two large opposing buildings, on the short sides of an internal courtyard. These hosted common areas, lecture rooms and a theater.

German Communist School Academy Bogensee Wandlitz FDJ Jugendhochschule Jugendleiterschule DDR Honecker Henselmann

Along the longer sides of the courtyard are buildings with bedrooms and services for around 500 students.

German Communist School Academy Bogensee Wandlitz FDJ Jugendhochschule Jugendleiterschule DDR Honecker Henselmann

The academy was for the future staff of the communist party, and in later years of the Cold War it was attended also by international students from communism-leaning nations, or sometimes even from NATO countries.

German Communist School Academy Bogensee Wandlitz FDJ Jugendhochschule Jugendleiterschule DDR Honecker Henselmann

Following the collapse of the GDR, the building went on hosting educational institutions until the early 2000s, owned by the regional government. It was then mostly shut off, with some ancillary buildings still hosting institutions connected with the administration of the natural preserve around. It was put up for sale, for a while, but all potential customers failed to present satisfactory conversion plans. An expensive and inconvenient ghost from a forgotten era, as of 2019 its fate has not been sealed yet.

Today the place is not completely abandoned. Basic preservation works are being carried out, thus avoiding the roof to collapse or the walls to rotten. The names of the blocks are likely not from the GDR years. Similarly, a board with notices and maps dating from later than 1989 can still be seen, a witness of the post-GDR activity.

German Communist School Academy Bogensee Wandlitz FDJ Jugendhochschule Jugendleiterschule DDR Honecker Henselmann

Joseph Goebbels Manor Nazi Leader Bogensee Wandlitz Hitler Present

German Communist School Academy Bogensee Wandlitz FDJ Jugendhochschule Jugendleiterschule DDR Honecker Henselmann

The garden is not growing totally wild, and some architectural addition must have been tried in a recent past – like a small modern fountain ahead of the common building to the southwest of the complex. The buildings are still supplied with electrical power – there are lit lights above some doors – and it is discretely guarded to avoid vandalism.

Getting there and moving around

Accessing the area is possible following the L29 from Wandlitz. About 1 mile from the village, the road changes its name to Wandlitzer Strasse. There is a local road with limited access taking to the east. You may park there, and proceed along the road by foot for about .5 miles to reach the heart of the complex. This is surrounded by private houses. There is no fence, but there are proximity sensors which trigger an inspection. I was reached by a warden on a car soon after my arrival. He spotted me, but did not come close, likely noticing I was just taking pictures outside.

The site is rather mysterious and well worth a quick visit for interested subjects. Touring the site will not take more than 45 minutes, taking all the pictures.

Private Homes of the Members of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the GDR, Waldsiedlung

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Similar to other top-ranking figures in the Soviet chain of command – like Stalin and others in his communist entourage, who did not spend much of their time in public or close to crowded places in central Moscow – the masters of the communist party in the GDR had their homes in the trees north of Berlin, relatively far from the city center and from the governmental buildings.

Actually, many of them lived together in a rather compact residential district, called Waldsiedlung. Access to the area was obviously controlled, but once inside the place was somewhat similar to a holiday settlement, with smaller single or two-family houses located along quiet alleys in a rural setting. The architecture is far from lavish – all houses are very similar to one another, and are designed in a plain typically East-German style from the post-WWII era.

Today, the settlement in Waldsiedlung has been converted into a campus for clinical studies. However, the original architecture of the place has been left mostly untouched, and explanatory panels telling quick information about the history of the residence have been planted ahead of most of the housing once occupied by old communist big brasses.

The office by the gate, and the metal gate itself, are totally original, as can be seen from historical pictures.

Waldsiedlung – GDR Communist Party private homes

Among the first buildings past the gate is a former congress center/clubhouse/gathering facility for the inhabitants of the residence.

Waldsiedlung – GDR Communist Party private homes

Moving on to the northern part of the settlement, the modest house of Erich Honecker and his wife Margot can be easily found. The two-storey construction has a patio on the backyard. A mystery wooden hut can be found next to the latter.

Waldsiedlung – Erich Honecker’s Home

The Honeckers were forced to leave this house in the turmoil following the collapse of the wall and the starting of the reunification process. Honecker fled to the Soviet Union in seek for protection, quickly departing from the Soviet base in Sperenberg (see here). He was trialed in absentia, in connection to the order issued to the GDR border guards to used deadly force against people trying to pass the ‘anti-fascist wall’, and the ensuing deaths. He remained in the USSR until also that dictatorship collapsed, and he was forced to escape to South America, where he died soon after.

To the far end of the same alley is the house of Walter Ulbricht and his wife Lotte. Somewhat larger than Honecker’s house, it is however not much more evolved in adornments or architectural fantasy.

Waldsiedlung – Walter Ulbricht’s Home

On another alley, parallel to the previous one, is also the house of Erich Mielke, the uncontested head of the ill-famed STASI, since its early years to the end.

Waldsiedlung – Erich Mielke’s Home

The man was captured and trialed for an old case of homicide, after the shut-off of the STASI monstrous machine. He died soon after.

Today even these smaller buildings have been converted for a new function in the clinical campus. Therefore, they cannot be toured inside. However, strolling in this inconspicuous, quiet village where a huge concentration of power used to be seated, provides a strange feeling.

Getting there and moving around

The Brandenburg Clinic, which has now taken over the Waldsiedlung residence for the members of the GDR government, is on the road N.273, between Bernau and Wandlitz. The clinic in Waldsiedlung is rather busy, and the parking ahead of it may be crowded. However, since the place is guarded and access regulated, that is the only credible parking option also for a historically-themed visit. You can access the area by foot undisturbed, and take photographs of the exteriors. There are explanatory panels ahead of many of the former residential homes.

Honecker Bunker, Prenden

Geographically very close to the academy in Wandlitz (see above) – less than 1 straight mile away – the bunker in Prenden is the central piece of a network of bunkers and military hardware, designed an built on behalf of the National Defense Council (NVR) of the GDR from 1973 onward, and named ‘komplex 5000’. The purpose was protection of the leadership of the GDR in case of a crisis or attack from the West.

The bunker is Prenden, technically listed as ’17/5001′, was a control center of incredible sophistication, designed to withstand nuclear blasts, and with direct communication with other sub-nodes of a larger communication network, thus granting safe communication and broadcasting ability, allowing to lead the country in case of a crisis. The bunker was intended to host the general secretary of the communist party, i.e. Erich Honecker, when the bunker was commissioned in 1983 – hence the unofficial name ‘Honecker bunker’.

The premises of Prenden are now largely in private hands, but some parts are apparently publicly accessible – the original fence has been completely torn down. The bunker itself is sealed, and can be accessed only on a few days per year with a guide.

The official entrance to the area is through the original GDR-made gate. This is closed however, for it is now the entrance to a small private industrial complex.

Honecker Bunker Objekt 17/5001 Prenden DDR Berlin

Traces of the original fence, as well as piping and vents for underground rooms, can be found around the hill on top of which the installation is standing.

Honecker Bunker Objekt 17/5001 Prenden DDR Berlin

Some service buildings in typical communist style can be still found, despite demolition works having taken place. Proximity sensors and signs delimit the private property area.

Honecker Bunker Objekt 17/5001 Prenden DDR Berlin

The three-storey building on the southwestern corner of the complex used to be the ‘front office’ of the bunker. Today, it is in a really bad shape.

Honecker Bunker Objekt 17/5001 Prenden DDR Berlin

Inside, traces of the original furniture and services can still be found, albeit much deteriorated.

Honecker Bunker Objekt 17/5001 Prenden DDR Berlin

Access to the bunker is on the underground floor. You may notice the prison-like railings ahead of the access stairs. A feature that might make you jump when you are exploring alone – if walking in a forgotten communist government building, deep in the silent German countryside, was not enough… – is the lit bulb hanging over the entrance to the bunker – really unexpected!

Honecker Bunker Objekt 17/5001 Prenden DDR Berlin

Besides the building, a shelter-garage for trucks and cars is still in a relatively good shape.

Honecker Bunker Objekt 17/5001 Prenden DDR Berlin

Getting there and moving around

The Prenden bunker is not publicized, but it can be neared easily with a car, about 1 mile south of the small village of Prenden, along Utzdorfer Strasse. The gate can be clearly spotted, but it will be likely closed, and there are obvious ‘no trespassing’ signs and labels of private companies. You may park outside and proceed along the side of the property to the back of it, where the abandoned building mentioned above can be found. Whether this is still on private land or not is not very clear. There are proximity sensors between the abandoned building and the rest of the complex, likely to trigger inspection if you get too close to the (surely) private part of the complex.

Venturing in the building is definitely not safe, and the bunker entrance is usually closed. Official visits to the bunker are possible on guided tours arranged irregularly about once per month (please browse the internet for more info on visiting, cause I could not find an official site of the place to link here).

Cold War Forts and Museums in Denmark

September 15, 2019May 9, 2020 CarloRLeave a comment

During the Cold War the condition of Denmark on the international stage was among the most complex. Coming from years of neutrality before WWII, conquered in a matter of days in spring 1940 by neighbor Germany, at that time in the throes of the Nazi fury, it found itself on the front line of the two opposing blocs soon after May 1945.

Having not been occupied by the Soviets during WWII, it could better choose about its future, and in 1949 the mother country of the Vikings joined NATO as a funding member – unlike neighbor Sweden and Finland – thus giving its availability to its Allies to help countering Soviet influence over the territory under its control.

History in brief

Often overlooked when looking at the world map for its relatively small area, at the beginning of the Cold War the geographical position of Denmark nonetheless was – and, to some extent, still is – strategically very relevant. It is right on the inlet of the Baltic Sea, with a proximity to the foreign coasts of Norway and Sweden such to allow easily blocking the marine traffic on the Kattegat strait, when needed, by means of mere cannon fire from the coast. During the Cold War, this meant a virtual control over a sea where the USSR and Eastern Bloc Countries had many industrially relevant and non-freezing ports, as well as navy bases. Furthermore, the islands of Denmark, where large cities like Odense and Copenhagen are, can be found as close as 1.5 hours by boat to the coast of the German Democratic Republic – once one of the most heavily militarized countries on earth, also thanks to a massive Soviet presence. The smaller island of Bornholm, further east, is even closer than that to the coast of Poland.

A curious fact in history demonstrated the proximity of Denmark to the communist sphere of influence, shaking the minds of top ranking Soviet military. On March 5th, 1953, on the very same day of Stalin’s death, the first defection of a jet fighter from the Eastern Bloc took place, when a Polish MiG-15 on a routine flight along the Baltic Coast suddenly left his mates and rushed to Bornholm, where it landed on a field, leaving the aircraft in almost pristine conditions.

The cautious reaction of the Danish government and military forces reflects the position of the country at the time – they had identified the USSR and their satellites as a clear and present threat, and consequently they had taken the side of the West. Yet Denmark knew it could not withstand a direct military hit by the Soviets for more than a few hours, therefore as a form of self-protection, any form of provocation, at least in the early 1950s, was carefully avoided. While the pilot of the MiG was allowed to escape to the UK and then the US, the aircraft was quietly ceded to the US military for technical inspection in the FRG, but then re-mounted and returned to Poland. Other examples of a policy of constant detente with the Soviet Union are represented by the refusal to have NATO bases on its territory, or despite the adoption of the Nike missile system for the airspace protection, the missed deployment of the corresponding tactical nuclear warheads.

Of course, in recognition of the strategic relevance of this pleasant country, plans for a Soviet invasion which would strike in northern Europe, with the objective of reaching to the ports of the North Sea in less than a week from Eastern Germany, included as a major target the quick occupation of the Jutland peninsula, and of the islands of Denmark as well. This had to be done by marching fast through the northern regions of the Federal Republic of Germany, and simultaneously landing troops on the Danish islands.

About this post

Albeit not enough populated to sustain an army capable of resisting the eastern opponents on the other side of the Iron Curtain, thanks to its position on the map, Denmark took over seriously a fundamental border monitoring and interdiction task in favor of all NATO forces. Two tangible witnesses of this are the military bases of Stevnsfort and Langelandsfort, both located on the southern coasts of the islands, overlooking key sea straits, and pointing south to the East German coast. Both have been shut down after the end of the Cold War, and now they can be visited as top-tier military museums.

Further souvenirs from the Cold War era can be found in the Defense and Garrison Museum in Aalborg, a wide-spectrum military museum with a focus on WWII and the Cold War, and in the Danish Museum of Flight, where exemplars from the heterogeneous wings of the Danish Air Force are displayed, together with unique specimens of Danish aircraft production from the inter-war and early Cold War period.

This post covers all these four sites, visited in summer 2019. Presentation doesn’t follow any special order.

Navigate this post – Click on links to scroll

Cold War Museum Stevnsfort
Cold War Museum Langelandsfort
Aalborg Defense and Garrison Museum
Danish Museum of Flight

Sights

Cold War Museum Stevnsfort

This museum on the eastern coast of the island of Zealand (the same of Copenhagen) is actually a former Cold War military fort, operative from the early 1950s to the year 2000. It was re-opened as a museum in 2008, carefully preserved in most part in the forms it had in the 1980s, the most technologically advanced years of the Cold War.

By the entrance to the museum area you can see three surface-to-air missile, namely an old Nike-Ajax, and a much more performing – and bigger – Nike-Hercules. Both were part of the US Nike airspace protection system, which was deployed in Denmark around Copenhagen. The missiles are from the Cold War years, but were not originally present on Stevnsfort.

Cold War Museum Stevnsfort Denmark – Cannons, Bunker and Operations Center

Strictly speaking, Stevnsfort is not the part of the installation you access first. The area you meet when getting in from the parking used to be a missile base in charge of the Danish Air Force. It was built for the Hawk system, another US interdiction surface-to-air missile system, the heir of the Nike system. Actually, Nike Hercules batteries in Denmark were withdrawn from use – as elsewhere, see this post – in the 1980s. Their role was taken over by Hawk missile batteries, gradually entering service since the 1960s, and operated till 2005 in Denmark.

Differently from its predecessor, the radar-based Hawk system was entirely movable, making it more flexible and less vulnerable. As a result, there are basically no bunkers in this area, and all constructions here are ‘soft’. Target designation and tracking was demanded to three sub-systems, namely a radar-pulse antenna for target individuation, an interrogation friend-or-foe (IFF) and a target-tracking/homing antenna.

Two radar-pulse antennas are displayed. The aerial emerges from a tent, which covers the electronics and motor of the system. Both are mounted on a truck trailer, which is actually totally movable. The range of the radar scanner was about 75 miles.

Cold War Museum Stevnsfort Denmark – Cannons, Bunker and Operations Center

The IFF antenna is a smaller barrel-shaped device coupled with systems on-board aircraft, needed to distinguish between an enemy aircraft and a friend or ally. The target-tracking/homing antenna, with its distinctive two radar dishes, shares the installation setup with radar-pulse antennas – it sits on top of a trailer, covered in a green tent.

Cold War Museum Stevnsfort Denmark – Cannons, Bunker and Operations Center

Close by, trucks and special moving cranes to mount the missiles on their launch gantries are displayed. Also containers for the missiles are shown, together with an example of the Hawk missile itself. The launch order could arrive only from the central Air Force command, except in case of a communication breakdown, when each missile base could decide on its own – at the high risk of making a mistake!

Cold War Museum Stevnsfort Denmark – Cannons, Bunker and Operations Center

Farther on, power trucks and other launch systems are displayed besides batteries of Hawk missiles. The launch gantry is smaller in size compared to that of Nike-Hercules, but each gantry launches three missiles instead of only one. The gantry is anchored to the ground, and when inactive it is shrouded in a peculiar rubber-coated eyelid-like bubble, which can be quickly lowered to let the missiles out.

Cold War Museum Stevnsfort Denmark – Cannons, Bunker and Operations Center

On the far end of the missile area, you can see an old-fashioned coastal cannon, part of the original fort, used as an illumination cannon in support of larger cannons in the battery.

Cold War Museum Stevnsfort Denmark – Cannons, Bunker and Operations Center

One of the naval gun batteries is the first item you meet when entering the actual Stevnsfort fort. The fort was built between 1952 and 1955 for use by the Navy, and is the oldest part of the installation. Together with the Langelandsfort gun battery and command post (see below), it was tasked with monitoring marine traffic along the straits giving access to the Kattegat and the North Sea from the inner Baltic. For the purpose, it was supplied with a huge underground bunker, its most distinctive feature, as well as batteries of naval guns.

The 150 mm guns have an intriguing history. They were made in Nazi Germany early during WWII, for the Kriegsmarine ship ‘Gneisenau’. This was damaged when still in the dockyard, and the guns were re-designated to be placed on the Danish island of Fano on the North Sea coast, as part of the fortifications of the Atlantic Wall. Following the end of WWII in May 1945, the guns were captured and finally found their way to Stevnsfort.

Cold War Museum Stevnsfort Denmark – Cannons, Bunker and Operations Center

The two-guns batteries were capable of 4-6 shells per minute per barrel, and could reach to the coast of Sweden, thus effectively closing the Oresund strait between Denmark and Sweden if needed. While primarily an anti-ship battery, the swiveling turret could be used to cover the coast, in case of an amphibious attack.

Firing direction was by means of a primary radar station on site, which is still in use, complemented by five other stations along the coast. The shells were loaded with an elevator from the bunker underneath. The guns were temporarily deactivated – but not dismantled – in the 1980s, when Stevnsfort assumed the role of main control and communication post for the southern district of the Danish Navy. Joint exercises with the military forces of the FRG were carried out also here in the final years of the Cold War.

Cold War Museum Stevnsfort Denmark – Cannons, Bunker and Operations Center

By the entrance to the underground bunker you can spot several air hatches emerging from the ground, and an example of sea mine. The latter was the primary weapon to interdict traffic on the strait, with gun battery fire being mainly directed against enemy mine-sweepers.

Cold War Museum Stevnsfort Denmark – Cannons, Bunker and Operations Center

Past the entrance, you need to descend a long stair into the bunker. At the base of the stair is an airlock with facilities for decontamination. The Stevnsfort bunker was most notably the first structure in Denmark to be built to withstand a nuclear attack.

Cold War Museum Stevnsfort Denmark – Cannons, Bunker and Operations Center

The bunker is not excessively big, with about twenty reinforced-concrete-padded rooms connected by tunnels carved in the rock.

One of the highlights of this installation is the communication bunker, operative since 1984 in an area formerly hosting a hospital, then shut down when the naval batteries were deactivated. This used to be a highly inaccessible facility during the Cold War. Thanks to a careful preservation, the room looks like it was still in use! Batteries of telex and other communication machines originally in place, monitors and modern imaging technology from the Eighties, together with examples of ciphered messages are all on display.

Cold War Museum Stevnsfort Denmark – Cannons, Bunker and Operations Center

Next to the communication room, the operation room is even more impressive. Similar to the former, it was constantly manned, and totally inaccessible for non-authorized personnel. The radar monitors can be seen towering over the consoles! Military staff on duty identified and followed all marine traffic in the assigned district, both civilian and military, friends and potential enemies.

Cold War Museum Stevnsfort Denmark – Cannons, Bunker and Operations Center

Catalogs of existing ships are on display. Several thousands ships were identified and observed from this facility in the days of operation. It is reported that patrol ships from the USSR approached the coast under surveillance about 30 times per year, tasked with familiarizing troops with local geography…

Cold War Museum Stevnsfort Denmark – Cannons, Bunker and Operations Center

Another highlight of the visit is the ammo storage for the gun battery previously visited. In the storage, explosive cartridges are placed separately from the shells themselves. There were four types of shells, recognized through a color code – grey for armor-piercing, orange for explosive, green for illuminating and blue for inert.

Cold War Museum Stevnsfort Denmark – Cannons, Bunker and Operations Center

The almost-100 pounds cartridges were loaded on an elevator, and lifted up to the battery. A ladder provided direct access from the bunker to the cannons, serving also as an emergency exit.

Cold War Museum Stevnsfort Denmark – Cannons, Bunker and Operations Center

Other rooms you can visit are sleeping quarters for the 250 men which stationed inside the bunker, until the guns were deactivated in 1981. The fort was capable of sustaining prolonged isolation in case of crisis or war. During the Cuban missile crisis, the Stevnsfort bunker was put on maximum alert for a week, with all men living underground, all accesses sealed.

Cold War Museum Stevnsfort Denmark – Cannons, Bunker and Operations Center

Getting there and moving around

The Cold War Museum Stevnsfort is an international-level museum, to be found 1 hour driving south of central Copenhagen. The official website with directions and opening times is here. Visiting inside the gun battery and the bunker is possible only on a guided tour, where you are given an audio guide in English (also German and possibly other languages) if you can’t follow the Danish-speaking human guide. The guided tour includes also a visit of the missile battery, but this part can be toured also on your own. The guided visit lasts about 1.5 hours, and may turn a little boring in some parts (as usual, the human guide speaks longer than your audio-guide), but it is needed to get access to the most unique parts of the museum. I suggest visiting relatively early in the day, allowing some spare time after the guided tour and before closure to tour the missile part on your own. Free parking ahead of the installation, nice military-themed shop.

Cold War Museum Langelandsfort

This museum has been opened on the premises of a former naval gun installation from the same years of Stevnsfort (see above). Located on the southern island of Langeland, at the inlet of the Belt channel giving access to the Kattegat from the Baltic, it was in a good position to monitor all marine traffic in its sector, as well as for blocking the channel. As a matter of fact, similarly to Stevnsfort, the main target of the naval guns here were minesweepers, for the channel was completely covered with Danish remotely-controlled sea mines, and action of enemy minesweepers would have been necessary before any attack by the bulk of navy forces.

The main naval force in Langelandsfort was constituted of four naval guns, mounted on swiveling turrets, and a fire control bunker which in non-crisis time was used to keep trace of all marine traffic in the sector. The fort was complemented with anti-aircraft defensive positions, a bunkerized power station, and ‘softer buildings’, including barracks. Except for the latter, everything has been restored and can be visited. One of the naval batteries has been restored completely to its original form including the mechanisms underneath, whereas at the base of the other three batteries you can find exhibitions about various aspects of the Cold War – they are all pretty well studied, rich and interesting.

The command bunker is the first construction you meet. The building is from the 1950s, and it shares many aspects with Stevnsfort, though this is much smaller. You can see sleeping quarters and a kitchen, which would be used especially in case the fort was sealed, i.e. in case of high alert or war.

Koldkrigsmuseum Langelandsfort, Bagenkop – Cold War Museum Denmark – Cannon Battery, Bunker and Operations Center

The control rooms are three. Two are for tracking marine traffic in the marine district of the Belt, and also for coordinating air operations from other military installations in Denmark. A radar antenna and an observation tower outside, likely complemented by similar gear in the area, provided a complete real-time picture of the civilian and military traffic in the sector. It is reported that ships going to Cuba with SS-4 nuclear missiles and related supplies were spotted in these rooms months before that material was photographed by the US, when the crisis broke out.

Koldkrigsmuseum Langelandsfort, Bagenkop – Cold War Museum Denmark – Cannon Battery, Bunker and Operations Center

The third control room is the fire control room for the whole fort, coordinating fire from all four gun batteries. Fire control was by means of a very interesting piece of machinery, a fully mechanical computer, taking in atmospheric data like temperature, humidity, wind direction and speed, and target data. No electricity was needed except for lighting the goggles of this analog computer! A similar item was present in Stevnsfort, but I could not see it during my guided visit.

Koldkrigsmuseum Langelandsfort, Bagenkop – Cold War Museum Denmark – Cannon Battery, Bunker and Operations Center

In an adjoining room you can see a perfectly restored communication facility, with ciphered messages hanging on the walls, as well as original transmission machines and early computers. There is also a personal study room for the commander of the post.

Koldkrigsmuseum Langelandsfort, Bagenkop – Cold War Museum Denmark – Cannon Battery, Bunker and Operations Center

Besides the control bunker you can find an anti-aircraft position, centered on a four-barreled anti-aircraft gun. Similar to all others, the small bunker underneath could be manned and sealed in case of war.

Koldkrigsmuseum Langelandsfort, Bagenkop – Cold War Museum Denmark – Cannon Battery, Bunker and Operations Center

The cannon battery closest to the control bunker has been restored completely, including the bunker underneath. The 150 mm guns, one per battery, were made in the final years of WWII by Skoda works in Plzen, in the then-Nazi occupied territory of Czechia. They were originally intended by the Wehrmacht for the Atlantic Wall in Denmark, but they never became operative there. Instead, they ended up to be installed by Denmark to counter a Soviet threat on the Baltic.

The mechanism for supplying cartridges to the cannon is similar to that in Stevnsfort, with an elevator lifting the explosive charge and the shell separately to the level of the gun. However, here the storage bunker is just beneath the cannon, and the lift does not carry the cartridge directly inside the turret, but to a hatch in the reinforced wall besides the cannon – something similar to some of the smaller cannon batteries of the Atlantic Wall built by the Germans.

Koldkrigsmuseum Langelandsfort, Bagenkop – Cold War Museum Denmark – Cannon Battery, Bunker and Operations Center

Inside the bunker you can see the ammo storage, as well as a sleeping compartment for the 15-men crew needed to operate the cannon.

Koldkrigsmuseum Langelandsfort, Bagenkop – Cold War Museum Denmark – Cannon Battery, Bunker and Operations Center

Some example shells have been preserved, with colors corresponding to different functions of the shell (see Stevnsfort above).

The cartridge elevator room is very small, and access is from both sides. Explosive and shell came from opposite directions, each from the corresponding storage room.

Koldkrigsmuseum Langelandsfort, Bagenkop – Cold War Museum Denmark – Cannon Battery, Bunker and Operations Center

The bunker under the next cannon battery has been dedicated to the analysis of the threat from the Danish perspective. Here you see copies of the Soviet plans to invade Denmark, as part of an operation to conquer central and northern Europe lightning-fast in case of an open war against the West. Among the most striking items, you can see detailed Soviet maps covering all regions of Denmark – with city names and all writing in Cyrillic!

Koldkrigsmuseum Langelandsfort, Bagenkop – Cold War Museum Denmark – Cannon Battery, Bunker and Operations Center

There is also a nice collection of ordinary weapons and military supply from the Eastern Bloc, and especially from the neighboring German Democratic Republic. A very special feature is an example of the ‘Blücher decoration for valor’, a medal created by the GDR to be attributed to individuals for actions of exceptional courage in the defense of the GDR, and to be assigned only in case of war – thanks to the Cold War never turning ‘hot’ for the GDR, nobody could be awarded this decoration.

Koldkrigsmuseum Langelandsfort, Bagenkop – Cold War Museum Denmark – Cannon Battery, Bunker and Operations Center

The next battery is dedicated to espionage and spy gear, with many examples of James-Bond-like trinkets, actually used by both enemy and Danish spies. Machinery for ciphered communication, once considered hi-tech, is also on display, together with maps used by a Danish spy visiting the Polish coast, and satellite imagery of East German/Soviet airbases.

Koldkrigsmuseum Langelandsfort, Bagenkop – Cold War Museum Denmark – Cannon Battery, Bunker and Operations Center

The exhibition in the last battery is about the Cold War and society, and is full of old photographs of pro-Soviet protesters in Denmark, spies, famous characters of the Cold War, momentous events taking place in Denmark during the Cold War and so on. Most notably, there are also many artifacts from both Denmark, the Eastern Bloc and the USSR, including medals, posters, portraits and much more.

Koldkrigsmuseum Langelandsfort, Bagenkop – Cold War Museum Denmark – Cannon Battery, Bunker and Operations Center

Similar to the control bunker, the power station has been preserved in its original condition. Three diesel engines could provide power to all bunkers in case of war or failure of the grid for whatever reason. Immediately outside the entrance to the power station bunker there are apparently some suspended showers…

Koldkrigsmuseum Langelandsfort, Bagenkop – Cold War Museum Denmark – Cannon Battery, Bunker and Operations Center

The large area of Langelandsfort has been selected also for the exhibition of a submarine, a mine-sweeper and two aircraft! The submarine ‘Springeren’ was used by Denmark in the 1990s and early 2000s, but it was built much earlier and operated by the Norwegian Navy. Sadly, after the retirement of ‘Springeren’, the Danish Navy shut off completely its underwater branch. The ship is a small conventionally powered attack submarine. The interior is apparently pretty modern with respect to older German or US WWII U-boats.

Koldkrigsmuseum Langelandsfort, Bagenkop – Cold War Museum Denmark – Cannon Battery, Bunker and Operations Center

The submarine features six torpedo tubes.

Koldkrigsmuseum Langelandsfort, Bagenkop – Cold War Museum Denmark – Cannon Battery, Bunker and Operations Center

The mine-sweeper has the appearance of a small conventional boat, but with room for a crew of several men. It is hosted in a hangar together with examples of sea mines – apparently US models.

Koldkrigsmuseum Langelandsfort, Bagenkop – Cold War Museum Denmark – Cannon Battery, Bunker and Operations Center

The two aircraft are a SAAB Draken of Denmark and a MiG-23 of Poland. They represent some of the most advanced aircraft of these opposing countries at the height of the Cold War. Both exemplars are well preserved inside hangars protecting them from the weather and sunlight.

Koldkrigsmuseum Langelandsfort, Bagenkop – Cold War Museum Denmark – Cannon Battery, Bunker and Operations Center

Another interesting sight is a reconstruction of a civil defense bunker, with much original material, including packs of ration cards already prepared for the population in case of war. In an adjoining room you can see a reconstruction of a bunkerized broadcasting studio – the national TV channels were tasked with providing updates to the population in case of an attack, hence a similar facility was prepared in the basement of the TV headquarters.

Koldkrigsmuseum Langelandsfort, Bagenkop – Cold War Museum Denmark – Cannon Battery, Bunker and Operations Center

Close to the ticket office, you are offered a very well-designed exhibition tracing the timeline of the Cold War, with some clever text and many pictures, some of which rather uncommon – really worth spending some time on, before or after visiting the museum.

Koldkrigsmuseum Langelandsfort, Bagenkop – Cold War Museum Denmark – Cannon Battery, Bunker and Operations Center

There is also room for temporary exhibitions, in a hangar which includes an original section of the Berlin Wall.

Koldkrigsmuseum Langelandsfort, Bagenkop – Cold War Museum Denmark – Cannon Battery, Bunker and Operations Center

The building of the ticket office is also interesting. From the back of it you can get access to a smaller exhibition about travels to the DDR (the native acronym for the GDR), with everyday items, old Interflug boarding passes, and some incredible postcards – apparently, modern Soviet-style housing and heads of Marx were the items that GDR postcard-designers liked most… Fragments of the Berlin Wall are also on display.

Koldkrigsmuseum Langelandsfort, Bagenkop – Cold War Museum Denmark – Cannon Battery, Bunker and Operations Center

Ahead of the entrance there is an old and pretty big hammer and sickle, originally from a Soviet ship. The commander threw it outboard when the Soviet Union officially ceased to exist. It was collected by a Danish sailor and ended up here. Nearby you can see a reconstruction of the Berlin Wall, and an original Trabant crossing it.

Koldkrigsmuseum Langelandsfort, Bagenkop – Cold War Museum Denmark – Cannon Battery, Bunker and Operations Center

Getting there and moving around

The Cold War Museum Langelandsfort is located close to the southern tip of the island of Langeland, which is connected with bridges to the major island of Fyn, where Odense can be found about 1-hour north of the museum by car. You can move around the museum on your own, there are several panels with explanations. Most panels have at least a quick translation in German and English. All presentations are very well designed and maintained. Visiting may take at least 2 hours for an interested subject, and even more especially if you are taking pictures. Free parking ahead of the entrance, and picnic area nearby. Official website here.

Aalborg Defense and Garrison Museum

This museum was opened in the year 2002, in the hangar of a seaplane base constituted by the occupying German forces in 1940. The base was potentiated in more instances during WWII, and a half-interred command bunker similar to those of the Atlantic Wall was added.

Aalborg has been a military post for centuries, therefore the museum is centered on several aspects of war and military life. Of course, the majority of the artifacts on display date from WWII and the Cold War period.

The hangar hosts a small collection of aircraft, which capture your sight when you get in. Most notably, there are a venerable F-84, an F-86, and somewhat older T-33 and Gloster Meteor.

Aalborg Forsvars- og Garnisonsmuseum – Defense and Garrison Museum – WWII and Cold War Weapons – Denmark

Close by, you can find a more modern F-104. Jet engines of American make from some of these aircraft have been taken out of the airframes, and put on display separately.

Aalborg Forsvars- og Garnisonsmuseum – Defense and Garrison Museum – WWII and Cold War Weapons – Denmark

Again in the center of the hangar you can see a Hawk missile system, including the missile battery and movable power and control trucks. Also anti-aircraft guns and searchlights from various ages are on display.

Aalborg Forsvars- og Garnisonsmuseum – Defense and Garrison Museum – WWII and Cold War Weapons – Denmark

Items from WWII include a nice exhibition of locally-collected gear used by the Danish resistance movements. Supplied by the Allies from the air, they managed to build several types of bombs, mines, and so on, made to disturb and damage enemy transports, or to kill enemy staff in well programmed para-military actions.

Aalborg Forsvars- og Garnisonsmuseum – Defense and Garrison Museum – WWII and Cold War Weapons – Denmark

Memorabilia include the engine of an US B-17 bomber, sadly downed over the Baltic during the crew’s final mission, the original Luftwaffe eagle once standing on the building of the local German air command, and a Nazi flag weaving on some public building in town in the years of the German occupation.

Aalborg Forsvars- og Garnisonsmuseum – Defense and Garrison Museum – WWII and Cold War Weapons – Denmark

There are also many photographs from the area from the war years, and reproductions of German maps and local newspapers. The latter tell about relevant facts taking place during the war, as reported by the local media. There are also diplomas of merit issued by the US and Britain in favor of a local citizen, member of the resistance.

Aalborg Forsvars- og Garnisonsmuseum – Defense and Garrison Museum – WWII and Cold War Weapons – Denmark

A part of the exhibition is about civil defense. Similar to the US, Britain and other countries during the Cold War, this service was activated to prepare the population to a nuclear war scenario, and to provide shelter and a chance of survival, by means of bunkers and deposits of supplies. Here you can see a reconstruction of such a shelter, and items which used to be stored in preparation for survival in the nuclear winter.

Aalborg Forsvars- og Garnisonsmuseum – Defense and Garrison Museum – WWII and Cold War Weapons – Denmark

There is also a nice collection of light weapons from local firms, uniforms and communication rigs.

Aalborg Forsvars- og Garnisonsmuseum – Defense and Garrison Museum – WWII and Cold War Weapons – Denmark

A few uniforms and technical gear from the current supplies of the Danish military are on display as well.

Aalborg Forsvars- og Garnisonsmuseum – Defense and Garrison Museum – WWII and Cold War Weapons – Denmark

In a room to the side of the central hall, you can find uniforms dating from WWII, including German stuff. The story of a Dane coming to the US and fighting for the US Army is also told in a corner, also through some memorabilia.

Aalborg Forsvars- og Garnisonsmuseum – Defense and Garrison Museum – WWII and Cold War Weapons – Denmark

On an elevated platform you can find an exhibition about the Cold War. This is mostly made by panels retracing the history of that confrontation over the decades. Among the most peculiar items on display, a copy of the invasion plan studied by the Soviet in case of a sudden war with the West. That plan included the rapid conquer of Denmark, due to its strategically relevant position. A copy of a Soviet-made map of Aalborg in Russian, needed in case of war, is another example of the unique artifacts on display.

Aalborg Forsvars- og Garnisonsmuseum – Defense and Garrison Museum – WWII and Cold War Weapons – Denmark

This special Cold War exhibition is completed with a set of field and anti-aircraft weapons from various ages of the confrontation.

Aalborg Forsvars- og Garnisonsmuseum – Defense and Garrison Museum – WWII and Cold War Weapons – Denmark

Other rooms around the main hall display modern uniforms, NATO-related material, military supply from various ages and even a throne used by the Queen of Denmark on an official visit.

Aalborg Forsvars- og Garnisonsmuseum – Defense and Garrison Museum – WWII and Cold War Weapons – Denmark

In an adjoining smaller hangar you can find a rich collection of trucks and weapons with various – not only military – functions.

Aalborg Forsvars- og Garnisonsmuseum – Defense and Garrison Museum – WWII and Cold War Weapons – Denmark

Outside, a highlight of the museum is the former air command bunker built by the Germans. This has been filled with memorabilia from the Nazi occupation period. An unusual and little-known story is told here, about the German refugees from Eastern Prussia, a region loosely coincident today with the part of Russia around the town of Kaliningrad (ex-Konigsberg). This area used to be part of Germany since before WWI, and it remained under the Weimar Republic, even though separated from German mainland. Neighboring Lithuania was annexed to the Third Reich before WWII – similar to Sudetenland – on account of the proximity to that region, with the excuse of a significant German group living in Lithuania. In 1939 the Germans re-gained control over northern Poland, and the two regions of Prussia were reunited in the Reich.

Following the victories of the Soviets in 1944 and the ensuing landslide-march towards Berlin, Eastern Prussia was lost to the enemy. Refugees escaped to mainland Germany, and the administration of the Reich sent these folks in several areas relatively far from the front – including a significant number to occupied Denmark, and especially in the hangars in Aalborg, where the museum is today. So the hangar acted as a hospitality center for the refugees. This was something strange though, for the refugees were not local nationals, but instead enemies. This led to a controversy soon after, when the war ended. In the event, most of the refugees returned to their land of origin, only to find it permanently occupied by the Soviets. Some handmade artifacts of these German refugees can be seen on display in the bunker.

Aalborg Forsvars- og Garnisonsmuseum – Defense and Garrison Museum – WWII and Cold War Weapons – Denmark

Finally, a very good collection of tanks, field guns and movable howitzers from various countries including the Eastern Bloc and mainly from the various ages of the Cold War can be admired on the museum apron. For the most part, these are reportedly kept in working condition.

Aalborg Forsvars- og Garnisonsmuseum – Defense and Garrison Museum – WWII and Cold War Weapons – Denmark

Getting there and moving around

The museum is located close to central Aalborg, on the waterfront. You can visit it totally on your own. Some of the exhibitions are described in more languages, but some parts are in Danish only. Nonetheless, the visit can be very rewarding for experts and for the kids as well, thanks to the chance to touch many of the artifacts on display. A two-hours time may be enough for having a look, more time is required for a more in-depth visit or if you want to take pictures.

Convenient parking just ahead of the entrance. Website with full information here.

Danish Museum of Flight

This fantastic collection of aircraft can be found next to Stauning Airport, on the west coast of Jutland, at the level of the Ringkobing firth. This is by far the largest aircraft collection in Denmark, and the reference air museum in this country.

The exhibition is well designed and rich, and it covers both the civil and military branches of aviation. Furthermore, a good half of the aircraft appear in fully airworthy conditions.

There are three thematic hangars. In the first you can find civilian aircraft from various ages, smaller sport aircraft and military trainers mainly from the inter-war period or the late 1940s. Some of them appear airworthy.

Most notably, there is the front part of the fuselage of a Douglas DC-7, formerly in service with the national carrier SAS, still on business today. The cockpit and the crew compartment are well preserved. The analog instrumentation adopted on this plane, which dates from 1957 and represents the last and most advanced of the Douglas propliners, is abundant and remarkably sophisticated.

Danmarks Flymuseum Denmark Museum of Flight Jutland Skjern Cold War Planes

Another unique aircraft on display is an Aerospatiale Corvette, an executive jet by the same French airframer who participated in the Concorde project. You can also board the plane.

Danmarks Flymuseum Denmark Museum of Flight Jutland Skjern Cold War Planes

Similarly rare today is the DeHavilland Dove, a British-made short range liner from the early Cold War period. Similar aircraft, cheap to operate, went on flying well into the 1970s in many countries. Here you see an exemplar in the colors of Cimber Air.

Danmarks Flymuseum Denmark Museum of Flight Jutland Skjern Cold War Planes

Among the trainers, you can find a DeHavilland Tiger Moth and a Chipmunk from the same manufacturer. Less common aircraft include a DeHavilland Hornet Moth, which apparently spent most of its flying time in Kuala Lumpur, and a nice Bucker Bestmann, a German trainer adopted and license-built also in Sweden.

Danmarks Flymuseum Denmark Museum of Flight Jutland Skjern Cold War Planes

Despite never adopted by the Danish military, a V-tailed Fouga Magister French trainer apparently found its way to here. It was reportedly flown in private hands by a Danish professor, before being donated to the museum.

Danmarks Flymuseum Denmark Museum of Flight Jutland Skjern Cold War Planes

In the first hangar are also examples of Danish aircraft production, including the reconstruction of an early prototype by a local pioneer. Propellers and dismounted engines and systems, likely used for training purposes in the past, are an interesting part of the exhibition too.

Danmarks Flymuseum Denmark Museum of Flight Jutland Skjern Cold War Planes

A huge collection of model engines, some air traffic control consoles and airport trucks complete the exhibition in the first hangar.

Danmarks Flymuseum Denmark Museum of Flight Jutland Skjern Cold War Planes

The second hangar is mainly devoted to aircraft manufactured in Denmark. Most notably, the Skandinavisk Aero Industri – abbreviated in SAI – specialized in trainers and small transport in the inter-war and WWII period, and knew a good national and local international success between 1937 and 1954, when it disappeared – and with it basically also the Danish aeronautical industry.

Danmarks Flymuseum Denmark Museum of Flight Jutland Skjern Cold War Planes

Some of the aircraft on display are unique exemplars, the last witnesses of this interesting story. Not all aircraft here are from this manufacturer though – an ubiquitous Piper Cub in its distinctive yellow colorway can be found as well, together with a Supermarine Spitfire. Also here, most aircraft appear to be in airworthy conditions.

Danmarks Flymuseum Denmark Museum of Flight Jutland Skjern Cold War Planes

In the last hangar, which despite being the largest one, is the most crumpled, you can find military aircraft retracing the history of the Danish Air Force supply. The aircraft here are all from the Cold War period, hence giving to this hangar a historical connotation. This part of the exhibition is also particularly nice, as you can walk close and beneath the aircraft, an ideal setting for getting pictures of smaller particular features.

The variety of present aircraft is very interesting, and reflects the close bounds of Denmark with the US and Britain. Aircraft from the early Cold War include Lockheed T-33, a North American F-86, and two different versions of the Republic F-84.

Danmarks Flymuseum Denmark Museum of Flight Jutland Skjern Cold War Planes

An exemplar of the latter is supplemented with JATO – Jet Assisted Take-Off – bottles under the fuselage. The mountings of the underwing rockets on the F-84 and of the belly rockets on the F-86 are really unique examples of Cold War technology!

Danmarks Flymuseum Denmark Museum of Flight Jutland Skjern Cold War Planes

A big Consolidated Catalina amphibious aircraft towers on all others in the hall, while a Douglas C-47 transport in excellent conditions is preserved in a corner, with an interesting ski system mounted on the landing gears.

Danmarks Flymuseum Denmark Museum of Flight Jutland Skjern Cold War Planes

British aircraft from the same early era include a Gloster Meteor and what appears to be a pretty rare Fairey Firefly. Another US design is a T-6 trainer, to be found under the wing of the Catalina.

Danmarks Flymuseum Denmark Museum of Flight Jutland Skjern Cold War Planes

More recent designs still from the Cold War include a Lockheed F-104, a British Hawker Hunter and a Swedish SAAB Draken.

Danmarks Flymuseum Denmark Museum of Flight Jutland Skjern Cold War Planes

Especially the configuration of the latter – both the general configuration and the arrangement of the landing gear and wing pylons – is really unique, reflecting a different yet interesting school of aircraft design.

Danmarks Flymuseum Denmark Museum of Flight Jutland Skjern Cold War Planes

Rather uncommon out of the US, a North American F-100 Super Sabre is also on display, with a foldable Pitot boom.

Danmarks Flymuseum Denmark Museum of Flight Jutland Skjern Cold War Planes

Finally there are a Hawk missile battery, a movable command center and service trucks.

Danmarks Flymuseum Denmark Museum of Flight Jutland Skjern Cold War Planes

Modern aircraft are represented here by an F-16. There are also two helicopters of US make, closing the collection.

Danmarks Flymuseum Denmark Museum of Flight Jutland Skjern Cold War Planes

Getting there and moving around

The museum is located between Stauning and Velling, two small villages on the inner coast of the Ringkobing firth, western Jutland. The facility is modern, with a large free parking and a picnic area. It is located on the border of a local airport, immersed in nature – a very pleasant location. The museum requires about 2 hours for an interested subject, 2.5 if you want to take pictures. Website with full information here.

Soviet Depots for Nuclear Warheads in the GDR

September 8, 2019June 28, 2023 CarloR6 Comments

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Despite their great destructive potential and strategic relevance, nuclear assets were deployed far from the ‘centers of power’ in Moscow and Washington by both the USSR and the US. As the front of the Cold War was especially ‘hot’ along the border between the Warsaw Pact and NATO Countries in central Europe, large arsenals of nuclear weapons were deployed to the area, on both sides of the Iron Curtain, and in several instances over time.

On the western side this was not hidden and led often times to protests in Countries like the UK, West Germany and Italy, so that the history of the presence of a nuclear arsenal in those Countries can be traced with some accuracy, albeit not easily. Conversely, much less is known about the deployment of Soviet nuclear arsenals over the territory of the former Eastern Bloc, making this segment of Cold War history especially mysterious.

History – in brief

In this Cold War scenario, the German Democratic Republic (GDR, or DDR in German) received special consideration by the Soviets. Thanks to its advanced position in Europe and the local, much trusted ‘hardcore’ communist regime, the USSR planned the deployment of early strategic missiles – SS-3 Shyster and SS-4 Sandal – starting already in the late Fifties, the years of Khrushchev. Traces of an actual deployment exist in Vogelsang and Furstenberg, about one hour driving north of Berlin (see this post about Vogelsang, and this about the mysterious deployment of missiles in the area).

Later on, in the early years of Brezhnev as leader of the USSR, it was decided that for a prompter and more flexible response in case of an attack, nuclear warfare especially for tactical use should be deployed outside of the USSR borders, to Countries in close proximity with the West. On the other hand, strategic warheads and missile systems could be withdrawn to within the USSR, as more technologically advanced intercontinental ballistic missiles had become available, making a hit of a foreign objective possible even from deep inside the Soviet borders.

Consequently, deployment of air launched nuclear warfare started in selected Soviet airbases, which were really not in any shortage in the GDR – considering both the national air force (NVA) and the Soviet aviation, the DDR used to be one of the world’s top countries in terms of airbases per square mile, or per resident. You can see several posts on former Soviet bases in the GDR on this website (look here, here and here).

For military corps not operating from airbases – especially missile brigades – the headquarters of the Red Army in Moscow deemed necessary the deployment to the GDR of nuclear warheads for tactical or theater missiles.

Two depots were built anew in dedicated installations specifically for hosting such warheads. One was in Stolzenhain, codenamed ‘Objekt 4000’ and sometimes referred to as Linda (the name of a village nearby), close to the highly-militarized area of Juterbog (see this post) and Kloster Zinna, about one hour driving south of Berlin. The other was again close to Furstenberg, and named Lychen-2, and codenamed ‘Objekt 4001’.

The nuclear bunkers in Stolzenhain and Lychen were payed for by the GDR – through a governmental agreement with the USSR – which always detained official property of the facilities, and were built by German workers, around the year 1967. Once ready, in 1968 the bunkers were handed over to Soviet staff, and the corresponding areas totally closed to non-Soviets. The bunkers, as other similar facilities in other Countries of the Warsaw Pact, communicated directly with Moscow, as similarly to the US, only the top of the command chain could authorize the use of nuclear forces.

The facilities were kept running until the end of the Cold War. Control was officially given back to the agonizing GDR in 1990, the Soviets having transferred all valuable material to the (agonizing) USSR.

Here the story splits for the two installations. While the Lychen bunker has been selected for interment, the installation largely being demolished around 2015, forgotten and reclaimed by nature, as of 2019 the Stolzenhain bunker is in a far better condition, apparently in private hands, and albeit plans for it are sadly similar to Lychen, it may be still in time to be turned into a unique, world-class museum.

About this post

This post covers both Lychen-2 and Stolzenhain bunkers. The former was explored in the summer of 2019. The latter was explored a first time in 2019, and in a second instance with the guidance of its owner Manfred van Heerde and the nuclear scientist and historian Reiner Helling in 2021. As the Stolzenhain installation is still in a relatively good shape, you can also get an understanding of what the inside of these bunkers looks like, their design and specific features. Pictures of this installation from above can be found in another chapter (see here).

Sights

Red Forest, Bridge of Death and Pripyat Access

‘Azure’ Swimming Pool and School (Microdistrict 3)

Panoramic View from Rooftop (Microdistrict 5)

Amusement Park

Post Office

Central Square

Hospital – Medical Center 126

Cafe Pripyat, Passenger Port and Floating Pier

KBO Service Center

Prometheus Movie Theater and Music School

Furniture Shop and Home Appliance Shop (AGD)

School N.2 (Microdistrict 2)

Visiting

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Sights

Chernobyl Town

Cooling Towers of the Nuclear Power-Plant

Nuclear Power-Plant

Kopachi Village Kindergarten

Zalissya Village

Isolated School & Kindergarten

Children’s Camp ‘Emerald’

Abandoned Barges on Pripyat River

Visiting

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Soviet Over-the-Horizon Anti-ICBM Early Warning System ‘Duga’

Historical Overview

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Sights

Access and Radar Antennas

Control Center and Technical Buildings

Training Center

Chernobyl-2 – Firefighters Station and Village

Chernobyl-2 – School

Chernobyl-2 – Entertainment Center

Visiting

General Data and Advice for a Trip to the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone

Type of Trip

Time of the Visit

Radiation/Safety

Dress Code

Souvenirs

Canteen

Hotel

Guided Tour Suggestion

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Sights

Soviet 2nd Guard Tank Army Headquarters, Fürstenberg/Havel

Getting there and moving around

Soviet Monument, Fürstenberg/Havel

Getting there and moving around

Soviet Memorial and Cemetery, Rathenow

A Travel Guide to COLD WAR SITES in EAST GERMANY

Second Edition - 2024

Getting there and moving around

Soviet Memorial and Cemetery, Blumberg

A Travel Guide to COLD WAR SITES in EAST GERMANY

Second Edition - 2024

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Free German Youth Academy & Joseph Goebbels Manor, Wandlitz

Getting there and moving around

Private Homes of the Members of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the GDR, Waldsiedlung

A Travel Guide to COLD WAR SITES in EAST GERMANY

Second Edition - 2024

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Honecker Bunker, Prenden

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Sights

Cold War Museum Stevnsfort

Getting there and moving around

Cold War Museum Langelandsfort

Getting there and moving around

Aalborg Defense and Garrison Museum

Getting there and moving around

Danish Museum of Flight

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