The Amusement Park of Chernobyl was still being finalised when the nuclear disaster happened at the nearby Nuclear Power Plant. Being built for the May Day celebrations just a few days later it was never opened formally. Today it sits empty and forlorn, an icon of the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone.

The amusement park in Pripyat has to be one of the iconic locations within the city. It was just being set up, ready to open for the May Day celebrations in the city on 1st May. However, the nuclear disaster on the night of the 26th April 1986 meant that Pripyat was empty and abandoned by the end of April. Many Russian cities had amusement parks known as a “Park of Culture and Rest” and some of these are still working around both Russia and the new countries formed after the break-up of the USSR.

The Pripyat Amusement Park had a 26m Ferris wheel, and its full rotation occurs in five minutes. It has also swing boats, a paratrooper ride, bumper cars, and a shooting game. The park is located not far from DK “Energetik” and the hotel “Polissya“, and is famous for its Ferris wheel, that tourists take pictures almost more often than the Chernobyl NPP itself.  The rides were made at the only plant in the USSR in the city of Yeisk in the Krasnodar Territory. Almost all the parks of the USSR were equipped with entertainment structures of the plant. These were fairly common attractions in recreation parks, which were located in fairly large cities. The park was supposed to be the Pripyat business card, but it became it after the accident. “Ferris Wheel” – the king of Pripyat attractions. From it, you could see all the city spaces.

Most bumper cars were tricycles. They had an electric motor in the front, and the steering wheel could turn all 360 degrees. The speed of movement of cars was about 6 – 10 km / h. The rides were delivered to Pripyat and installed in the spring of 1986.

The fairground was opened briefly when it was decided that a distraction was required on the morning of the 27th of April, just before the notice to evacuate was given. An incomprehensible action today given what we know now about the severity of the disaster and the levels of radiation already in the area that morning. It wasn’t really ready, the Ferris wheel was still behind the cladding and the paratrooper ride did not have the canopies in place, but people were excited and visited the new park.

The park sits empty and lonely. The bumper cars are where they were left, leaves blowing around the barriers. The seats on the paratrooper ride are slowly rusting away and the Ferris wheel is fixed and fading. The yellow capsules remain as bright as they originally were in places but the supports are orange with rust and the paint is flaking and peeling.

During the aftermath of the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, helicopters landed on the platform near the Ferris wheel, which left behind radiation spots. Radiation in the area can reach from 60 to 800 μR / hour. Radiation levels around the park vary; the liquidators washed radiation into the soil after the helicopters carrying radioactive materials used the grounds as a landing strip. Concreted areas are relatively safe, but areas, where moss has built up, are high. Some areas can emit 25 µSv/h and one particular hot-spot on the underside of a Ferris wheel capsule was found to emit just under 230µSv/h. These are some of the highest levels of radiation in the whole of Pripyat. It is lonely and desolate, a jarring place of normality and disaster fighting with the senses.

In 2017, in Pripyat, Polish citizens noted that they had posted a video on the Internet that allegedly mechanically launched the Ferris wheel. Some activists immediately expressed their indignation at these actions, because at start-up, if the wheel had collapsed, people could have suffered, or the administration of the Exclusion Zone would simply cease to let tourists from all over the world.

The park appears in the video games S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl, Call of Duty; Modern Warfare, in the film Chernobyl Diaries and is also the inspiration for Atlantic Island Park in The Secret World. (meanderingwild.com)

Like most cities, also Pripyat has a City Park. Today, the park, and in particular the Ferris wheel, are a famous touristic spot. Thanks to the bright yellow booths, clearly visible and recognizable, it has become a real symbol of the city and the entire exclusion zone.

• meanderingwild.com/pripyat-amusement-park/
• chernobyladventure.com/certovo-koleso
• chernobyl.one/pripyat-city-park/