Abandoned hospitals are creepy places. It’s kind of in their nature. Like abandoned amusement parks. Hotels, spas, mines… they don’t really get under my skin. Amusement parks and hospitals do – but none of them even nearly as much as Hospital No 126 in Pripyat!
When Maxim asked us on the first day which places we wanted to see, a hospital appeared on top of my priority list instantly. Hospitals are generally hard to find and even harder to access (since they usually are in easy to reach locations and filled with expensive equipment), so this was a great opportunity to explore one in a more relaxed atmosphere. At least that was my hope… sadly it wasn’t fulfilled. Nevertheless Hospital No 126 turned out to be my favorite location in Pripyat.
Although it was still morning we already “lost” quite some time on the Cooling Towers and the Przewalski’s Horses, so we arrived at the hospital way behind the schedule our dear guide has planned for us. As a result Maxim gave us half an hour since “the next location will be even better”.
So there was the time pressure… and then there was the atmosphere that was everything but relaxing. Of all the real places in Pripyat this one was by far the most real. The basement is actually one of the most contaminated places in the world and holds the suits of the first six firefighters that died within a couple of weeks after the accident. Maxim told us that he went down there once with full protection gear, but had to leave after about 30 seconds – something he never wants to do again.
At that point Maxim knew that Sebi, Michi and I were reasonable and responsible-minded people, so he just quickly entered the hospital with us to guide us to one of the interesting floors and then returned outside to wait with our driver. My fellow Swiss explorers headed their own way and so it took about two minutes until I was all by myself. In the maternity ward of an abandoned hospital. In Pripyat. Almost 25 years after the accident. Without the shadow of a doubt the highlight of this trip. We’ve all seen a horror movie or two, played video games like Resident Evil or Silent Hill. The hospital felt like being the star in one of those works of fiction. On a very irrational basis – because the place was perfectly safe. It just didn’t look and feel like it…
Thanks to the time restraint I was only able to see one of the floors of one of the departments, maybe a tenth of the building, but it was nevertheless amazing. Almost every room, every corner had something interesting to offer. There were surgical instruments, bedpans, gynecological examination chairs, bathtubs, whole boxes of medicine, posters and signs with medical explanations (including explicit pictures) and much, much more. At the end of the hallway were several rooms with rusty baby beds, a really uncomfortable sight. The lighting that day contributed a lot to the atmosphere and made it very difficult to take pictures – never before I wished more that I had a tripod! Since I was in a hurry I cranked up the ISO and took photos while quickly exploring the rooms along the hallway – and on the way back I filmed about two thirds of the floor with my video camera. Sorry that parts of the video turned out to be a bit blurry, but there was no time for re-shooting; just consider it part of the atmosphere…
Looking through the photos from the relaxed comfort of my home, one of them caught my eye and gave me the creeps, although it’s quite unspectacular at a first glance. It shows an opened up register lying on top of other documents. There are lots of handwritten entries and even without speaking any Russian / Ukrainian I guess it’s pretty obvious what it is: Hospital staff logging in for work at 8am and 8pm on April 24th 1986, April 25th 1986, April 26th 1986 – and on April 27th nobody cared to log in at 8pm anymore… (EDIT: Well, obviously I was wrong – Greg let me know in the comments that it’s actually a checklist for people making sure that locked medicine is still where it should be. Thanks again, Greg!)
(If you would like to know more about my trip to the Zone Of Alienation please *click here* to get to the “Chernobyl & Pripyat” special. For a map of the area please *click here*. If you don’t want to miss the latest postings you can *follow Abandoned Kansai on Twitter* and *like this blog on Facebook* – and of course there is the *video channel on Youtube*…)
Zone Of Alienation – Pripyat: Hospital No 126
2011/02/23 by Florian / Abandoned Kansai
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Abandoned Kansai 
The rusty baby beds lying tumbled are fantastic. The light and composition is great. The story is fascinating too- good work!
Thanks a lot, Mike! If you ever go there don’t forget the tripod… It cuts into your time, but it’ll make things so much easier!
Best Post of the Pripyat Adventure so far, both in terms of writing and photographs 🙂
Pity you did not get to see the whole building, I bet there were some even creepier rooms to explore.
I am curious about this hospital, was it just a general one or was there a focus on maternity? Because with all the baby beds, creepy gynecological examination chairs and reproductive health posters it had me wondering.
Hi Leni – first of all sorry for the late response!
I’m not 100% sure, but I don’t think that the whole hospital was a maternity hospital, although the birth rate in Pripyat was crazy for a city with 50.000 inhabitants – up to 1.000 babies a year! But the building was way too big, so I think what I’ve seen was just the maternity ward of a decent size hospital. (One of several BTW. Pripyat had about half a dozen clinics according to an online map I found.)
Very, very, very interesting.
Fantastic work.
Thank you Florian!
Greetings from Italy
Thanks for your kind words – it’s always especially motivating to get feedback from previously unknown readers!
That register is not a log-in list, it is a list of medications in protected storage. 27th Apr’s morning shift recounted that stuff but no one did this in the evening. Creepy.
Thanks a lot for the information, Greg! I really appreciate any corrections, especially in this case since my knowledge about hospitals and Ukrainian / Russian is very limited.
The picture asking “Does anybody know what this is?” I believe that is a small “house steam” fed autoclave used to sterilize instruments. There would be a tray that slides onto the grips inside, the door is closed and sealed and then high pressure steam is used to sterilize the instruments on the tray.
In addition the shot “opening hours” looks like a room/patient list. The times for each room/patient would indicate medication times or check times. I don’t read Russian though so may be way off base.
Fascinating shots and description of the hospital, among the best I’ve seen of the place. Too bad you weren’t able to spend more time in there. It’s amazing what 25 years of abandonment will do to a place.
Thanks a lot for your kind words and the in-depth explanations, Kurt. I hope to go back to the Zone of Alienation one day to spend more time at the hospital – and of course lots of other places in Pripyat I haven’t seen yet. Most likely not this year (too many “event tourists” thanks to the anniversary), but probably in 2012 or 2013…
Did Maxim give you any further details or information regarding his trip to the irradiated basement, such as why he went down there, or an explanation as to how the firefighter’s suits got down there? It seems like one of the more interesting locations of the hospital, considering its dangerous levels of contamination, the way it serves as a sort of memorial to those who died shortly after the disaster, and how some people have actually been within, but for such a short span of time. Also, I don’t know that much about which materials hold radiation the longest, but if the basement is made of concrete, or cement, like the rest of the building, why does it hold such high levels of contamination? Is it something you would know about or learned of during your trip?
Hi Blaine,
I don’t think Maxim told us why he went down to the basement. I assume it was part of his training to be a guide in the Zone of Alienation – once you’ve experienced places like that yourself you are way more convincing warning others not to go down there. IIRC the firefighter suits got down there because the firefighters were treated at the hospital after their mission at the power planet – it was only later that they were flown to Moscow for treatment at a speciality hospital. And I guess the suits weren’t the only highly contaminated objects that were brought there. Maxim futhermore told us that radioactive particles sink into the ground – that’s why they hurried banking up contaminated soil north of Pripyat. The longer the would have waited the deeper they would have needed digging. I assume that’s (one of) the reason(s) why basements are stronger contaminated than let’s say third floors in general.
You really weren’t eager to see the basements? You were alone, you had all the possibilities to go…
I kinda like to live. Overall it’s not bad being me – so I preferred to follow Maxim’s advice not to go down there. In addition to that we had barely any time at the hospital as it was. And I’m sure they locked the entrance to the dangerous area.
dumb question but on the pic ” yep kids this is how its done” but what was that tryna show steps to?
Oh i see what it is now my bad i only looked at it for less then a seck
It’s good to see that the caption suits the photo. 🙂
You are right, it is very eerie. It is so sad to see everything abandoned…like there is no more life on earth.
Probably the most intense place I’ve ever been to in my life! Not only was it spooky, it also was full of history. It’s still hard top describe how I felt being there…
f. amazing. Like a civilisation from which the humans have been chased, and left in a hurry.
What is that “yes kids this is how it is done” picture? hah
samm palm was wondering, too… Do you want me to point it out or do you want to give it another thought? 🙂
you can point it out lol
I’m no gynecologist, but to me it looks like an illustrated instruction on how to “install” a diaphragm / pessary.
This is so cool, I love all these stories! Hehe I think I know what I want for my birthday, haha hope my mama will take me here! :’D Good thing we live in Kiev though lol
If I would live in Kiev I would spend every second weekend there… 🙂
Hey Yekaterina,
They really did look happy – and I really was annoyed at that point, because I really, really wanted to go to Pripyat. Minutes later it turned out that I almost missed one of the most impressive moments of my life… So when you go to the Zone of Alienation, book a private tour and make them take you to the cooling towers. Definitely a Top 10 moment of my life!
I imagine you would. 😀
Aww! That is too funny, it made my spit water everywhere. I definitely will! 😀
Yep, I get to go. I have never been this happy in my life… (:
The hospital was probably the only place in Pripyat where I genuinely felt creeped out (on the lower levels).
Oh, I loved the hospital! I wish we would have stayed longer…
Why didnt you go to the basement ?
Let me quote the article you hopefully just read: “The basement is actually one of the most contaminated places in the world and holds the suits of the first six firefighters that died within a couple of weeks after the accident. Maxim told us that he went down there once with full protection gear, but had to leave after about 30 seconds – something he never wants to do again.”
So why on earth would I want to go down there without any protective wear?
Well, why not?
Good article and pictures. I love stuff like this. Slightly disappointed that the barbecue pit/toilet mystery got solved.
I’m quite sure that the ‘what is this’ is used for emptying bed pans. You sit the pan on the lugs, tip it up as the door shuts and it empties and is sprayed with water. It seems to be connected to sewerage pipes which makes sense.