On the 25th anniversary of the Chornobyl disaster, I was asked to come down to the CBC offices in Toronto and do a live interview on Radio Canada International's The Link.
It was an odd experience as I'm used to actually seeing the person interviewing me, not sitting in a small booth with headphones on, waiting for a disembodied voice to come on and start talking to me. It was actually quite an easygoing experience and made me feel extremely comfortable, like I was in my living room, listening to some old vinyl records with my big old 70s headphones. That's probably why I babbled on so much and felt so at ease with the interviewer. You tell me:
My interview - rated one of The Link's top stories!
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Thursday, April 21, 2011
We're Open For Business!
The show is up at Bezpala Brown Gallery and it looks amazing! 7 hours of hanging photos yesterday and we're ready for our first visitors starting today at noon! Some teaser snapshots from the very long day of hanging photos:
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| The Independent Women in their rusted iron frames |
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| The big reactor in all its toxic glory - 4' x 4', not easy to hang this one |
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| Playing around with some plexiglass mounting |
Sunday, April 17, 2011
The vastness of a ghost city
If you ever get a chance to visit Pripyat, thinking to yourself "I have 3 days - I'm going to photograph the entire place!" believe me when I say, you never will. The city is so huge and you want to have at least an hour per building to shoot something half decent. I think I would need at least 3 more visits to get a comprehensive photographic essay of this forgotten location.
Click the map to enlarge it (you'll need to - trust me). You'll see just how little we shot in 3 days on a private tour....
Click the map to enlarge it (you'll need to - trust me). You'll see just how little we shot in 3 days on a private tour....
Where did the time go?
It's amazing how fast time flies. In just 3 days we'll be installing the CONTACT Photography Show at Bezpala Brown Gallery that has come out of this 2 year adventure!
Just in case you were interested in seeing just how big the locations were that we visited, here's a map of the Chornobyl reactor and area - anything with labels indicating where we were allowed to go and to shoot.
Just in case you were interested in seeing just how big the locations were that we visited, here's a map of the Chornobyl reactor and area - anything with labels indicating where we were allowed to go and to shoot.
Saturday, April 16, 2011
Remembering Vladimir Shevchenko
Russian filmmaker Vladimir Shevchenko went into the irradiated zone and was allowed complete access to film the workers as they attempted to clean up the destruction left by the explosion.
Wearing only a surgical mask - the same as most of the workers at the disaster - at one point he filmed the crash of an army helicopter while filming from the roof of the reactor, subjecting himself to lethal doses of radiation.
Shevchenko later compiled his footage into a film entitled "Chernobyl: A Chronicle of Difficult Weeks" which was immediately suppressed by the Soviet government. He later died from the radiation he exposed himself to, although he is not among the official casualties of the accident.
These scenes were not included in the final cut of the film and you can see Shevchenko in one of them on the roof of the reactor with his camera gear:
Wearing only a surgical mask - the same as most of the workers at the disaster - at one point he filmed the crash of an army helicopter while filming from the roof of the reactor, subjecting himself to lethal doses of radiation.
Shevchenko later compiled his footage into a film entitled "Chernobyl: A Chronicle of Difficult Weeks" which was immediately suppressed by the Soviet government. He later died from the radiation he exposed himself to, although he is not among the official casualties of the accident.
These scenes were not included in the final cut of the film and you can see Shevchenko in one of them on the roof of the reactor with his camera gear:
Monday, April 4, 2011
Chernobyl Disaster Documentary
If you have an hour, sit down and watch this amazing documentary about the Chornobyl disaster - with interviews with Hans Blix, Gorbachev, government and military workers, journalists, scientists, and Prypyat refugees.
We watched this documentary on the train out of Kyiv, heading out to Odessa to do some sightseeing after our big adventure to Chornobyl. It made me realize just what I had been walking through, what I had witnessed 23 years later, that I was now a part of nuclear experience in the Exclusion Zone. I don't think I will ever forget my time there or what I witnessed.
To this day, the term "The Liquidators" is one that I will always associate with radiation and death - even though these approximately 800000 young men were heros for going in without true knowledge of what they were getting into. The most heroic to me are the team of coal miners, who used their expertise to pump out the contaminated water to prevent its entrance into the groundwater. Although they were given suits and masks to wear, it was so dark and hot under the reactor, most chose to go in unencumbered by these ineffective security measures in order to work faster and breathe properly. They truly had no idea what working so long with so little protection under the reactor would do to them.
We watched this documentary on the train out of Kyiv, heading out to Odessa to do some sightseeing after our big adventure to Chornobyl. It made me realize just what I had been walking through, what I had witnessed 23 years later, that I was now a part of nuclear experience in the Exclusion Zone. I don't think I will ever forget my time there or what I witnessed.
To this day, the term "The Liquidators" is one that I will always associate with radiation and death - even though these approximately 800000 young men were heros for going in without true knowledge of what they were getting into. The most heroic to me are the team of coal miners, who used their expertise to pump out the contaminated water to prevent its entrance into the groundwater. Although they were given suits and masks to wear, it was so dark and hot under the reactor, most chose to go in unencumbered by these ineffective security measures in order to work faster and breathe properly. They truly had no idea what working so long with so little protection under the reactor would do to them.
Sunday, April 3, 2011
Inside a Crumbling Nuclear Giant
The sarcophagus that entombs the remains of the Chornobyl reactor was built hastily back in 1986 after the explosion. It was a quick solution to an unprecedented life-threatening problem that could cross through Europe and into Asia, depending on how the wind blew. Plans have been underway to design and build a new, more permanent sarcophagus before higher levels of radiation leak out and threaten the workers, animals, land, and water. This Greenpeace video, shows the interior of the crumbling structure and daily maintenance required to keep it standing until the new solution is completed.
Friday, April 1, 2011
Our exhibit in Slate Art Magazine
Two Canadian artists document Chernobyl 25 years after the nuclear disaster while the world watches another unfold. Volatile Particles contrasts man's impact on the environment with nature's resilience. The photographs blend images of normality (the ghosts of the past) superimposed on post-Chernobyl devastation and infestation (the present-day stark reality amid the afterlife of the Exclusion Zone). Poignant, moving and relevant – this is a timely introspection addressing our ever-evolving nuclear depression.
From Fukushima to Chornobyl
I’ve been watching, along with the rest of the world, as a potential nuclear disaster unravels in Japan with the tsunami-damaged reactors at Fukushima struggling to come under control and prevent a meltdown. As small levels of radiation leak out into the soil and air, media have quickly made the comparison between this breakdown and the disaster in Chornobyl – the world’s worst nuclear disaster just 25 years ago this April.
Having visited Chornobyl and it’s ghost city of Pripyat, I truly hope that is not the case as I wouldn’t want to see the city and land around the Fukushima plants cordoned off and left uninhabited for a quarter century due to toxic levels of radiation. But there are several differences between these two disasters in not only underlying circumstances, but also in local government and world response that in the end make the difference between a liveable solution and desolate wasteland.
How it happened
The Fukushima reactors broke down due to natural circumstances – they were hit by a tsunami and, as with most buildings in the area could not withstand the pressure and force of nature. But they have still managed to keep them contained, have put in major efforts to cool the cores to avoid meltdown, and there has been no explosion and spewing of radioactive materials into the air as with Chornobyl.
Chornobyl’s explosion was man-made. Some reports say that a worker at the plant turned off the emergency cooling system to test the electricity in the grid system which created a power surge. The reactor failed dramatically leaving them with no recourse but to go into the higly radioactive mess and try to cover it and contain it while digging under the reactor to install a cooling system in time before a second meltdown and explosion.
Reaction to the event
When the Chornobyl reactor exploded just 7km from the city of Pipyat, built for the workers and their families, it was three days before the government made any effort to evacuate the city. Officially there was no meltdown and no casualties and it was business as usual. With massive amounts of radiation in the air, soaking into the skin, all metal, into the earth and water systems, people just went about their business, some even swam in the river used to cool the reactor. It was 3 days after the explosion that officials told people that they were being evacuated temporarily for three days so they only needed what they could carry with them as they would be back soon. 1100 buses evacuated some 50,000 irradiated residents who never returned. Volunteers and those sent by the government to work on the reactor to get it cooled down and contained were not aware of the levels of radiation and most, if not all, died of radiation poisoning shortly after. The sarcophagus was built to contain the radiation that still spews from Chornobyl today and the land in a 30km radius is considered an Exclusion Zone – toxic and uninhabitable, perhaps forever.
At Fukushima, the reaction to the problem was immediate with scientists rushing to ensure that the reactors were contained and no danger to the land and water. Since Chornobyl, many of the world’s nuclear scientists have traveled to the Exclusion Zone to study the disaster and learn from its mistakes, see how reactors can be improved, and put in place contingency plans. With today’s immediate coverage of everything that happens in the world 24/7, there would be no way that any government could cover something up such as a nuclear plant being damaged or failing. Through 24/7 news channels, social media outlets such as Facebook, YouTube, bloggers, and Flickr, we are a world that is connected to each other across oceans and can immediately react and provide aide. Although the scientists are having a challenge getting the reactors back on track and are reporting radiation levels 400 times the norm near the reactor, we need to keep in mind that when the people were evacuated from Pripyat, the levels were 60,000 times higher than normal. It may seem like a lot when reading the information in an isolated article, but it needs to be used in comparison to get a better idea of the scale.
Outcomes
I continue to watch the news, read the reports, and connect with my friends in Japan through FB to keep abreast of what’s going on with both the cleanup efforts and the Fukushima reactors. I have every hope that because of their experience with earthquakes and preparedness, what they learned from Chornobyl, their great technological advances since the 1986 disaster, and the world’s help at their call that the scientists and engineers at Fukushima will be able to pull an amazing scientific hattrick to contain their reactors and make Japan safe again, averting a second Chornobyl.
As much as I enjoyed the adventure of photographing a true ghost city in Pripyat, I am emotionally disconnected from the original event – it’s a toxic time capsule ready for exploration. I have an emotional attachment to Japan through friends and media, making it a different experience. It would pain me to see a part of Japan turn into an Exclusion Zone and become uninhabitable for 25 years, 50 years, or forever.
Having visited Chornobyl and it’s ghost city of Pripyat, I truly hope that is not the case as I wouldn’t want to see the city and land around the Fukushima plants cordoned off and left uninhabited for a quarter century due to toxic levels of radiation. But there are several differences between these two disasters in not only underlying circumstances, but also in local government and world response that in the end make the difference between a liveable solution and desolate wasteland.
How it happened
The Fukushima reactors broke down due to natural circumstances – they were hit by a tsunami and, as with most buildings in the area could not withstand the pressure and force of nature. But they have still managed to keep them contained, have put in major efforts to cool the cores to avoid meltdown, and there has been no explosion and spewing of radioactive materials into the air as with Chornobyl.
Chornobyl’s explosion was man-made. Some reports say that a worker at the plant turned off the emergency cooling system to test the electricity in the grid system which created a power surge. The reactor failed dramatically leaving them with no recourse but to go into the higly radioactive mess and try to cover it and contain it while digging under the reactor to install a cooling system in time before a second meltdown and explosion.
Reaction to the event
When the Chornobyl reactor exploded just 7km from the city of Pipyat, built for the workers and their families, it was three days before the government made any effort to evacuate the city. Officially there was no meltdown and no casualties and it was business as usual. With massive amounts of radiation in the air, soaking into the skin, all metal, into the earth and water systems, people just went about their business, some even swam in the river used to cool the reactor. It was 3 days after the explosion that officials told people that they were being evacuated temporarily for three days so they only needed what they could carry with them as they would be back soon. 1100 buses evacuated some 50,000 irradiated residents who never returned. Volunteers and those sent by the government to work on the reactor to get it cooled down and contained were not aware of the levels of radiation and most, if not all, died of radiation poisoning shortly after. The sarcophagus was built to contain the radiation that still spews from Chornobyl today and the land in a 30km radius is considered an Exclusion Zone – toxic and uninhabitable, perhaps forever.
At Fukushima, the reaction to the problem was immediate with scientists rushing to ensure that the reactors were contained and no danger to the land and water. Since Chornobyl, many of the world’s nuclear scientists have traveled to the Exclusion Zone to study the disaster and learn from its mistakes, see how reactors can be improved, and put in place contingency plans. With today’s immediate coverage of everything that happens in the world 24/7, there would be no way that any government could cover something up such as a nuclear plant being damaged or failing. Through 24/7 news channels, social media outlets such as Facebook, YouTube, bloggers, and Flickr, we are a world that is connected to each other across oceans and can immediately react and provide aide. Although the scientists are having a challenge getting the reactors back on track and are reporting radiation levels 400 times the norm near the reactor, we need to keep in mind that when the people were evacuated from Pripyat, the levels were 60,000 times higher than normal. It may seem like a lot when reading the information in an isolated article, but it needs to be used in comparison to get a better idea of the scale.
Outcomes
I continue to watch the news, read the reports, and connect with my friends in Japan through FB to keep abreast of what’s going on with both the cleanup efforts and the Fukushima reactors. I have every hope that because of their experience with earthquakes and preparedness, what they learned from Chornobyl, their great technological advances since the 1986 disaster, and the world’s help at their call that the scientists and engineers at Fukushima will be able to pull an amazing scientific hattrick to contain their reactors and make Japan safe again, averting a second Chornobyl.
As much as I enjoyed the adventure of photographing a true ghost city in Pripyat, I am emotionally disconnected from the original event – it’s a toxic time capsule ready for exploration. I have an emotional attachment to Japan through friends and media, making it a different experience. It would pain me to see a part of Japan turn into an Exclusion Zone and become uninhabitable for 25 years, 50 years, or forever.
Olena Sullivan photographed the irradiated Exclusion Zone of Chornobyl and Pripyat. Photos from this excursion can be seen in 3 upcoming exhibits – “Chornobyl Remembered” at the Ukrainian Embassy in Canada (Ottawa) April 12-end June, “Chornobyl: 25 Years Later” at KUMF Gallery (April 26-May 4) with a reception and presentation May 30 at 6pm, and “Volatile Particles: Chornobyl 25 Years Later” at Bezpala Brown Gallery (Toronto) as part of CONTACT 2011 with a reception May 14. You can view additional photos from Pripyat on her website.
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
The Disaster In Film
When you see photos of the Chernobyl reactor now, you really don't understand just how horrible and deadly the disaster really was. Wrapped up in its sarcophagus, it looks like any other industrial building - a cool private property surrounded by tall cement walls topped by razor wire and heavily guarded by security. The kind of place any urban explorer would love to get into. If you weren't aware of the history - and kids born in the 90s probably aren't - there's nothing here to really give you a sense of the mighty disaster that could have torn the world apart.
There's a short film on YouTube that was shot by filmmaker Vladimir Shevchenko, one of the first on the scene at the disaster in April 1986. His images are haunting - they show the panic as people try to deal with the explosion, working in extreme radiation conditions either without protective gear or with just paper masks to keep them safe. Shevchenko died several weeks after shooting the film from radiation exposure. His name never made it among the official casualties list.
There's a short film on YouTube that was shot by filmmaker Vladimir Shevchenko, one of the first on the scene at the disaster in April 1986. His images are haunting - they show the panic as people try to deal with the explosion, working in extreme radiation conditions either without protective gear or with just paper masks to keep them safe. Shevchenko died several weeks after shooting the film from radiation exposure. His name never made it among the official casualties list.
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Reflections on Ruin
It's been a long road, filtering through the hundreds of photos from Pripyat and the reactor, trying to whittle them down to those few perfect ones. The ones that capture the essence of our trip, truly convey the mood of that abandoned and silent city, and tell the story that we ourselves can only begin to fully comprehend.
On the overnight train ride from Odessa to Lviv, Photomat had shown me the documentary he had about the Chernobyl incident - I really have to get the name of it from him. It had footage of Pripyat, showing it as an active and lively city just before and after the explosion.
I was amazed at how well preserved the buildings were from what I could see in the footage. Other than windows being shattered, which can probably be chalked up to vandalism more than decay, the structures themselves were in amazing shape. The big difference was the vegetation and animal life.
When we had passed through the main checkpoint heading into the city proper, we were told by Evgeny (photo at right with me), our (amazing) guide that we were now driving on the main thoroughfare. Considering that the road was just wide enough for his car and the trees were canopied and just brushing the top, this seemed quite an impossibility. However, the documentary clearly showed that this main thoroughfare was quite an avenue - along the lines of Toronto's University Avenue - two grand roads with a garden-like divide. We just couldn't see it, nature had taken over completely and the road was one big pothole.
Another difference was in the overall layout of the city. We had made our way to the top of the hotel, sweating in our white alien-like anti-radiation suits, climbing 9 (or 10?) floors to get a wonderful view of the entire city from the long-gone wall-to-wall windows in what I assume had been a penthouse suite. Scanning the horizon, you felt like you were in some Green Party's Utopian cityscape - you could barely see below the 3rd floor of any building as everything was overgrown with trees, shrubs, vines, ferns, and other native forms of vegetation. It was quite beautiful - so green and lush and quiet. You could almost imagine that you were an explorer and had found a lost civilization - until your dosimeter would go off to remind you of all the radiation.
Looking at the documentary gave us a completely different view of the cityscape. Pripyat looked more like what you would expect to see in European locations like Kyiv, Prague, or Vienna. Most of the buildings had vast concrete plazas in front of them and the city had a larger metal/concrete to nature ratio. They were surrounded by forest and had some garden areas around the housing but schoolyards were concrete, and so were roads, and walkways. It's amazing just how easily plants were able to take hold in this concrete jungle and reclaim it.
The other night, we caught a bit of the series Life After People, which is supposed to chronicle in a timeline what will happen to cities once man is gone and nature and animals take over again. Sounded interesting and it's been recommended to me since I like to shoot abandoned spaces. The episode which looks at life after 20 years is supposed to focus entirely on Pripyat as they used it as the real-life example of the level of decay for this time span. I'm looking forward to finding some time to look at that episode and see how well it meshes with my own personal experience.
I was glad that we had watched the documentary after our trip as we could compare what we had seen and experienced to how the city looked and functioned when it was still vital.
On the overnight train ride from Odessa to Lviv, Photomat had shown me the documentary he had about the Chernobyl incident - I really have to get the name of it from him. It had footage of Pripyat, showing it as an active and lively city just before and after the explosion.
I was amazed at how well preserved the buildings were from what I could see in the footage. Other than windows being shattered, which can probably be chalked up to vandalism more than decay, the structures themselves were in amazing shape. The big difference was the vegetation and animal life.
When we had passed through the main checkpoint heading into the city proper, we were told by Evgeny (photo at right with me), our (amazing) guide that we were now driving on the main thoroughfare. Considering that the road was just wide enough for his car and the trees were canopied and just brushing the top, this seemed quite an impossibility. However, the documentary clearly showed that this main thoroughfare was quite an avenue - along the lines of Toronto's University Avenue - two grand roads with a garden-like divide. We just couldn't see it, nature had taken over completely and the road was one big pothole.
Another difference was in the overall layout of the city. We had made our way to the top of the hotel, sweating in our white alien-like anti-radiation suits, climbing 9 (or 10?) floors to get a wonderful view of the entire city from the long-gone wall-to-wall windows in what I assume had been a penthouse suite. Scanning the horizon, you felt like you were in some Green Party's Utopian cityscape - you could barely see below the 3rd floor of any building as everything was overgrown with trees, shrubs, vines, ferns, and other native forms of vegetation. It was quite beautiful - so green and lush and quiet. You could almost imagine that you were an explorer and had found a lost civilization - until your dosimeter would go off to remind you of all the radiation.
Looking at the documentary gave us a completely different view of the cityscape. Pripyat looked more like what you would expect to see in European locations like Kyiv, Prague, or Vienna. Most of the buildings had vast concrete plazas in front of them and the city had a larger metal/concrete to nature ratio. They were surrounded by forest and had some garden areas around the housing but schoolyards were concrete, and so were roads, and walkways. It's amazing just how easily plants were able to take hold in this concrete jungle and reclaim it.
The other night, we caught a bit of the series Life After People, which is supposed to chronicle in a timeline what will happen to cities once man is gone and nature and animals take over again. Sounded interesting and it's been recommended to me since I like to shoot abandoned spaces. The episode which looks at life after 20 years is supposed to focus entirely on Pripyat as they used it as the real-life example of the level of decay for this time span. I'm looking forward to finding some time to look at that episode and see how well it meshes with my own personal experience.
I was glad that we had watched the documentary after our trip as we could compare what we had seen and experienced to how the city looked and functioned when it was still vital.
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Post Mortem
We're back, safe and sound and going through the process of picking our way through 1500+ photos. Until our exhibit about Chernobyl and Pripyat, we won't be posting any photos of those locations - don't want to give that away - but I'll be posting a photo daily from the other locations we visited on our adventure.
Soviet style architecture at the Ministry of Health - Kiev
Soviet style architecture at the Ministry of Health - Kiev
Thursday, September 10, 2009
A Shopaholic in Ukraine
What do you do when you've seen all the sights (or at least you think you have?) in the city of Ukrainian love? You go shopping.
It's easier said than done, though, when it turns out you're in a city that doesn't seem to recognize any of your credit cards (thank you MC and VISA) and spits out your bank card from the ATMs like a bad piece of meat. To top it off, most restaurants and shops only take cash - Ukrainian hryvnias and not US dollars either. It was definitely a challenge to get my shopping groove on.
We hit the artist's market for a second day, hoping to see something new or perhaps overlooked and finally get some souvenirs. The most interesting sight there was the row of embroidery with the ladies (and one or two men) sitting in front of their wares with needle and thread in hand working on new pieces. Some beautiful men's and women's shirts as well as cute little girl's costumes could be purchased at really reasonable prices. The more complicated patterns could be seen on the rushnyky (like table runners) and full table cloths. Everything from border patterns to full overall patterns in every colour with patterns from every region of the country were on display. It was really beautiful.
After the market we made our way towards the main park near the Opera House for some people watching. They have about a dozen small electric cars here that parents rent out for about 10 minutes for their children. Half of them allow for the children to drive themselves and the other half are remote controlled with the parents actually driving the car. It was really adorable watching the little girls in the remote control cars, completely oblivious to the wheel or direction they were going in, more intent on their dresses, hands, birds, really anything but the experience. I think the parents were having the most fun.
Near the park there was quite a commotion with police, ambulance, and secret service agents surrounding an outdoor cafe. When we stumbled upon it - being really oblivious to the whole scene until it was too late - we realized that the President of Ukraine was having lunch with a large group of people right on the patio and was engaged in some grand conversation. Lots of hand gesturing and glass raising was going on. You never know if this was a political luncheon or if he just wanted to get out and have a nice patio lunch. I would have taken a photo if I wasn't worried about being pounced upon by a dozen secret service agents.
We're sitting in the "luxurious internet lounge" at the Lviv train station (3 hryvnia/hour to sit + 7 hryvnia/hour to use the internet) waiting for our train to show up. Another night of back breaking travel back to Kyiv - I love the fact that I can close my eyes in one city and open them in another, but those "beds" are murder on the spine, and we're traveling in luxe. I'd hate to see how they travel in the regular cars.
One more day in Ukraine tomorrow and then it's a short hop to Frankfurt and back home. It will be nice to be home - the adventure has been grand!
It's easier said than done, though, when it turns out you're in a city that doesn't seem to recognize any of your credit cards (thank you MC and VISA) and spits out your bank card from the ATMs like a bad piece of meat. To top it off, most restaurants and shops only take cash - Ukrainian hryvnias and not US dollars either. It was definitely a challenge to get my shopping groove on.
We hit the artist's market for a second day, hoping to see something new or perhaps overlooked and finally get some souvenirs. The most interesting sight there was the row of embroidery with the ladies (and one or two men) sitting in front of their wares with needle and thread in hand working on new pieces. Some beautiful men's and women's shirts as well as cute little girl's costumes could be purchased at really reasonable prices. The more complicated patterns could be seen on the rushnyky (like table runners) and full table cloths. Everything from border patterns to full overall patterns in every colour with patterns from every region of the country were on display. It was really beautiful.
After the market we made our way towards the main park near the Opera House for some people watching. They have about a dozen small electric cars here that parents rent out for about 10 minutes for their children. Half of them allow for the children to drive themselves and the other half are remote controlled with the parents actually driving the car. It was really adorable watching the little girls in the remote control cars, completely oblivious to the wheel or direction they were going in, more intent on their dresses, hands, birds, really anything but the experience. I think the parents were having the most fun.
Near the park there was quite a commotion with police, ambulance, and secret service agents surrounding an outdoor cafe. When we stumbled upon it - being really oblivious to the whole scene until it was too late - we realized that the President of Ukraine was having lunch with a large group of people right on the patio and was engaged in some grand conversation. Lots of hand gesturing and glass raising was going on. You never know if this was a political luncheon or if he just wanted to get out and have a nice patio lunch. I would have taken a photo if I wasn't worried about being pounced upon by a dozen secret service agents.
We're sitting in the "luxurious internet lounge" at the Lviv train station (3 hryvnia/hour to sit + 7 hryvnia/hour to use the internet) waiting for our train to show up. Another night of back breaking travel back to Kyiv - I love the fact that I can close my eyes in one city and open them in another, but those "beds" are murder on the spine, and we're traveling in luxe. I'd hate to see how they travel in the regular cars.
One more day in Ukraine tomorrow and then it's a short hop to Frankfurt and back home. It will be nice to be home - the adventure has been grand!
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Meet Me At The Cemetery Gates
Its been the day of the dead as we travelled from one end of the city to the other to explore two different cemeteries.
LYCHAKIV CEMETERY
Our first trek was to the famous historic necropolis created in 1787. Originally located on several hills in in the borough of Lychakiv outside the city limits, it was expanded in the mid-1850s in a design of alleys and round-abouts and quickly became the main cemetery for the city as most others closed. Denominations here include all Christian sects, Roman Catholics, Eastern Rite Catholics, Protestants, and Orthodox. After WWII, Lviv was annexed by the Soviet Union and many of historical monuments were destroyed as well as many sculptures - and this devastation continued well into the 70s. However, in 1975 the cemetery was declared a national historic monument and this stopped the vandalism. Today is it one of the main tourist attractions in the city. Some of the famous Ukrainian people buried in the cemetery include:
- Ivan Franko - Ukrainian poet
- Oleksandr Tysowkyj - founder of Ukrainian scouting
- Jacques Hnizdovsky - painter, printmaker, sculptor, bookplate designer and illustrator of numerous books both in English and Ukrainian
- Veterans of WWI and WWII
- Victims of the NKVD
Many parts of the cemetery seem to have been forgotten, with the plots overgrown with vines, moss and tall wild ferns. We were able to meander down the side aisles where it felt like you were in a jungle and some tombstone were completely covered over and could no longer be read or, sometimes, even be seen.
If not for the tour groups I could have been there all day.
JEWISH CEMETERY
Although they don't put a name to this cemetery on the complete other side of town in our guidebook - it was recommended as a place to go to see what was left of the Jewish cemetery which had been destroyed in the war and to see several soldier's memorials. Somewhere near there was also supposed to be a marker for a former concentration camp, which we were never able to find.
This cemetery was also quite beautiful, with the same above ground tombstones and old metal and stone statuary. Although many of the plots were also overgrown with moss and vines, you could tell that many more people were coming in here and taking care of the plots than in the other cemetery. Everything was a bit cleaner and well maintained.
We spent quite a long time just wandering around, looking for the resting places of the Soviet soldiers (kind of found), Ukrainian soldiers (found), German soldiers (really tried to find and couldn't), and victims of the NKVD (nope).
As we were winding our way out towards the back entrance we made it into the small Jewish section of the cemetery. It was an interesting sight. The tombstones, both old and new, were in both Ukrainian and Yiddish, and were quite beautiful. They were both old and new, spanning design styles from modern shiny marble to the old stone with inset cameos. What was different in this section, something that we had not seen anywhere else, were the cages. Many of the tombstones and memorials were in cages surrounding the entire plot - some as large as about 6' x 6'. The doors were locked and you could not get close. This seemed so odd to us and then we came upon a memorial that had been defaced - the name was missing and the engraved face looked like it had been gouged out. We think that perhaps it is from fear of this type of defacement and vandalism that this section has resorted to putting protective cages around their loved one's memorials. If so, it is sad that people have to do this in order to protect their memories.
It's been a long day, we walked from the middle of the city to one end, the back and to the other end, then back again. My dogs are barking big time.
Tomorrow is our last day in Lviv as we head back to Kyiv for a last hurrah before our flight back to Canada. I will miss this city of the Nouveau Art.
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Potions, Lotions, and Sexual Deviants
I've fallen in love with Lviv.
It's like I've walked into a time warp and I'm back at the beginning of the 20th century - Art Nouveau architecture surrounds me at every turn. Beautiful iron balconies in smooth curves and repetitive plant patterns. Hyperbolas and parabolas abound in windows and doors, as well as gateways to the courtyards beyond. It's like walking into the land of Mucha. Considering this is my favourite art movement, I am completely in heaven.
It's been a real struggle to stop, then look up. I keep walking with my gaze upward, staring at all the unbelievable architecture and find myself stumbling over the cobblestone road, walking into people, or worse yet, into cars.
We spent a good part of the morning at a rather unusual but extremely interesting and photogenic location - the Apothecary Museum. Located right downtown across from City Hall, it contains three floors of potions, lotions, herbs, and apothecary paraphernalia from times gone by. For an extra 3 hryvnia (about 25 cents) we were allowed to photograph inside. We just couldn't get enough of all the old bottles, ampules, and jars. Some were labeled in English, some Ukrainian, and then languages of all sorts. It was intriguing - especially finding the bottles of Cocaine, Morphine, and Heroine. You forget that these were once used as legitimate medicines. The jars of dried herb - dozens and dozens of them - were quite beautiful to look at, especially with their cyrillic labels. The herb were so old in them, they looked like ancient potpourri in bell jars. For some reason, I started humming the Addams Family theme song....
We hit the local arts and crafts market for some shopping (finally). Once you got around the reproduction icons and the flea market Jesus "paintings" there were actually some nice pieces to look at, especially the row of hand-made embroidered shirts and rushnyky. Some real work went into these. I'm lucky enough that I have several table runners and small square pieces that were made by both my grandmothers and I cherish them dearly.
On the flip side, we stopped by the Masoch Cafe and the statue commemorating Leopold von-Sacher Masoch. Never heard of him? Neither had I until I read a small bit about him in my travel book. Born in Lviv on January 27, 1836 (an Aquarian like me), he was an Austrian writer and journalist who was seen by some as a successor to Goethe. A utopian thinker who espoused socialist and humanist ideals in his writings, his most successful novel was Venus in Furs, the only one you can obtain in English. So why does he have a monument?
Although he begain his carrer by writing non-fiction about Austrian history, Masoch's Venus in Furs expressed his fantasies and fetishes, especially for dominant women wearing fur. In addition to writing out his fantasies for the public, he also lived them out with his mistress and wives. He had signed a contract with his mistress making him her slave for 6 months with the stipulation that she wear fur as often as possible, especially when she was in a cruel mood. He spent his last years in deteriorating mental health in an asylum in Germany. In 1886 the Austrian psychiatrist Richard Freiherr von Krafft-Ebing invented the term masochism based on Leopold's fantasies and experiences.
It seems the people of Lviv are quite proud of their past, wether deviant or devout, as witnessed by the bronze statue to Leopold, the Masoch Cafe, and the many Masoch souvenirs that you can purchase throughout the city. Nice to see this pretty little town has a kinky side.
Tomorrow it's off to the cemetery.
Monday, September 7, 2009
Getting Jiggy in Odessa
You hear about the whole "Russian Bride" thing and people going overseas or online to places like Thailand or Eastern Europe to get themselves some young, naive girl to bring back to North America as their life partner - but you picture it being some older (really older) bachelor with lots of money, a real Hugh Hefner type.
Not so.
Today was a real eye opener in the world of foreign brides. We stopped for lunch at an Odessa landmark that serves traditional Ukrainian food in a farm style setting where all the wait staff wears Ukrainian costume. Quite a unique place - in a Disney sort of surreal atmosphere. Somehow we managed to get a table right next to an American guy - a Stanford and Morton graduate - sitting with what we quickly realized were a marriage broker/translator and the petite blonde intended bride.
It was the weirdest conversation we've ever heard. The broker would ask Mr. Stanford Guy (SG) about himself, he would talk on and on about his education, background, work, etc., and then she would translate it into Russian for the extremely disinterested blonde. The whole time SG would order food and drink for them all and talk to about what they might like for him to buy as gifts, where they would like to go shopping, etc.
SG was not ugly, a regular geek sort of guy and obviously well off. He was fit, well kept, and dressed well. We couldn't understand why he would go to Eastern Europe to get a date or future life mate. Especially one he obviously couldn't communicate with. What would life be like back in the US? What kind of conversations would they have? How exactly is he introducing her to his family?
In the end who is using who? Is he getting himself a trophy wife from Eastern Europe - a nubile young girl who must depend on him for everything due to the language barrier? Or is she getting herself a meal ticket out of Eastern Europe in the form of a rich middle-aged guy who is going to take care of her and perhaps her whole family? The lines get a little blurry.
Not so.
Today was a real eye opener in the world of foreign brides. We stopped for lunch at an Odessa landmark that serves traditional Ukrainian food in a farm style setting where all the wait staff wears Ukrainian costume. Quite a unique place - in a Disney sort of surreal atmosphere. Somehow we managed to get a table right next to an American guy - a Stanford and Morton graduate - sitting with what we quickly realized were a marriage broker/translator and the petite blonde intended bride.
It was the weirdest conversation we've ever heard. The broker would ask Mr. Stanford Guy (SG) about himself, he would talk on and on about his education, background, work, etc., and then she would translate it into Russian for the extremely disinterested blonde. The whole time SG would order food and drink for them all and talk to about what they might like for him to buy as gifts, where they would like to go shopping, etc.
SG was not ugly, a regular geek sort of guy and obviously well off. He was fit, well kept, and dressed well. We couldn't understand why he would go to Eastern Europe to get a date or future life mate. Especially one he obviously couldn't communicate with. What would life be like back in the US? What kind of conversations would they have? How exactly is he introducing her to his family?
In the end who is using who? Is he getting himself a trophy wife from Eastern Europe - a nubile young girl who must depend on him for everything due to the language barrier? Or is she getting herself a meal ticket out of Eastern Europe in the form of a rich middle-aged guy who is going to take care of her and perhaps her whole family? The lines get a little blurry.
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