Piano Shop in Pripyat

Piano was one of the most popular music instruments in the Soviet Union. Playing piano was among basic cultural skills of the citizen of the Soviet Union. However, attending music schools wasn’t free of charge, so not every family could afford it. Having piano at home was a manifestation of the culture and also a sign of the wealth.

Pripyat was pretty rich city, so almost every family there had a piano in their apartment. They were getting the instruments from the shop which is located not very far from the main square. After the accident, the people were not allowed to take their pianos from the city, so had to leave them in the flats; nobody evacuated instruments from the shop neither.

Today, the shop with dozen of pianos is abandoned and covered with dust. In 2019, Ukrainian composer Volodymyr Savyn released a project PRIPYAT Pianos where he gathered sound from 20 pianos from Pripyat in order to revitalize the city throughout art.  

You can see Pripyat Piano Shop with your own eyes with our exclusive Chernobyl tours.