The past and the present of the mysterious Chernobyl restricted area will be revealed in the album “Chernobyl” dedicated to the 20th anniversary of the accident at the nuclear power station. The presentation of the book took place in the small hall of the Palace of the Republic.The author and publisher of the book, Denis Romanyuk, told reporters the photographic album, which is a mixture of artistic works and journalistic pragmatism, is to introduce the ecological, economic, cultural and human tragedy that happened twenty years ago to the whole world. The book depicts the unique processes and changes that have been and are still taking place in the Chernobyl-affected regions. The pictures were made by well-known photographers Igor Bashnev, Anatoly Kleschuk and Denis Romanyuk himself.
The album contains 259 high-quality pictures, which are divided into four major categories, each dedicated to a key aspect of the post-Chernobyl reality. The first one, “Nature”, features the flora and fauna of the contaminated area that was forsaken by man and invaded by radiation.
The unique culture of the affected districts, traditions, rites and folklore are presented in the chapter “People”. The section “History” gives the chronology of the tragedy and describes how people’s lives changed as a result of the Chernobyl accident.
The last chapter is titled “Man” and describes the tragedy of the Belarusians and the efforts of the nation aimed to mitigate the consequences of the disaster.
It took two years to create the album, and Denis Romanyuk believes the book will become an encyclopedia of the twenty Chernobyl-affected years.
The book is expected to open Chernobyl mysteries to Belarusians and the world, or rather, to reopen them. “The book will facilitate environmental protection and preservation of biodiversity, and will help attract foreign aid necessary to liquidate the consequences of the disaster,” the author believes.
