Анотація:
When people do not receive the truth from the official sources they create their own versions of the reality. In people’s eyes Chornobyl received new ecological status, new biblical depth, and new mystical aura. The city lost its original meaning and received a status of being a strange place, “zona”, which lives according to its own rules. This article is an attempt to show the history and cultural life of Prypiat before the catastrophic events (primarily beginning of the twentieth century, with the accordance to the evidence from the ethnographical sources) and the influence the Chornobyl catastrophe had on the people who were relocated, their mentality, myth creation, folklore, life’s attitudes, etc., as well as the life of those who stayed in nearby villages despite the fear of the radiation.