The Chernobyl Museum is located near Kontraktova Square in the building of an old fire station (a fire tower can serve as a reference point). The museum consists of three large halls and is filled with many documents, photographs, newspaper clippings, personal belongings of the station staff and liquidators, as well as various equipment, station models and much more. The museum is very interesting and I highly recommend visiting it.
- Website http://chornobylmuseum.kiev.ua/en/
- Address: 1, Khoryv Lane, Kyiv
- Opening hours (2023):
- Wednesday – Saturday 10:00 а.m.–6:00 p.m. (ticket office until 5:00 p.m.)
- Tuesday 10:00 а.m.–4:45 p.m. (ticket office until 4:00 p.m.)
- closed – Sunday, Monday
- Entry fee (2023)
- Сhildren – UAH 45, adults – UAH 90
- Guide service (for the group of 10-20 person) – UAH 156
- Guide service (for the group of 10-20 person) in English/German – UAH 312
- Individual Guide service (for the group of 2-10 person) in English/German – UAH 624
- Audio guide in English, German, Japan, French, Italian, Spanish, Turkish, Russian, Ukrainian. Leasing costs UAN 150
The first hall of the museum “Chernobyl” general view

Detailed model of the fourth power unit of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant

Diploma and certificate of Anatoly Dyatlov, who supervised the tests that led to the Chernobyl accident

The certificate and glasses of Leonid Toptunov, a senior engineer who was on duty on the night of the Chernobyl accident. Under the certificate of Leonid Toptunov’s telegram to his mother to Tallinn from a Moscow hospital. Below in the window is the same button, after pressing which the explosion occurred.

A heartbreaking letter from a boy to his father, who worked at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant

Photo of Pripyat, compare with the present time

An article from the Pravda newspaper – an interview with Valery Legasov before his death

Photo of a robot on the chassis of a lunar rover, which cleaned the roof of the reactor from radiation debris. Now this robot can be seen in Chernobyl at the exhibition of equipment

Liquidator protective suit

Photo of children in kindergarten at the New Year’s party in 1983

I had the same pencil case, only pink and not so spoiled. In my case there were abacus on the right and the clock had arrows

These are the names of abandoned villages in the Chernobyl zone. In Chernobyl there is an Alley of abandoned villages – where two rows of tablets with the names of villages are displayed. The plate is white on one side, black on the other, and the name is crossed out with a red line. Here in the museum, such an alley has also been made.


Helicopter blades can be seen under the ceiling in the second room

Map of the Chernobyl zone

The trolley used by the miners when they were digging the tunnel under the station. On a TV screen above the trolley you can see a video about how they dug. In the HBO series, the miners are shown naked, but they were actually digging with their clothes on.

In the second hall there are many exhibits related to the detection of radiation, different types of dosimeters, instructions, first aid kits, exhibits related to the effect of radiation on living organisms




Different types of dosimeters. Such a yellow dosimeter, as in the middle of the showcase, was used by our guide in the Chernobyl zone


A frame for detecting radiation – the monitoring device RZB-04-04. When we were in Chernobyl, we had to go through such a frame many times

At this stand, this first-aid kit attracted my attention – we studied this at school

Photos of Pripyat before the Chernobyl accident. Compare with photos of Pripyat at present

Central square of Pripyat, 1985

The third hall of the museum tells about abandoned villages and returning residents. In the middle of the hall there is a podium in the form of a reactor core.
A black burnt man stands in the gates of the iconostasis of the Orthodox Church

General view of the third hall of the Chernobyl Museum


Along the entire hall there are such “windows” with addresses – telling about the fate of the inhabitants


Floor in the form of a reactor core

On the first floor of the museum there is an exhibition about nuclear terrorism. It tells about the actions of Russian troops in the Chernobyl zone, attacks on nuclear facilities in Ukraine and the capture of the ZNPP.
The sign Red Forest. Exactly the same sign we saw in the Red Forest in the Chernobyl zone

A stand detailing the events at the Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant since the capture of the station

Memorial near the entrance to the Chernobyl Museum

Previously, different cars stood near the museum, now they have been removed.
Here is a photo from wikipedia
