Kopachi Kindergarten
The village of Kopachi is closest to the Chernobyl NPP. It was almost completely demolished almost immediately after the accident and buried in the ground. One of the few surviving buildings is a kindergarten, built in 1967 for the 50th anniversary of the October Revolution. Now it is a Zone cult tourist site. It is captivating because someone’s creative nature decided to attach a Palladian-style portico to a regular village house. In the 16th century, Italian architect Andrea del Palladio introduced the triangular portico and columns of Greek temples, which is now a timeless classic.
To this day, anything can be designed in the Palladian style – Venetian villas and churches, palaces of Russian emperors, country estates, institutes for noble maidens, the White House in Washington DC, prestigious Soviet sanatoriums and cultural centers. Designed for a hot Mediterranean climate, buildings open from all sides to the wind look strange in mid-latitudes and the north, but that does not in the least minimize their popularity. So, Soviet leaders of all ranks understood the solid construction.
This article was published in the book Interesting Chernobyl.
You could download this book in PDF file for free here.
© Sky Horse Publishing House (Kyiv) / Nahs Haus, 2019
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