Matviy Andreyev

Pirnove

Matviy Andreyev

I accompanied a person in her pilgrimage to a place from childhood. First things first, we were trying to find a place she remembered to be called «in the shore». Must have been some lowlands near an old river bend. We did not find it, and went elsewhere.

We saw a homemade sign against littering that had a mistake.

A mistake on a anti-littering sign: Attention! It is strictly prohibited to dump waste. UAH 1000 fine. Pirnove village. Kyiv region of Ukraine

An unpaved road went in the direction of nearby villages Voropayiv and Zhukyn.

An unpaved road

This little stream was connecting two parts of an old meander, and a simple crossing was available. What a nice place.

Wooden pedestrian bridge over a stream near Desna river. Pirnove village. Kyiv region of Ukraine
Wooden pedestrian bridge over a stream near Desna river. Pirnove village. Kyiv region of Ukraine

This was the center of the village. The boulevard was named after Lenin, of course. The pedestrian middle of the boulevard was abandoned and given to the grass. A few wooden benches were decaying there.

Free growing grass on a former boulevard of Lenin. Pirnove village. Kyiv region of Ukraine
A bench among the grass. Pirnove village. Kyiv region of Ukraine

Village shops were gathered into a cluster. Goods for home and gardening, food — everything was here, in these barracks. There was a logo of Stimorol chewing gum hanging, but that gum hadn't been sold in Ukraine for several years already.

сільмаг «сучасне домашнє господарство» Pirnove village. Kyiv region of Ukraine
The shop name had a typo in it.
a low brick building with village shops and a tree
logos of Dirol and Stimorol behind the bars in a window of a village shop in Pirnove, Ukraine
Food shop «Prodtovary» in the village of Pirnove

A silver monument to Lenin near the school.

One of countless monuments to Lenin. This one stood in a village called Pirnove

The library.

library doors

The post office.

Pirnove village post office. Kyiv region of Ukraine

A disused kiosk called «Viterets» («Windie»).

A rusty logo on an bandoned kiosk

A paved footpath existed on the very riverbank of Desna.

Desna riverbank in Pirnove had a footpath. Woman standing on the footpath

A water tower lower than the surrounding trees.

Pirnove water tower

The village hospital was all between the trees. Stumbled upon a bust; uploaded it on Panoramio later, and people took it to Wikipedia from there, identifying it to be Ivan Pavlov.

A bust near in a hospital park. Pirnove village. Kyiv region of Ukraine

The doors with the sign saying «fridge» on the hospital territory.

doors with the text «холодильник»

Would have been cool to get up this tower, but I did not do that.

some tower on the hospital territory in Pirnove village. Kyiv region of Ukraine

This pine tree with planks nailed resembled a spine.

A pine tree trunk with planks nailed to resemble a spine

There were many recreational bases in all the villages on Desna, Pirnove among them. The rumor had it that Chornobyl disaster had spoiled the reputation of many of these bases, rendering them empty and almost completely abandoned.

Two GAZ-52 truck bodies decaying side by side. Pirnove village. Kyiv region of Ukraine

These times have passed. It was not contaminated, and the nature flourished. Rich people were buying land and complete recreational territories, turning them into something modern and expensive. There were many expensive black cars of the rich in Pirnove.

We wanted to visit a recreational base called «Desna». It wasn't yet bought by someone rich, and stood semi-abandoned, but operational. A bridge to an island stood near. The water body is another old meander of Desna.

Metallic bridge in Pirnove. People fishing from it. Pirnove village. Kyiv region of Ukraine
Metallic bridge in Pirnove. View from below. Pirnove village. Kyiv region of Ukraine

That meander, of course, was called «Staryk» (The old one) and didn't look wide enough to have held the whole water flux of Desna.

An old meander of Desna river in Pirnove village. Kyiv region of Ukraine

The Desna base had staff and clients on site. If I got it right, the base belonged to the Kyiv's «Kvant» factory.

wooden building at Desna base entrance. Pirnove village. Kyiv region of Ukraine
Logo «Desna» in Pirnove

The canteen. I was told that there once was a grand piano inside.

Desna base canteen in Pirnove village. Kyiv region of Ukraine

A bouffet.

Desna base bouffet. Pirnove
Typography «Буфет» on Desna base in Pirnove

A former open cinema. The stage and the screen were completely taken down. The kids who were playing nearby, told us to beware of snakes.

Seats of the abandoned open cinema in Pirnove's Desna recreational base
Control buttons of the abandoned open cinema in Pirnove's Desna recreational base

An lantern of elaborated design was slowly losing the fight with nature.

A young tree growing on a metal lantern. Recreational base «Desna» in Pirnove village. Kyiv region of Ukraine

The library was maintained and looked nice. I was told that it even had books from India.

Library of recreational base «Desna». Pirnove village. Kyiv region of Ukraine
A lamp with the word «Library» painted over

A former park pond. The rocks from its siding were stolen.

Dry bed of a park pond. Recreational base «Desna». Pirnove village. Kyiv region of Ukraine

The medical cabinet was also well maintained, and resembled a dollhouse (in a good sense of it).

medical cabinet. Desna base. Pirnove village. Kyiv region of Ukraine
A sign saying «Медпункт. Ізолятор»

It was here, in a vast, beautiful mixed forest inhabited by nightingales and starlings, where wild strawberry grew — where we stumbled upon this important place for washing buckets.

The signed place to wash buckets. Recreational base «Desna» in Pirnove village. Kyiv region of Ukraine
A sign saying «Place to wash buckets» in russian
Place to wash buckets. Recreational base «Desna» in Pirnove village. Kyiv region of Ukraine

A few myths and rumors to end this page. I was told that the soviet government started sending people whom it disliked (to an extent not enough for prisons) into Pirnove. These people were coming from various places, that's why it was possible to see a Korean here. Also they said that the surnames here were varying and more numerous than it was usual for a village.

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