Author’s thoughts:

A person changes in the Chernobyl zone. He becomes aware of causes and consequences. As if, by looking at overgrown objects, he could witness the tremendous power of nature to be able not only to conquer but also to adapt. The huge city of Pripyat, where around 50,000 people formerly lived, remained completely deserted after the Chernobyl accident. Even after so many years, the radiation is high that people are allowed to stay there only with a special permit and for a few hours.

On several occasions I have visited this town and have always been fascinated by it. On the one hand, I have felt great respect and reverence for the people who lived here before the accident, while on the other hand, I have been captivated by some of its corners. Whether it was a beautiful mosaic on the facade of the art school or the overgrown greenhouse, I realized that we shouldn’t forget this place. Later I began to wonder how I might capture the beauty of this town while it remains standing.

In 2010 I went for the first time—by chance, and respectfully—into one of the abandoned but unlocked Pripyat apartments, and noticed the torso of a piano standing there. After the evacuation in 1986 there was widespread looting in the city, yet despite this some authentic objects remain there to this day. This is the case in Pripyat’s nursery school, where you can see children’s construction sets and dolls arranged on the shelves, since thieves are simply not interested in this sort of thing. Later I realized that the piano has a great ability to maintain its sound for a long time, even if the surrounding walls collapse, or if it is in a damp environment. A piano, moreover, is too heavy to steal.

From 2010 to 2012 I searched for Pripjat’s pianos. At this time a city that has no serviceable maps or proper information—a city that has closed itself to the world once and for all—this was hard and exhausting work. But finally, thanks to the Internet and former original inhabitants, who helped me at most, I managed to find nine pianos.

Most of pianos were in a dilapidated condition, but some of them still played. When I
saw the large concert grand in an abandoned auditorium, I was sure that the ravages of time, and 27 years’ worth of water dripping on instrument with an open keyboard and no upper plate, would have claimed the piano for their own. To my amazement the piano still played.
Many of my recordings had a documentary character due to the enviromental conditions and the state of the instruments after such a long time. Even so, I found it interesting to gradually work around all the instruments that I found and record each piano in each place, so that one track of this CD was devoted to each of them. I listened intently and with interest to the original recordings, and the cut took several months. Also I brought to some pieces the perspective of the entire craft of composition— that is, working not only with the motif but also with expression, dynamics and musical form. And in my thoughts I have continually returned to the Chernobyl zone.

After several years, I still could not forget this place and decided to return with DOP Tomáš Frkal and sound designer Miroslav Chaloupka to create a short documentary film with the same title as the original CD. We visited Pripyat three times to shoot between 2017 and 2019.

I was curious to revisit each piano I had recorded in 2010 and find out its condition.

Sadly, the formerly functional “Piano in Apartment I” was lying on its side, soaked in water. This caused damage to its mechanism—it was no longer playable. At that moment, I felt grateful that I had captured its sound in 2010.

Surprisingly, I found the “Grand Piano in the Concert Hall” in the same condition as seven years earlier. Even though this place was often visited by tourists, the piano was still playable.

With acceptance, I revisited the places where I had seen the “Torsos of non-playing pianos” in 2010 and saw that all of them had slowly disappeared into nature.

Unexpectedly, I discovered a hidden piano in an apartment on the top floor of a panel building while my film crew was shooting on the lowest floor. It had been my dream to find a piano accidentally, just as it happened during my first visit to Pripyat in 2010. This truly warmed my heart.

As planned, we visited two hidden locations with two fully functional pianos. It felt like a miracle to me. I am especially thankful to Katerina Vrsanska and Lukas Ryzi, who helped us tremendously.

Out of curiosity, I entered a former piano store that I had not visited before. To my surprise, there were about 20 pianos inside. How can one imagine 20 abandoned pianos in a single place? At that moment, I knew this would become the grand finale of my documentary film.

After the film screenings planned for 2026 and 2027 are completed, the entire documentary will be published on this website for free, and forever.

Eliska Andrsova Cilkova, Prague, 28.02.2026

photo: Filip Naum