Grab your Geiger, we're going to Gomel (Belarus)

BuildCTPlace · #1 Posted **Jan 10, 2007, 7:52 AM**

Gomel is the second-largest city in Belarus (pop <500,000), located in the southeast of the country. Although the region was impacted by Chernobyl,
people continue to live there. Maria Sharapova was born there but moved to Siberia after the meltdown.

Here are some photos of the city from gomelportal.com.

A few commieblocks in town, looks to be from early 1990s.

Like many cities in the former USSR, Gomel has a trolleybus system.

An example of post-Soviet updates on Belarussian architecture:

Graffiti in Belarussian language: "Long live the city on the Sozh River!"

A "Dom Torgovli" (house of trade)

In the background you can see an old-style Ikarus accordion bus. These were

imported from Hungary during the Soviet era.

The Kontinent Entertainment Center:

An attorney's office:

I would assume this to be a rare sight in Belarussian cities. Perhaps this is on the edge of town, as evidenced by the single-family housing on the right.

The Restaurant "Zarya" (Dawn)

The Pushkin Monument

Another Restaurant "Alenkiy Tsvetochek" (Little Scarlet Flower)

Some sort of restaurant, bar and casino

The hotel

"Long Live our Native Belarus" sign

This appears to be the trolleybus depot

A relatively new residential estate

Some Stalinist architecture

A sign for the Okean Supermarket, open from 8 am til 10 pm

A billiard club

Gomel'oboi Store Number 4 (not exactly sure what that means)

"Dlya Dushi" (For the Soul) Billiard Bar

A nice bus shelter; Chicago with its JCDecaux might be jealous

The unfortunate residents of the 2nd floor apartment have their view blocked by this auto supply store sign

The name of this store is Tysyacha Melochey ("A Thousand Trinkets")

The Palace of Light Athletics

Another awesome (trolley)bus shelter

And here yet another one

This one looks kind of cheap

Some sort of government building

The Novobelitsa district (founded 1777):

This market was built on the site of an old landing strip:

The State Insurance Office

Another monument for Novobelitskiy district (since 1777):

Some sort of Charlie Chaplin themed thing

The "House of Trade" transit stop

[img]ttp://www.gomelportal.com/images/gorod/full/gomelportal_000274.jpg[/img]

A market in the Novobelitskiy district

Sign says, "Peace be unto your house, agricultural machine worker!"

So as you can see, Gomel has a nice mix of old and new, communist and capitalist, strange and familiar, and it would probably be an all-around nice place to live if not for the fact that it's in a fallout zone.

RustNeverSleeps · #2 Posted **Jan 10, 2007, 9:32 AM**

Fascinating. First pics of Gomel I've ever seen. I wonder how the fallout affects current residents.

LSyd · #3 Posted **Jan 10, 2007, 9:47 PM**

that old architecture's great, some of the new stuff, too

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gatt · #4 Posted **Jan 11, 2007, 1:10 AM**

nice to see a city i never heard of.thanks!

bvpcvm · #5 Posted **Jan 11, 2007, 2:05 AM**

doesn't look too bad, given that it's in belarus. to be honest i would have expected far worse.

gomel'oboi = "gomel' wallpaper"

boden · #6 Posted **Jan 11, 2007, 3:27 AM**

Interesting post. Seems to be a cheery place. I love that giant overturned flowerpot.

der Reisender · #7 Posted **Jan 11, 2007, 7:57 AM**

pictures are cool, Belarus looks surprisingly nice. must confess the only thing of theirs I am familair with is Alexander Hleb, and only because he's a fantastic midfielder

dfane · #8 Posted **Jan 12, 2007, 4:43 PM**

wow fascinating pics..
how is the crime in these cities?
And any place the Maria Sharapova was born is ok with me.

arbeiter · #9 Posted **Jan 12, 2007, 5:59 PM**

Gomel is pretty handsome! I think the apartment buildings and utilitarian architecture is pretty handsome. Belarus is a good deal poorer than a lot of other Eastern European countries but you wouldn't know it by these pictures...

BuildCTPlace · #10 Posted **Jan 13, 2007, 1:53 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by dfane

wow fascinating pics..
how is the crime in these cities?
And any place the Maria Sharapova was born is ok with me.

Belarus is a police state, so crime is relatively low compared to say, Moscow. Alcoholism is a serious issue, though, and creates crime in and of itself.
Also, you can be locked up simply for participating in an opposition rally against the president.