[21/86] - Life, Death and Resurrection - All Of The Lights

Edition: 1/1

GPS: 47.096819, 37.550585

Date: 21/10/2009

Story

It was a very strange date in the late fall of 2009. I cracked the door to the attic of someone's house and the two of us went up to the colonnade of the House With a Spire (#4), it was raining fine and the city glowed with nighttime lights. I was sure that no one I knew had climbed this ledge before me and certainly hadn't been here with a camera. We talked a lot and I didn't take many pictures. Now I'd like to take a hundreds of pictures to preserve every glowing window. Most of the houses you see in this picture are now destroyed by russian air strikes and artillery.

Here's a New York Times article about the 9 people who survived the horrific bombing of Mariupol in basements under these houses in the spring of 2022: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/06/opinion/international-world/mariupol-ukraine-russia.html

I want to get on that roof again with a camera more than a decade later and retake this shot. From here, the scale of the destruction of the city center will be clearly visible. I'm sure it will be a heartbreaking picture, but it has to be done. Please read on my website why I am creating three collections of photos of the destroyed city and how it can be useful in restoring the normal life in Mariupol: https://www.lifedeathandresurrection.com/