Today, 35 years after a nuclear fire destroyed a reactor at Chernobyl, Ukraine is seeking to have the nuclear power plant and the surrounding exclusion zone declared a UNESCO World Heritage site.

As a first step, the government is moving to have the site – and a neighboring Soviet era radar – declared a national monument. “The importance of the Chernobyl zone lays far beyond Ukraine’s borders,” Culture Minister Oleksandr Tkachenko told Reuters. “It is not only about commemoration, but also history and people’s rights.” Boosted by the HBO Chernobyl series, tourism doubled in 2019, to 120,000 visitors to the site.