ABSTRACT
This chapter introduces the questions of dissonant heritage. Following the outline of the context offered by the contemporary critical heritage studies, it tries to define dissonant heritage and operationalise the notion for the specific case of the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone (CEZ). I believe that the dissonances of the Zone's heritage primarily refer to construing it through the lens of different categories, which creates larger or smaller interpretative tensions. Thus, the CEZ may be considered in the dimension of post-communist heritage, heritage without heirs, industrial heritage, heritage of trauma, and post-apocalyptic heritage. An important factor determining the perception of the Zone is cultural memory, to which the last section of the chapter is devoted.
