In an international Minecraft world-mapping project, players from different countries recreate real cities at a scale close to one block per cubic meter. Among them is Mariupol, preserved in the game as it looked before February 24, 2022.
Using satellite imagery and map coordinates, builders transfer terrain, streets, buildings, and small details into the game. Virtual Mariupol includes the drama theater, Central Square, road signs, tram tracks, murals, and even differently colored balconies. The Milana mural on Myru Avenue, later destroyed during the occupation, also remains in the game.
After the start of the full-scale war, the real city was almost entirely destroyed. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that 20,000 people were killed in Mariupol, while the UN reported that about 90% of buildings were damaged or completely destroyed. In the game, however, the city’s prewar appearance survives, while many Russians first saw the real Mariupol only in ruins.
One of the first builders was Alexander, whose name was changed. He is from Mariupol and said he remained in the city after the war began and later saw streets burned out completely. After February 24, he said, the game no longer mattered, and following the fate of the real buildings he had recreated was too painful.
One of the project’s main builders is now Valerii, also from Mariupol. He joined in November 2021, initially hoping to construct at least one building, and then started working on the drama theater. He completed its facade before the war, finished the structure on August 16, 2022, and in 2025 decided to rebuild it from scratch for greater accuracy. He also recreated Azovstal, the Antonivskyi Bridge, the Kakhovka hydroelectric plant, Bakhmut, and the Kramatorsk railway station.
“Sometimes, when you walk through the streets in the panoramas, a feeling of nostalgia appears. The emotions are mixed and strong: it feels as if I am really there, and there is sadness because Mariupol will never again be so beautiful and cozy,”Valerii says. He also rebuilt his destroyed home in the game and placed in its yard the pets that died during shelling, trying to preserve the memory of a place that no longer exists.