Odessa

Odessa

 

Location: Odessa Oblast

 

Odessa is a city in the south of Ukraine. The administrative center of Odessa region and the main naval base of the Naval forces of Ukraine. Hero City

The third most populated city in the country. The population of the city as of January 1, 2018 was 993,831 permanent residents and 1,011,494 people of the current population. Over 1.2 million people live within the agglomeration. The national composition of the population: 61.7% of Ukrainians, 29.0% of Russians, 1.3% of Bulgarians, 1.2% of Jews (2001). Located on the shore of the Odessa Gulf of the Black Sea.

The largest seaport of Ukraine. Developed trade, metal processing, oil refining, mechanical engineering, the production of drugs and food. Sanatorium-resort treatment and beach vacations, cruise tourism. Large scientific and educational center.

The historic center is listed on the UNESCO World Heritage List. The ensemble of Primorsky Boulevard, Duc de Richelieu Square and the Potemkin Stairs.

 

Travel Destinations in Odessa

Odessans are proud of their unique architectural and cultural heritage. The city has many historical buildings and objects, monuments, theaters and museums. University (founded in 1865), historical museum (1825), city library (1830), astronomical observatory (1871), art gallery (1898), other educational institutions, theaters and museums. In addition to the university, Odessa has other educational institutions of the highest qualification, including the Medical University, the Maritime Academy, the Maritime University, the Polytechnic University, the Conservatory. Celebrities such as poet Alexander Pushkin, biochemist Ilya Mechnikov, chemist Dmitry Mendeleev, singer Leonid Utyosov lived here at different times. Several generations of brilliant comedians, born and raised in Odessa over the past century, have earned the city a special reputation as the capital of Russian-language humor. The houses of the old part of the city are built in various architectural styles from Neo-Renaissance to Art Nouveau.

Streets and squares
Deribasovskaya street.
Seaside boulevard.
Cathedral Square.
Pushkinskaya street.
Richelieu street.
French Boulevard.

Objects
The Potemkin Stairs. With 192 steps, this staircase became famous thanks to the famous shots from S. Eisenstein's film "Battleship Potemkin", where a baby carriage rolls down the steps after the soldiers opened fire on the crowd. By the way, the official name of the Potemkin Stairs is the Seaside Stairs. A feature of this object is the fact that if you look at the stairs from above (from the side of the duke), then only flights of stairs are visible, while at the same time only steps are visible from below.
Teschin bridge. A fairly modern bridge that connects Primorsky Boulevard with Staraya Odessa. Standing on the bridge, you can feel the vibrations of the bridge, as well as see a large number of newlyweds' castles, fixed on the railing. They say the bridge got its name thanks to one story, as if in the days of the USSR alone, the mother-in-law of one of the mayors lived on the street named after. Gogol, and prepared an amazing borsch, the lady's high-ranking son-in-law did not walk up the stairs on the military slope (the bridge just connects Gogol St. and Primorsky Boulevard and passes over the military slope), ordered to build a bridge.

Monuments
More than 150 various monuments are concentrated in the city.
3  Monument to the orange, corner of Preobrazhenskaya st. and blvd. Mikhail Zhvanetsky.
4  Monument to Deribas, Deribasovskaya, 1.
5  Statue of Duc de Richelieu, Primorsky Boulevard.
Monument to Shevchenko.
6 Monument to Pushkin, Primorsky Boulevard.
7  Monument to Aunt Sonya, Panteleimonovskaya, 27. 09:00-18:00. One of the most unusual monuments is set right between the fish stalls of the famous Privoz market. In Sonya's hands you can see a bunch of traditional Odessa fish - gobies.
8 Atlantes hold the sky.
9  Monument to Prince Vorontsov , Cathedral Square.

Temple architecture
10  Savior Transfiguration Cathedral , Cathedral Square, 3. 07:00-19:00.
11 Holy Assumption Cathedral, st. Preobrazhenskaya, 70.
12 Holy Trinity (Greek) Cathedral, Ekaterininskaya, 55a. 07:00-19:00.
13  St. Panteleimon Monastery , st. Panteleymonovskaya, 66.
14  Catholic Church of St. Peter, Gavannaya St. 5. 10:30-19:00.
15  Cathedral of St. Paul (Odessa Church) , Novoselsky, 68. 11:00-18:00. Organ concerts are held in the recently renovated church.

Civil architecture
16 Opera House, Tchaikovsky lane, 1. The theater, built in 1809, is one of the most beautiful in the world. Spectators go not only to the opera or ballet, but also to see the amazing interiors of the theater, in which, by the way, the palace scenes of the Soviet Three Musketeers were filmed.
17 Vorontsov Palace, Vorontsovsky lane, 2d.

 

What to do

Museums
1 Odessa Archaeological Museum, st. Lanzheronovskaya, 4 (Located in the historical center of the city, near the Opera House.). ☎ +380 (48) 722-01-71. daily from 10.00 to 17.00 (day off - Monday). Odessa Archaeological Museum, one of the oldest in the country, was founded in 1825. Now the museum stores over 160 thousand exhibits, which are the largest collection of sources on the ancient history of the Northern Black Sea region. In addition, there are collections of monuments of Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece and Rome, coins and medals.
2 Odessa Museum of Local History, st. Gavannaya, 4 (Located in the historical center of the city, near the City Garden.). ☎ +380 (48) 722-84-90, +380 (48) 725-52-02. daily from 10.00 to 17.00 (day off - Friday). In 1876, according to the design of the famous architect F. Gonsiorovsky, a palace-type house was built, which now houses a museum. The permanent exposition of the museum includes documents, printed publications, objects of applied and fine arts, numismatic collections, weapons of the 17th-19th centuries, related to the history of the city and the region and once included in the collections of the Museum of the Odessa Society of History and Antiquities, the Museum of the Book, the Museum of the Old Odessa and some others turned out to be an integral part of his funds. In 1983, the museum closed for major repairs. As a result, the palace interiors of the mansion were restored to their original form. The inner courtyard of the museum was transformed, literally came to life, and in fact it is a kind of miniature park with an elegant Grotto fountain. Acacia, chestnut, linden and, somewhat unexpected for these places, Crimean pine and evergreen boxwood, traditional for Odessa, give it a special intimacy and comfort.
3 Odessa Museum of A.S. Pushkin, Pushkinskaya 13. ☎ +380 (48) 722-74-53, +380 (48) 725-11-34. daily from 10.00 to 17.00. (day off - Monday). This is one of the first hotels in the young city - "Hotel du Nord", where there were rooms for visitors, carriage houses with stables. Upon arrival in Odessa on July 3, 1823, Pushkin stayed at this hotel and lived here for a month. In our time, the literary and memorial museum of A.S. Pushkin is located here.
4 Odessa Museum of Western and Oriental Art., Pushkinskaya St. 9. ☎ +380 (48) 722-48-15. 10.00-18.00 (day off-Wednesday).
5 Odessa Municipal Museum of Private Collections. A.V. Bleshunova, 19 Polskaya St. ☎ +380 (48) 722-10-81, +380 (48) 725-04-53. from 10.00 to 18.00, cash desk - until 17.00, (day off - Wednesday).
6 Odessa Art Museum, 5a Sofievskaya St. ☎ +380 (48) 7238272. from 10.30 to 18.00, ticket office - until 17.00 (day off - Tuesday). The collection of fine arts of the Odessa Art Museum is one of the most significant and diverse in Ukraine. It covers all types of fine arts: painting, graphics, sculpture, arts and crafts, and includes works by Russian and Ukrainian icon painters from the 16th century to the present, with more than 10,000 original works. The museum was opened in 1899 on the initiative of the Odessa Society of Fine Arts, founded in 1865.
7  Museum. F. P. De - Volan of the Odessa port, st. Lanzheronovsky descent 2. from 10.00 to 17.00 (day off - Saturday, Sunday). Museum of Odessa Port named after F.P. De Volana was founded on April 10, 1990 and opened for the 200th anniversary of Odessa. At the moment, the museum exposition consists of 5 halls, with a total area of 490 sq. meters. The exposition of the museum fully reveals all the multifaceted activities of the port.
8  Odessa State Literary Museum, Lanzheronovskaya st. 2. from 10.00 to 17.00 (day off - Monday). In the courtyard of the museum there is an interesting museum Sculpture Garden.
9  Odessa Museum of Numismatics., Grecheskaya st. 33. from 12.00 to 16.00 (day off - Sunday, Monday).
10 Museum of Anchors, Seaport. (The museum is located near the church of St. Nicholas.). The exhibition presents various types of anchors: rocker anchors made entirely from a single piece of iron, Admiralteysky and Kholovsky, Matrosov's anchor with increased holding power, and the so-called "cats". Three, four, five-horned (multi-legged) cat anchors, light and tenacious, were very convenient for the Viking rooks. They were even used by the Scandinavians in battles as grappling hooks.
11 Wax Museum, 4 Rishelievskaya St. (Near the Opera House and the Archaeological Museum.). 30 UAH (2012). More than 70 Figures Heroes of History, theater and film stars, fairy-tale characters.
12 Museum of the Holocaust - Victims of Fascism (Near the Opera House and the Archaeological Museum.).
Odessa House-Museum. N.K. Roerich, Bolshaya Arnautskaya, 47. 10:00-18:00.
13 N. L. Shustov Brandy Museum (Museum at the Odessa Brandy Factory), Odessa, Melnitskaya Street, 13 (Trolley bus No. 14, No. 3, minibus No. 168, 201). ☎ +380 (48) 740-08-99, +380 (67) 222-77-70. from 10.00 to 20.00. from 100 UAH Dedicated to the history of the plant, the history of the Shustov dynasty, cognac (brandy) production technology, cognac business in Odessa. Group and individual tours of the museum are held with a tasting of cognacs of various aging. The original interior of the museum, which is actually located in the basement (underground workshop) of the Odessa Cognac Factory, was made by the famous Ukrainian architect and designer Denis Belenko. In 2015, the Museum was included in the tourist map of wine routes compiled by the Association for Cultural and Tourist Exchange under the Council of Europe.

Theaters
Opera theatre. ticket offices are open from 10.00 to 19.00 with a half-hour lunch break around 15.00. 80-150 UAH It should be noted that Odessans love to come here, and theater tickets are very affordable. This means that the halls are always full, and an extra ticket (which should be taken care of in advance) before the start of the performance is gone in a matter of seconds.
Theater of Musical Comedy, vul. Panteleimonivska, 3.
Puppet show.
Regional Philharmonic.

Cinemas
Cinema "Rodina".
Cinema "Star".
Cinema "Moscow".
Cinema "Golden Duke".
Cinema City Cinema.
Cinema "I-Max".
Odessa film studio.

Parks and entertainment
Shevchenko park.
Victory Park.
Odessa city dolphinarium "Nemo".

beach holiday
The beaches of Odessa stretched along the entire city, their length is 20 km. In the central part of the city, one passes into another, and all of them are united by a 6-kilometer road that runs along the coast and is called the Health Route. Cars are prohibited along the health route, walking and cycling are possible along the road, and a tourist “train” also runs. The easternmost beach and the closest to the city center is Lanzheron, then comes Otrada, and so on until the last beach of Arcadia. No money is taken for entering the beaches, with the exception of the closed areas of clubs and other entertainment establishments, entry by car closer to the beach costs 10 UAH.

 

Getting here

By plane
Odessa International Airport is located within the city on the western side.
The airport serves local and international flights from Vienna (Austrian Airlines and Air Ukraine International, daily), Tel Aviv (ElAl), Istanbul (Turkey Airlines), Athens, Aleppo, Larnaca, Moscow, Kiev, Chisinau, Yerevan, Tbilisi, etc. Since 2015, air communication with Russia has been discontinued, all those flying from or to Russia are forced to use flights with transfers.

By train
Passenger railway station.

Passenger railway station Odessa-Glavnaya connects it with almost all regional centers of Ukraine, as well as with cities near and far abroad.

By bus
Regular buses from Odessa go to most major cities of the Southern region, to central Ukraine, Kyiv (Borispol) and many regional centers.

Bus service connects Odessa with Germany (Berlin, Hamburg and Munich), Romania (Galati and Constanta), Greece (Thessaloniki and Athens), Bulgaria (Varna and Sofia), France (Strasbourg, Paris), Poland (Warsaw and Krakow), Russia (Rostov, Volgograd, St. Petersburg and Moscow), as well as other international flights.

Odessa has a main bus station and several bus stations:
Odessa central bus station, st. Kolontaevskaya, 58. ☎ +380 (48) 721-63-54, +380 (48) 733-56-63, +380 (48) 733-42-17. From the bus station in Odessa, buses depart across Ukraine, to Russia and Europe. Regular routes: to Kyiv, Zaporozhye, Dnepropetrovsk, Mariupol, Nikolaev, Kherson, Yalta and other bus routes from Odessa - online. Routes to Russia and other countries: Rostov, Volgograd, Chisinau, Paris, Tiraspol, Krakow, etc.
4 Bus station "Privoz", st. Novoshchepny row, 5. ☎ +380 (48) 777-74-81, +380 (48) 777-74-82. 08:00-19:00. Main routes: Ilyichevsk, Kyiv, suburban flights, Donetsk, Yuzhnoukrainsk, regional routes; Paris, Strasbourg, Krakow. Flights of buses from Odessa - online.
12  Bus station number 3, per. Novobazarny, 3.
12  Bus station number 4, st. Cosmonauts, 32A. ☎ +380 (48) 766-18-43.
5  Bus station "Odessa Privokzalnaya", st. Odessa-Glavnaya, 37. ☎ +380 (48) 704-44-22, +380 (48) 722-50-70. 05:30-21:30

On the ship
Passenger ships and ferries run between Odessa and Istanbul, Haifa and Varna.

 

Transport

There is a system of trams, "minibuses" and trolleybuses that runs through the entire city and nearby villages. Minibuses (almost all brands "Etalon" and "Bogdan") are the main means of transportation around the city. Travel in trams and trolleybuses is 5 UAH per trip, sometimes there is no conductor, payment is made through the front door to the driver. Travel in minibuses - 10 UAH. Pay only upon exit.

 

Shopping

Markets
1  Privoz Market, st. Ekaterininsky corner. Panteleymonovskaya. The legendary food market near the station.
2  Starokonny market, st. Indirect. The old market in Moldavanka, currently specializes in household goods. However, of greater interest to tourists is the flea market, which is formed on several adjacent blocks on weekend mornings. Odessa is a maritime and commercial city, things from different eras and peoples have been coming here for decades.
3 7 kilometer. A large market-city in the vicinity of Odessa, leaving the city in a western direction along the Ovidiopol highway.
4  New market, Torgovaya st., Koblevskaya st., Konnaya st. Neat market in the city center, fresh food and manufactured goods group.

Shopping centers
Passage, Deribasovskaya, 33. 09:00-20:00.
Mall Riviera.
Shopping center Srednefontanskiy.
SEC City Center, SEC City Center Kotovsky.
Ostrov mall.

 

Restaurants

There are enough places in Odessa where you can eat well, especially in the central part of the city. Prices in mid-level restaurants in the city center are about - 60 - 100 UAH per person for lunch / dinner; in high-level restaurants in the city center - 150 - 300 UAH per person for lunch / dinner. In some high-end restaurants, prices are unreasonably high - 400-500 UAH per person for lunch / dinner. In areas remote from the center, prices are at the level of 60 - 200 UAH per person for lunch / dinner, but the quality of service is worse than in the central part of the city.

Restaurant life is currently flourishing in Odessa, new establishments of various formats are constantly opening, especially in the city center.

Cheap
You can have a cheap meal on Greek Square in the Athena Shopping Center. Also in the city center there are several fast food restaurants (self-service):
Puzata Hata, st. Deribasovskaya, 21 (TC "Europe"). Three-course lunch 30 - 45 UAH per person. National cuisine, great view of the city
I'm roasting Steam." Three-course lunch 30 - 45 UAH per person. edit
st. Uspenskaya, 28/30.

Average cost
Laffka.
Also in the city center there are a lot of Italian restaurants and bars. Relatively inexpensive you can eat and drink in the pizzeria "Olio", "Compote", "Zlachny", "Zarra Pizzara" or "Buffallo 99".

Two Charles, Greek, 32. ☎ +380 (48) 726-8140, +380 (96) 524-1601. Bessarabian cuisine, own patio
Givi to mi, Rishelevskaya, 9 A. ☎ +380 (48) 795-13-19. Georgian cuisine, own patio
Tyulka, Koblevskaya, 46. ☎ +380 (48) 233-3-231. Odessa cuisine, sandwich and glass
Fish and Kish, Mayakovsky lane, 1. ☎ +380 (48) 777-05-10. Odessa cuisine

Expensive
Of the special places, it is worth noting such establishments as "Ministerium / Dogma Club", "Fanconi", "Garnet", "Maman". They are one of the most fashionable and popular places in Odessa. The cuisine is predominantly European and Japanese, but in the restaurant "Maman" the emphasis is also on the native Odessa.

National cuisines
The influence of people of different nationalities living in Odessa, of course, is reflected in the food and, accordingly, restaurants of national cuisine, which can and should be visited in the city. Of course, this primarily applies to the national Ukrainian cuisine:

Kumanets. Classic restaurant of Ukrainian cuisine at an expensive price category
Khutorok. Expensive establishment near Lanzheron beach, haute Ukrainian cuisine
Ukrainian Lasunka. An ordinary institution of national cuisine, which, nevertheless, is well located, which attracts potential visitors here, mainly foreigners

The second national cuisine, which should be discussed, is undoubtedly the Jewish cuisine. There are only two Jewish restaurants in the city, which are located next to Jewish places of worship. Visitors will be surprised by the rather ascetic atmosphere, which, however, does not affect the quality of the dishes.
Hebron.
Rosemary.

It should also be noted good restaurants of Bulgarian, Greek and even Bessarabian cuisine.

Iconic restaurants
In Odessa, there are many special establishments that have an original idea and an authentic atmosphere. Among them are:

Gogol-Mogol.
"Compote".
st. Deribasovskaya, opposite Greek Square.
("Bringing").
Admiralsky prospect, 1.
Dacha, French blvd.
Same.
Bins.
Gambrinus.

 

Night life

The nightlife of Odessa in the summer and the cold season boils in the area of ​​Ekaterininskaya Square, where there are many nightclubs, including strip bars.

Arcadia (central beach). Bars, cafes, restaurants and nightclubs are concentrated in Arcadia. The most famous: Ibiza, Ithaca, Western, Bono, Portofino, Assol
Palladium (Night club), Odessa, Italian Boulevard, 4. ☎ +380 (48) 728-65-66. Popular nightclub in the city center, close to the railway station
"Morgan", nightclub, st. Zhukovsky, 30, Odessa. ☎ +380 (67) 480-3020, +380 (48) 728-84-82. "Captain Morgan" is a legendary Odessa institution, the founder of the non-stop movement, dancing on the stand, the legislator of extreme and shot cocktails.

 

Hotels

Odessa presents an opportunity to find accommodation for every taste and budget. From a room in a communal apartment to a 5-star hotel. It is popular among Odessans to rent dachas for the summer. The hotel market in Odessa is mainly represented by small hotels with up to 30 rooms (the exceptions are the Odessa hotel located in the port (currently not working) and the Yunost hotel - a Soviet-style hotel). Prices for hotels in Odessa fluctuate, depending on the season: High-July, August. Mid-May, June, September. Low - from October to April.

Apartments
In the area of the railway and bus stations, you can turn to grandmothers who rent apartments or rooms - the fastest and, possibly, inexpensive option. But in fact, the housing they rent out is, as a rule, a room in a terrible state and for inadequate money.

You can also rent an apartment by the day both in the city center and by the sea from companies-legal entities with a core business. Apartments vary greatly in quality and price. You should not hope to rent an apartment upon arrival at the station or through the newspaper: firstly, there is no guarantee of finding a good quality apartment, and secondly, you will have to spend a lot of extra time searching and then viewing apartments. The safest way to book an apartment is through an apartment rental agency. However, you need to make sure that the selected agency has an office where you can contact in an emergency.

Ukraine Accommodation, st. Deribasovskaya, 12 of. 25, +380 (48) 741-17-18

Cheap
In recent years, the budget format of hostels has been actively developing in the city. They are usually located in the very center of the city, and depending on the cost, they offer both group accommodation and rooms for 2-3 people.

Hostel "Suitcase", Bunina str., 8.
Hostel "Star", Tiraspolskaya st., 8.
Hostel "Star-2", Osipova st., 5. ☎ +380 (50) 954-9494.
Hotel "Zirka", Odessa, Uspenskaya st., 70. ☎ +380 (48) 7-000-343, +380 (97) 140-1687, +380 (63) 629-1529.

Average cost
"Black Sea" Rishelievskaya ("Black Sea" Rishelievskaya), st. Rishelevskaya 59. ✉ ☎ +380 (482) 300-911, fax: +380 (482) 300-959. from 500 UAH
"Black Sea" Panteleimonovskaya ("Black Sea" Panteleimonovskaya), st. Panteleimonovskaya 25. ✉ ☎ +380 (482) 365-411, fax: +380 (482) 365-412. from 500 UAH
"Black Sea" Otrada ("Black Sea" Otrada), st. Vice-Admiral Azarov 1A. ✉ ☎ +380 (48) 729-86-55, fax: +380 (48) 729-86-56. from 600 UAH
"Black Sea" Oktyabrskaya ("Black Sea" Oktyabrskaya), st. Kanatnaya 31. ☎ +380 (48) 728-88-63. edit
Palladium Italian Boulevard, 4 +380 (48) 728-77-30
Aivazovsky st. Bunina, 19 +380 (48) 728-97-77
Odessa courtyard st. Uspenskaya, 19 +380 (48) 784-53-46

Expensive
Londonskaya Hotel, Primorsky Boulevard.
Hotel "Bristol", st. Pushkinskaya, 15.

 

Connection

Landline telephones in Odessa ("Ukrtelecom") have six-digit numbers of the form +380 (482) XX-XX-XX or seven-digit numbers +380 (48) 7XX-XX-XX.

Precautionary measures
In markets and minibuses, you can become victims of pickpockets.

 

Название

Odessa is a modern Ukrainian name, since 1795. For the first time the name Odessa appeared on January 10 (21), 1795. The name may be associated with the ancient Greek colony Odessos (Greek Οδησσός; it has now been established that the colony is located on the site of the city of Varna). At the end of the 18th century, it was fashionable to call cities by Greek names (for example, Olviopol, Sevastopol, Simferopol, Tiraspol).
Ades is an old Ukrainian name.
Kotsiubiev - Ukrainian name until the 16th century. At the end of the XIV - beginning of the XV century, the northwestern Black Sea region came under the authority of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, this is associated with the name of the Polish gentry Kochuba Yakushinsky. The exact date of the appearance of the settlement is unknown, and the names differ at different times and in different sources, for example: Kochubiyev, Kachubiyev, Kachubiy, Kachibey, Khadzhibey, Gadzhibey, Adzhibey. The first written mention of the port of Kotsiubiev (in portu ... Kaczubyeiow) of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Russia, dates back to May 19, 1415 from the Polish chronicler Jan Dlugosh.
Hadzhibey (from the Ottoman: "performed the Hajj") - the name until 1795.
Istrian is a probable name in the VI-III centuries BC.

The city has many "popular names". Distributed "Odessa-mother", related to the criminal world. From time to time, such comparisons, names and phrases as “Pearl of the Black Sea”, “South Palmyra” are used (compared to Palmyra, a city of amazing beauty; in relation to the Syrian Palmyra. Odessa is indeed located to the north, however, according to the Russian imperial narrative, “ Northern Palmira (this is St. Petersburg), Southern Capital, Capital of Humor, etc.

 

Символика

The officially approved symbols of Odessa are the coat of arms, the large coat of arms, the flag and the anthem, the description and procedure for using which are determined by the regulation of the city council On city symbols. The coat of arms of the city is a red Spanish shield with a white anchor with four paws inside. The shield, on the large coat of arms, is framed by a decorative golden cartouche and topped with a silver city crown in the form of three towers. Under the tower is an image of the Golden Star of the Hero City, cut with gold and a diamond. The flag consists of a rectangular panel divided into three sheer stripes - red, white and yellow. The coat of arms of the city is located in the central, white stripe in the middle. The last change of the flag and coat of arms was approved on April 29, 2011. On August 25, 2011, the "Charter of the territorial society of the city of Odessa" was approved. According to him, the official anthem of the city is "Song of Odessa" from the operetta "White Acacia" by Isaac Dunayevsky. A fragment of the melody is played by the chimes on the city hall building on Primorsky Boulevard. In addition, since June 5, 2012, the city has its own tourist logo created by Artemy Lebedev's studio.

 

Geography

Location and physical geography
Odesa is located on the northwestern coast of the Black Sea, at the crossroads of the routes from Northern and Central Europe to the Middle East and Asia, in the center of the Odesa district of the region of the same name. The city is in the Eastern European time zone. The area of the city reaches 162.42 km². The sources of drinking water on the territory of the city today are pumping stations, as well as the centralized water supply of Odessa and the surrounding areas by the Infoksvodokanal enterprise, which is carried out from the Dniester River along a 40-kilometer water pipeline through the water intake in the city of Bilyaivka. There are three large estuaries near the city: Kuyalnytskyi, Khadzhibeyskyi and Sukhii.

The city is located at a distance of about 39 kilometers from the border with Moldova. In particular, this is the distance between Odesa and the Mayaki-Udobne crossing point across the state border of Ukraine. Odesa is located in the Black Sea Lowland. The average height of the city above sea level is 50 meters. The highest point of Odesa is Zhevakhov Mountain (65 meters above sea level), and the lowest is the Kuyalnytsky estuary (4.2 meters below sea level).

 

Climate

The climate of Odesa is moderate-continental with subtropical features, with a mild winter, a relatively long spring, a warm and long, often very hot summer, and a long and warm autumn. According to the Köppen classification, it is humid continental (Dfb), close to subtropical (Cfa). The average annual air temperature is +13.0 °C, the lowest in January (0.7 °C), the highest in July (+24.4 °C). On average, 592 mm of atmospheric precipitation falls in Odesa per year, the least in October, the most in July. The minimum annual precipitation (196 mm) was observed in 1921, the maximum (765 mm) in 2004. The maximum daily rainfall (103 mm) was recorded on June 8, 1926. On average, there are 112 days with precipitation in the city per year; the least of them (6) in September, the most (14) in December. The average relative humidity is 76%, the lowest in August (66%), the highest in December (84%). The lowest cloudiness is observed in August, the highest in December. Winds from the north are most frequent in Odesa, and winds from the southeast are the least frequent. The highest wind speed is observed in January-February, the lowest in June-July. In January, it averages 4.6 m/s, in July — 3.2 m/s. The most clear days are observed in August, the least in December. Throughout the year, various atmospheric phenomena are observed in Odessa: thunderstorms, fog, dew, ice, etc. In particular, fog is most often observed in January-March, thunderstorms in June and July.

 

Environmental condition

Odesa is a major port of Ukraine and has two satellite port cities — Chornomorsk (on the Sukh estuary) and Yuzhne (on the Hryhoriv estuary). This port node stretches along the Black Sea coast for 60 kilometers and creates rather stressful environmental conditions for the marine ecosystem of the region. Pollution of the marine environment occurs due to emissions into the sea of untreated or insufficiently treated sewage from Odessa, as well as polluted surface runoff from the city territory. There is a threat of dangerous production in the Odesa Bay area. In the case of ammonia spillage from ammonia trucks and its release into the atmosphere, the zone of life-threatening damage will cover the entire coast of Odessa, starting from the city of Yuzhne, including Odessa itself, Kryzhanivka, Fontanka, Nova Dofinivka. After the completion of the construction of a 40 million ton oil terminal, with a technological platform at a distance of 20 kilometers from the coast, in the event of a disaster, deadly areas can be formed within a radius of 7.5 kilometers; a moderately dangerous region within a radius of 12.5 kilometers.

Industrial facilities of mechanical engineering, chemistry and petrochemicals, fish processing and agricultural products contribute to air pollution and the generation of a significant amount of wastewater. 75% of the total emission of pollutants into the atmosphere comes from road transport and, in part, sea vessels, especially in summer. Odesa's sewage treatment plants are overloaded and outdated. Sewage breaks occur quite often, and a large amount of polluted sewage enters the sea. Almost after every downpour, Odesa beaches are closed for swimming due to the dangerous sanitary condition of the marine environment on the coast. The Danube, Dnipro, and Dniester rivers together carry about 100,000 tons of phosphates, up to 1 million tons of nitrates, and more than 2 million tons of organic matter into the sea. Due to the oxidation of organic substances, oxygen disappears in the water. The content of health-threatening bacterial microflora in seawater exceeds the norm by hundreds of thousands of times.

From 1965 to 1980, in order to prevent landslides, landslide structures - breakwaters and breakwaters - were built along the coastline. These constructions not only separated the beach area from the sea, they led pipes of drainage systems, which discharge up to 20 million cubic meters of fresh water annually. As a result, the sea water on the coast became so desalinated that most of the marine biofilter animals died. In addition, the constructions have disrupted the natural water exchange, and beach bathing areas have practically turned into sewage ditches, where swimming and being on the shore are dangerous due to the seeding of dangerous bacteria in the sand. More than 250,000 E. coli cells were found in one liter of seawater, and the maximum number of bacteria in one liter of seawater at the popular Arcadia beach reached 2.4 million cells.

 

History

Ancient times
The first signs of people on the territory of modern Odessa and its surroundings refer to the Upper Paleolithic era (58-38 centuries BC). In the 5th century BC c. on the site of the modern center of Odessa, there was an ancient Greek settlement - "Harbor of Istrian". The remains of this colony were found under the modern Primorsky Boulevard at a depth of 1.5 meters, as well as on other streets of the city. In addition to this settlement, there are also about twelve other ancient Greek colonies on the territory of Odessa. In addition to others, on the opposite shore of the Odesa Bay was the settlement of "Isiakon Harbor". The rivalry between the inhabitants of these colonies was determined by the fact that between them passed the border of the Greek city-colonies of Olbia (in the northeast from the Issiakon harbor) and Istria (in the south from the Istrian harbor). In the second half of the 4th - beginning of the 3rd century BC. Olbia came into conflict with the neighboring Greek colonies, Chersonese and Istria. The reason for the war was the dissatisfaction of the rulers of Olbia with spheres of influence in this region. At that time, the port of Istrian was a border outpost of Istria, so due to the war, this settlement fell into desolation at the end of the IV century BC. e., and the port of Isiakon existed for another two centuries. The decline of the Greek colonies was also caused by the invasion of the Hun nomadic confederation in 375 AD. The arrival of nomads on these lands completely destroyed the local population and turned these lands into a Wild Field, where there was practically no population.

XIV-XV centuries
Around the 14th century, the local steppe was dominated by the Nogai Horde, which later joined the Golden Horde. In Horde times, in the 14th century, the Genoese factory "Ginestra" appeared in the city of the former Greek colony, which traded with nomads. The Genoese bought mostly grain and slaves in the Northern Black Sea. At the same time, according to scientists, the Kuyalnytsky and Khadzhibey estuaries began to move away from the Black Sea, resulting in the formation of a natural embankment - "Peresyp". This could not but affect the economic condition of the region, because in the following years a lot of salt was mined at these two estuaries. In the early 1320s, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania became one of the main enemies of the Golden Horde.

In 1324, all the lands between the Dnieper and the Dniester, including the territory of the modern city, came under Lithuanian rule.

In 1399, after the Battle of Vorskla, the influence of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania on the Northern Black Sea coast gradually declined.

During the reign of Vytautas, the Kotsyubiy fortress and the trading port near it were founded. The first written mention of this settlement dates back to 1415.

In 1442, the fortress was granted to the Polish noblemen Buchachski, then the owners of crown Podillia. At the end of the 15th century, the Lithuanian-Polish power on these lands weakened and they again fell into desolation.

XV-XIX centuries
In 1484, these lands were conquered by the Ottoman Empire, and the local population consisted mainly of Tatars. In 1765, the Ottoman authorities rebuilt the old Lithuanian fortress, naming it "Yeni-Dunya" (translated from Ottoman - "New World"). It was located between the modern Potemkin Stairs and the Vorontsov Palace on Primorsky Boulevard. Zaporizhzhya Cossacks led by Semen Halytskyi, Peter Kalnyshevskyi, etc., repeatedly stormed this fortress. In 1774, the fortress was captured for the first time by the combined Cossack-Russian troops. However, according to the Kyuchuk-Kainardzhii peace treaty, it was given to the Turks.

During the Russo-Turkish War of 1787-1792, the fortress came to the attention of Alexander Suvorov's troops, who were on their way to Bendery. It was taken at dawn between 4 and 5 o'clock on September 14 (25), 1789 by the advanced unit of General Ivan Hudovich's corps. The detachment was commanded by Count Jose de Ribas. The Black Sea Cossack Army led by chieftains Zachary Chepiga and Anton Golovaty took an active part in the battle for Khadzhibey.

On June 7 (May 27) 1794, the Russian empress Catherine II signed a rescript on the establishment of a military harbor and a merchant harbor in Hajibeya. The purpose of the new port on the Black Sea was to expand trade ties with Europe. The city development project was entrusted to the Dutch military engineer, Franz de Vollan. Construction of the port facilities and the main cathedral began on September 2 (August 28) 1794 under the leadership of José de Ribas. This day is still celebrated in Odessa as the day of the city. Khadzhibey's new name — Odesa, first appeared in a document dated January 21 (10), 1795. Already from the first years of its foundation, the city became the main port through which grain was supplied from the Russian Empire to other countries of Europe and Eastern Asia. To a large extent, this was facilitated by the arrival of Armand Emmanuel du Plessis (Duke de Richelieu) as the Governor-General of Novorossiya and the Mayor of Odesa. During his stay in these positions, the population of the port city grew fifteen times. Also, during the Duke's administration of the city, the first commercial bank, stock exchange, foreign consulates, etc. appeared here. During the administration of Louis de Langeron, in 1819, the Odesa port was granted porto-franco status, which allowed the right to import and export goods duty-free. This made it possible to develop foreign trade and improve economic conditions in the city. At the same time, Prince Mykhailo Vorontsov, who at that time held the position of Governor-General of Novorossiya and Bessarabia, managed to attract the attention of many aristocrats and rich people from all over the empire to the city, thanks to which the city became one of the largest industrial centers of the country. In 1820, the first city newspaper was published, and in 1825, the archaeological museum was opened. Many educational institutions and a public library were also opened in those days.

In 1830, the city public library was founded (since 1941, the Odesa State Scientific Library named after M. Gorky). At that time, the collection numbered 5 thousand books, it was the second in the Russian Empire (after the imperial library in St. Petersburg) and the first public library in Ukraine. From 1907 to the present, the library is located in the building, which was built in 1904-1906 according to the project of the architect F. P. Nesturkh. Many prominent personalities worked in the library, who headed it at different times. These are the historian M. N. Murzakevych, professor V. O. Yakovlev, writer M. F. Deribas and his son, local historian O. M. Deribas, author of the book "Old Odesa". A particularly important role in the development of the library was played by its director from 1896 to 1920, professor of Novorossiysk University MG Popruzhenko, who created the historical essay "Odesa City Public Library. 1830—1910", and the curator of the library in 1897—1917 was Count M. M. Tolstoy, an honorary citizen of Odessa. The unique fund of the oldest book collection of Ukraine currently includes about 5 million publications in almost 100 languages. Thanks to the presence of a significant number of rare documents, materials (over 200,000) and manuscripts, the library was included in the world catalog "Museums of Book and Book-making. International Directory. — M., 1987". In 1865, Novorossiysk University (since 1945 — Odesa University named after 1.1. Mechnikov) was established in Odesa on the basis of Richelieu Lyceum (the first director of which was Transcarpathian Ivan Orlai) with three faculties: history-philology, physics-mathematics, and law, which for a long time it was the only university in the south of Ukraine. The initiative in opening the university belongs to M. I. Pirogov.

In the second half of the 19th century, the most prominent leaders of the city became: Count Paul Demetrius Kotsebu, Hryhoriy Marazli and Mykola Novoselskyi. Under the leadership of Count Kotsebu, the roadway in the center of Odesa was replaced with cobblestones, kerosene lamps appeared instead of street lights, the first water main in the city was built, the first railway line was opened, etc. Paul Demetrius also paid a lot of attention to the development of education and science. During his presidency, the Richelieu Lyceum turned into the Novorossiysk University, and many schools and colleges were also founded. Unlike Kotseb, Hryhoriy Marazli paid more attention to the appearance of the city. That is why, during the leadership of the Greek mayor of the city, the Alexander Park, a column monument to Alexander II was built, the first racecourse was opened, electric lighting was introduced, and children's and eye hospitals, several synagogues, cheap canteens, shelters, public schools were built in city and suburbs. By the 100th anniversary of its founding, in 1894, Odesa ranked fourth in the empire in terms of population and level of economic development, after St. Petersburg, Moscow, and Warsaw.

The collapse of the empire and the Ukrainian revolution
On the day of the start of the First World War, July 19 (August 1), 1914, a multi-thousand-strong patriotic demonstration took place in Odessa, which gathered on Cathedral Square and passed through the central streets of the city. In October 1917, Odesa entered the Ukrainian People's Republic as part of the Odesa administrative-territorial unit, but its political and legal status in the Ukrainian state was debatable.

After the proclamation of the Ukrainian People's Republic, on November 30 (December 12) to December 1 (December 13) 1917, a Bolshevik uprising broke out in Odesa, which ended with the victory of Ukrainian troops. In January 1918, the Bolsheviks seized power in the city, creating the Odesa Soviet Republic on February 7 (20), 1918, however, it lasted only until March 13 of the same year after the arrival of Austro-German troops in the city. After the arrival of the troops, products and equipment began to be taken out of the city. However, after the beginning of the German revolution, the troops were forced to leave Odessa. Soon, 30,000 British-French troops landed in the city to support Anton Denikin's 10,000-strong "Volunteer Army" arriving from Ekaterinograd. In December of the same year, the army of the Ukrainian Directory approached Odessa. Thus, there were three different authorities in different parts of the city: the Entente, the "Whites" and the Directory.

At the beginning of the next year, with the help of partisans and the dissemination of Bolshevik propaganda to foreign troops, the city was occupied by the "Reds", who almost immediately nationalized all the city's banks, but this did not help to overcome mass hunger and unemployment. With the help of the Entente troops remaining in the squadron raid, Denikin's troops managed to re-establish their authority in the city. However, Soviet power was finally established in Odesa on February 7, 1920.

Soviet period
In the first years, after many military confrontations that took place in Odessa, the city was in decline. To a large extent, this was facilitated by the policy of the authorities, due to which the intelligentsia of the city began to leave the country en masse. The first years under Soviet rule were marked by the opening of a number of cultural, educational and scientific institutions. In the late 1930s, mass shootings of people arrested by the NKVD took place near Odessa.

During the Second World War, Odesa was near the front. The defense of the city lasted 73 days, from August 5 to October 16, 1941. All this time, the city was bombarded 12-15 times a day. The evacuation of the city was unsuccessful, part of the Soviet troops did not know about the retreat and were captured. On October 15-16, NKVD groups blew up a large number of buildings, including a dam, which caused the Peresyp district to flood and the civilian population to die. On October 16, Romanian troops entered the city. Subsequently, the Soviet authorities issued a special award - the medal "For the defense of Odessa", and gave Odessa the title of "hero city". The NKVD and Soviet partisans were not the only underground forces in occupied Odessa. At the end of 1941, the Southern "marching group" of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists arrived in the city. Three and a half years later, on April 10, 1944, Soviet troops of the Third Ukrainian Front, under the command of a native of Odessa, Rodion Malinovskyi, liberated the city during the Odessa Offensive Operation.

During the following years, work was carried out in the city to restore buildings destroyed during the war. By 1948, all the most important port and industrial facilities were rebuilt in Odessa. As of 1975, the city's housing stock was a record number of square meters — 12 million, which is twice as much as in 1940. Also at that time, new city districts emerged: South, South-West, North-East and Tairov.

Independent Ukraine
The end of the 20th — the beginning of the 21st century
In 1991, on December 1, the All-Ukrainian referendum on the declaration of Ukraine's independence was held. According to the results of the referendum for the entire Odesa region, out of 1,412,228 respondents (75.01%) voted for the declaration of independence — 1,205,755 (85.38%), against — 163,831 (11.6%), and 42,642 ballots were invalid

Many industrial enterprises were forced to close with Ukraine's declaration of independence, others are working only at part of their capacities. The reason for this is the breakdown of economic ties with the former Soviet republics of the USSR, insufficient support from the authorities, as well as the inability to work in new economic conditions.

In 2014, a series of conflicts between Euromaidan and Anti-Maidan activists took place in Odesa.

In 2020, due to the coronavirus pandemic, the tourist flow to Odessa decreased by 37.5%.

Russian-Ukrainian war
On April 23, 2022, Russian troops bombarded Odessa with cruise missiles. They destroyed both the city's military infrastructure and residential buildings, killing eight people (including a three-month-old baby) and wounding another eighteen people. In addition, the Russians destroyed more than 1,000 m² of the cemetery.

On May 2, 2022, high-precision Russian missiles hit a residential building in Odessa, killing a 14-year-old boy and wounding a 17-year-old girl. On May 7, Russian troops bombarded Odessa with six strategic aviation missiles, again damaging the airport and a civilian enterprise in a residential area of Odessa. On May 9, the Russians bombarded Odessa with 9 rockets and killed one person. The head of the European Council had to hide in a shelter. On May 12, Russian troops damaged the Vorontsov Palace during another shelling of Odessa.

 

Persons

Vsevolod Zmienko is a corporal general of the Army of the Ukrainian People's Republic. A prominent military figure of the UNR Army, one of the organizers of the military special service of the State Center of the UNR in exile. During his stay in exile in Poland, he worked at the General Staff of the Army of the Ukrainian People's Republic, during 1928-1936 he headed the intelligence and counter-intelligence units.
Oksana Bayul is a Ukrainian figure skater
Ihor Belanov - Ukrainian Soviet football player, striker, winner of the "Golden Ball" in 1986, vice-champion of Europe-1988, winner of the Cup of Cups-1986
Mykhailo Boychuk is a Ukrainian artist, monumentalist painter, founder of the original school of Ukrainian art "Boichukism"
Hristo Botev is a national hero of Bulgaria, public figure, poet and publicist
Marko Bezruchko is a Ukrainian military figure, corporal general of the UNR Army, the creator and one of the commanders of the so-called "Miracle on the Vistula" - a military operation to repel the offensive of the Russian-Bolshevik invaders near Warsaw, which saved Poland's independence in 1920.
Zelman Waxman is an American biochemist, winner of the Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine
Volodymyr Zhabotinsky is a Jewish writer and publicist, one of the leaders of the Zionist movement; co-founder of the state of Israel and its armed forces.
Danylo Zabolotny — Ukrainian microbiologist, epidemiologist, President of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences, founder of the Institute of Microbiology and Epidemiology in Kyiv
Oleksandr Roitburd is a Ukrainian artist, director of the Odessa Art Museum (2018-2021), representative of the New Ukrainian Wave.
Ilya Mechnikov is a Ukrainian and Russian scientist, one of the founders of comparative pathology, evolutionary embryology, immunology and microbiology
Vira Kholodna is an outstanding Ukrainian film actress of the silent film era.
Isak Babel is a Russian writer of Ukrainian Jewish origin.
Valery Zaluzhnyi is a Ukrainian serviceman, general, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine
Kyrylo Oleksiyovych Budanov is a Ukrainian military officer, Major General, head of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Military Intelligence Service during the Russian-Ukrainian war.
Oleksandr Dovzhenko is a Ukrainian Soviet writer, film director, dramaturg, artist, a classic of world cinema.
Borys Necherda is a Ukrainian sixties poet.
Petro Nilus is a Ukrainian painter, art critic, in exile in France since 1920.

 

Administration

System
The Odesa City Council consists of 64 deputies elected by the city community for a term of 5 years. According to the results of the 2015 local elections, the city council is divided into the following deputy groups and factions: Trust the works (27 deputies), Petro Poroshenko's "Solidarity" bloc (12), Opposition bloc (7), Serhiy Kivalov's Ukrainian Maritime Party (5), Opposition platform — For life (5) and non-factional (8). The executive power in the city is headed by the mayor and the executive committee. 25 departments are subordinate to the latter, each of which is responsible for a certain area of city life: urban planning, economic policy, financial policy, housing and infrastructure, etc. In the course of local elections in 2014, Gennadiy Trukhanov was elected mayor of Odesa, who was re-elected to the same position in 2015. The Odesa Regional State Administration and, in particular, its head, have great political influence in Odesa. He, as a representative of the President of Ukraine, manages the executive power not only at the level of Odesa, but also on the territory of the entire region. On November 27, 2020, Serhii Rafailovich Hrynevetskyi was appointed to this position. There is no single city-wide judicial authority in Odesa, instead there are 4 district courts, the jurisdictions of which extend to the relevant administrative districts of the city.

Administrative division
Administratively, Odesa is divided into 4 districts: the historical center and east — Primorsky district, the south — Kyiv district, the west — Malinovsky district, and the north — Suvorovsky district. Until January 1, 2003, in addition to the current districts, there were four more districts in the city: Zhovtnevy (until November 14, 1961, Stalinsky), Illichivsky, and Central (until May 21, 1958, Voroshilovsky); until June 13, 1958, there was a Water Transport district (it was part of the Stalinsky and Central Districts). In addition, many residents of the city use the historical names of places in Odessa: 1st Outpost, 2nd Outpost, Arcadia, Bolshevik, Blizhni Mlyny, Bugaivka, Velikiy Fontan, Odrada, Dalni Mlyny, Deribasivka, Kryva Balka, Kuyalnyk, Lenposyolok . Some of them are reflected today in street names.

 

Economy and industry

Odesa is one of the main economic centers of Ukraine, which combines the largest seaport, developed industry, resort and recreation complex, transport, financial and social infrastructure. The main economic functions performed by Odesa at the level of the international division of labor are transport and foreign trade. The city is the only fully formed local territorial and industrial complex in the Black Sea region of Ukraine. The city is equipped with a highly qualified workforce that speaks foreign languages. This makes it possible to develop business in Odessa with high standards and requirements for labor resources. As of October 1, 2013, 756.2 million US dollars were invested in the economy of Odesa, which is 44.7% of the total volume of investments in the Odesa region. As of 2013, the total revenue of the Odesa city budget was ₴2,632,408. In August 2013, the average salary in the city was ₴3,381. On October 1, 2014, registered unemployment was 0.46%.

A developed network of highways, the location of the city near the rivers Dniester, Southern Bug; as well as the large seaports of Odesa, Chornomorsk and Yuzhne - in combination with the international airport "Odessa" and the railway, create favorable conditions for receiving, processing, storing and transporting cargo, as well as processing powerful passenger flows. More than 460 joint ventures with foreign capital work here. The total volume of products sold by the city was: 15.6 billion in 2008, 14.6 billion in 2010. Currently, the following enterprises are the undisputed leaders in their industries: "Oil Refinery", Stalkanat, Telekart-Prylad, etc., Odesa Machine-Building Plant.

 

International cooperation

Since the time of the Ukrainian People's Republic, Odesa has become one of the centers of international cooperation of Ukraine. At the beginning of the 20th century, there were three consulates general in the city: of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Austro-Hungarian and German empires, as well as the consulates of the United States of America, the Kingdom of Spain and the Third French Republic.

Currently, there are 22 sister cities and 12 partner cities in Odessa. Even the streets of the "Southern capital" are named in honor of some of the sister cities, in particular, the streets of Varna, Genouezka, Marselska, Szegedska, Liverpool Lane, etc. At the same time, in the Hungarian city of Szeged, a neighborhood was named after Odessa. The city also has eight general consulates: the Republic of Bulgaria, the Republic of Armenia, the Republic of Greece, the People's Republic of China, the Republic of Poland, the Russian Federation, Romania and the Republic of Turkey and fourteen honorary consulates: the Republic of Austria, the Republic of Kazakhstan, the French Republic, the Republic of Korea, the Kingdom of Norway , the Republic of Latvia, the Republic of Cyprus, the Republic of Lithuania, the Federal Republic of Germany, the Republic of South Africa, the Syrian Arab Republic, the Republic of Montenegro, the Slovak Republic and the Republic of Slovenia. In addition, the consulates of Georgia, the Republic of Moldova, and Arab, Georgian, Armenian, Israeli, Polish, and French cultural centers and the European Union Border Assistance Mission to Moldova and Ukraine operate in the city. On May 22, 2012, the first diplomatic club in Ukraine was opened in the city, which should help diplomats and representatives of other countries living in Odessa to hold meetings and solve the most important political and diplomatic issues. Odesa is also a member of the organizations: "Eurocities" and "League of Historical Cities".

 

Infrastructure

Communal economy
The city monopolist in water supply and drainage services is the utility company "Infoksvodokanal", which in December 2003 was leased by the city authorities for 49 years to another company - "Infoks" LLC. Water for Odesa is supplied from the Dniester River, which is 41 kilometers from the city, the city's water supply networks are 1.3 thousand kilometers long.

Street lighting is carried out in Odesa by the utility company "Odesmisksvitlo". The supply of electricity to urban consumers is carried out by Odesaoblenergo JSC, the largest energy supply company in the south of Ukraine. The supply of thermal energy is carried out by the municipal enterprise "Heat Supply of the City of Odessa". PJSC "Odesagaz" is engaged in the supply of gas to residents of the city. Garbage removal is carried out in the city by three companies: "Ecograd", "Eco-Renaissance" and "Soyuz".

Service Industries
As of February 1, 2014, Odesa has 1 five-star, 15 four-star, 7 three-star, and 51 other hotels. The city has a large number of restaurants. As of 2010, there are 648 restaurant business establishments in Odessa: restaurants, coffee shops, bars, etc. The most famous of them are: cafes "Fanconi 1872", "Pechescago", restaurants "Bulvar", "Cafe-bookstore", etc. The following food chains are also represented: McDonald's, Puzata Khata, Pizza Celentano, etc.

The city has a well-developed retail infrastructure. The retail network consists of 14,670 facilities. There are some European and many national supermarket chains in the city; the following networks are very popular: "Auchan", "METRO", "Silpo", "Tavria V", "Furshet". The most famous city bazaars are "Pryvoz Market", "New Market".

The city has a developed social infrastructure. There are 10 theaters, 9 cinemas. There are 126 community-owned general educational institutions operating in the city. About 1,500 sports facilities are available to residents: tennis courts, football fields, sports halls, swimming pools, shooting ranges, etc. There are 168 gas stations in Odessa. Both Ukrainian and foreign banks have about 359 branches and 589 ATMs in the city. The city health care system is represented by 61 medical and preventive institutions.

In 2011, according to "Focus" magazine, Odesa took first place in the ranking of Ukrainian cities in terms of standard of living.

Transport
Odesa is one of the most important transport hubs of Ukraine and has a developed transport infrastructure. The following types of transport are developed: sea, air, rail and road. International highways M05, M14, M15, M16, M27 pass through the city (these roads are part of the European routes E58, E87, E95 and E581), thanks to which the city is connected to Kyiv, Chisinau, Mariupol and other foreign and Ukrainian cities. Three international transport corridors also pass through the city - the European Corridor No. 9, the transport flow Gdansk - Odesa, "TRACECA". Transit car flows bypass the city by a bypass road, but this does not solve intra-city transport problems. They are primarily caused by traffic jams, weather conditions and the unsatisfactory condition of the road surface. The problem of Odesa's urban transport is also that the city's public transport system is underdeveloped and in poor condition. Among the reasons that led to this is an imperfect legal system, as well as the absence of any electronic systems that could facilitate the entire system of passenger transportation. Also, the city does not have a public transport timetable, which also causes problems in intra-city public transport. Trams, trolleybuses, buses, shuttle taxis, taxis, funiculars and boats operate in Odessa.

Odesa Sea Trade Port is one of the largest in Ukraine. The technical capabilities of the port allow processing up to 25 million tons of dry and 25 million tons of bulk cargoes every year. It is connected with more than 600 ports from 100 countries of the world. The passenger complex can serve up to 4 million tourists per year. There are also two ferry crossings in the port - one to Turkey, namely Istanbul, the other to Greece. In the center of the city, there is a railway station. Odesa Railway is the main transport network in the south of Ukraine, which serves about 700,000 passengers and sends more than 2 million tons of cargo every month. From the local train station, you can get to the northernmost point of Moscow (Russia), the easternmost point of Kostyantynivka, the southernmost point of Izmail and the westernmost point of Przemyśl (Poland) without transfers. On the southwestern outskirts, 7.5 km from the city center, there is Odesa International Airport. This resort ranks third in Ukraine in terms of passenger traffic. The airport is connected by air lines with more than 60 cities of the world and serves 111 regular flights per week. The city is connected by airlines to major cities in Europe and Asia, resorts in the Mediterranean and the Middle East.

 

Nature protection territories and objects

The Odesa Catacombs, the Odesa Botanical Garden, and the Odesa Zoo are located among nature conservation objects of national importance in the city. Among the objects of local importance are 33 botanical monuments of nature and 13 parks-monuments of garden and park art.

 

Education and science

As of 2011, preschool education coverage is 70% among all children (last year — 60%). In particular, among 5-year-old children, this figure is almost 100% (last year it was 89%). According to the same data, as of 2010, there are 152 preschool institutions in the city, where 26,247 children study. However, there are not enough places in Odesa kindergartens for all those who wish, which is why parents have to stand in line in order for their child to receive an education. Odesa is a large center of higher education and academic and industry science.

The city also has 136 secondary educational institutions, 25 higher education institutions of the I-II accreditation levels and 19 higher education institutions of the III-IV accreditation levels, 11 of them have national status. About 130,000 students study at all higher education institutions. Among the city's most famous higher education institutions are I. I. Mechnikov Odesa National University and Odesa National Polytechnic University, each of which covers many specialties and works in the fields of humanities and technical sciences, respectively. One of the leading institutions of higher education in Ukraine in the field of jurisprudence is the National University "Odesa Law Academy". In 2019, 15 Odessa higher education institutions out of nineteen were represented in the TOP-200 higher education institutions of Ukraine.

The most prominent academic institutes of Odessa are: O. V. Bogatsky Institute of Physics and Chemistry of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine and the Institute of Market Problems and Economic and Environmental Research. Among other scientific institutions of the city, the following should also be noted: Institute of Marine Biology; Odesa Archaeological Museum of the Department of Hydroacoustics of the Sevastopol Marine Hydrophysical Institute; radio astronomy observatory "Uran-4" of the Radio Astronomy Institute, etc. There are also many research and design institutes and other organizations working in various fields of science in the city and its surroundings. Among the famous scientists who worked, were born or studied in Odessa, there are many prominent figures: Erast Andrievskyi, Oleksandr Bogomolets, Mykola Gamaliya, Georgy Gamov, Valentin Glushko, Mykola Zelinskyi, Dmytro Znoyko, Petro Karishkovskyi, Serhii Korolev, Oleksandr Lyapunov, Leonid Mandelstam, Petre Melikishvili, Dmytro Mendeleev, Ilya Mechnikov, Mykola Pirogov, Ivan Sechenov, Vasyl Tairov, Igor Tamm, Konstantin Ushinsky, Volodymyr Filatov, etc.

 

Culture

Theaters and music
Odesa is one of the Ukrainian cultural centers. This city has many theaters and museums that have many years of history. Many cultural figures were also born and raised in Odessa - pianists Emil Gilels and Svyatoslav Richter, violinist David Oistrakh, singers Leonid Utyosov and Valery Obodzinsky, composer Oskar Feltsman, actors, writers, artists. Theatrical arts occupy a prominent place in the cultural life of the city. The most prominent and famous theater is the Odesa National Academic Theater of Opera and Ballet. The outstanding composer Pyotr Tchaikovsky visited it, famous singers performed on its stage: Fedor Chaliapin, Enrico Caruso, Leonid Sobinov, Isidora Duncan danced, etc. In the 1920s, the Odesa Academic Ukrainian Music and Drama Theater named after V. Vasylka Currently, performances based on the plays of the best Ukrainian and world playwrights are staged there - Panteleimon Kulish, Hryhoriy Kvitka-Osnovianenko, Ivan Kotlyarevskyi, Moliere, Bertold Brecht, etc. In contrast to the Ukrainian theater, there is also the Odesa Regional Academic Russian Drama Theater in Odessa, which was founded in 1874 and is the oldest theater in the south of Ukraine. Prominent personalities such as Sara Bernard, Eleonora Douzet, Benoit Coquelin, as well as Ukrainian masters Panas Saksaganskyi, Maria Zankovetska, Marko Kropyvnytskyi, etc., performed here. There are also other theaters, in particular, the Odesa Theater of the Young Spectator of the city of Yuri Olesha was founded as a mobile theater, and it worked like that for a long time. Only ten years after its foundation, this theater institution received premises and is currently located in the building next to the Russian Drama Theater. However, despite the name, the performances are performed not only for children, but also for young people and adults. What is important is that the Odesa Regional Puppet Theater was founded at this theater, which later became an independent institution. The youngest of the Odessa theaters is the Odessa Academic Theater of Musical Comedy named after M. Vodiany, who was transferred to Odesa from Lviv. The first success of the musical comedy was the operetta "White Acacia", written by Isaak Dunaevsky. The leader of the theater was Mykhailo Vodiany, who later received his name. Currently, the repertoire of the Odessa musical comedy includes performances of all genres: operettas, musicals, rock operas, etc. The city also operates a Circus, which was founded in 1894. A special place in the cultural life of the city is occupied by the Odesa Philharmonic, which is located in the building of the former New Exchange. With the arrival of Soviet power, in order to overcome "bourgeois nationalism", the building became the main venue for concerts of the city orchestra. During the existence of the Philharmonic, prominent musical personalities performed on the stage: Volodymyr Vysotsky, Oleksandr Goldenweiser, Mykola Malko, David Oistrakh, Leonid Utyosov, Dmytro Shostakovich, etc. Also in Odessa there is:

Odesa Municipal Theater of Wind Music named after People's Artist of Ukraine O. Salik was created by the Odesa City Council in December 2003 as a communal enterprise;
the "House of Clowns" theater, which opened on March 8, 2003 in the premises of the former "Druzhba" cinema;
The Jewish Cultural Center "Beit Grand" is a center for everyone who is interested in various creative studios, who goes to plays, concerts and exhibitions, as well as for those who are looking for a place where one or another cultural event can be held.

 

Cinema

The first Odessa cinematographer was Myron Grossman, who founded the first Odessa film studio in 1906. During the period 1907-1915, he shot about fifty documentary subjects for film magazines. In 1912, he founded the first film studio "Mirograph", which released several comedies, adventure films and films on Jewish themes. The last shots with the participation of the great actress, the star of the silent film Vira Kholodnaya, were filmed at "Mirograph". All city film studios were united into a film studio during the Soviet regime. Oleksandr Dovzhenko began his directing career in Odessa. His films "Zvenigora", "Arsenal" are classics of world cinema. Among the most popular films of the Odesa Film Studio are "Spring on Zarichnaya Street" by Felix Mironer and Marlen Khutsiev, "Ten Negroes", "Dangerous Tours", "Green Van" by Oleksandr Pavlovsky and others. In 1927, Vyacheslav Levandovsky created the first Ukrainian animated film (animated film) "The Tale of the Straw Bull". There is also a local animation studio in the city, which is one of the largest animation studios in Ukraine. During its 20 years of existence, this animation studio has released 2 full-length animated films, more than 50 multi-clips and more than 1000 commercials for TV channels and TV shows. Among the figures from Odesa, such people as Viktor Dobrovolskyi, Marko Donskoi, Mykhailo Razumnyi, Andrii Sova, Leonid Trauberg, Leonid Utyosov and others became famous in cinema.

Also, Odesa has a fairly developed system of cinemas. Currently, there are ten cinemas operating in the city: "Cinema City", "Moscow", "Rodyna", (Motherland) "Golden Duke", "Zoryanyi", "Auto Cinema" and two Multiplex cinemas "and Planeta Kino". Until recently, the oldest cinema in Odessa, "Kino-Utochkino", existed on the main street of the city, but due to lack of funds, it was decided to rebuild it into a restaurant and night club. Cinemas "Zoryany", "Rodyna" (Fatherland) and "Moscow" are part of the chain of cinemas "Odesa-Kino", whose owner, media magnate Artem Vozniuk, pursues a pro-Russian and Ukrainian-phobic policy, resisting the introduction of Ukrainian dubbing in cinemas. The city also has a representative of the largest operator of multi-complex cinemas in Central and Eastern Europe, as well as in Israel, "Cinema City International". The cinema "Cinema City" has the largest number of halls among all its competitors - seven.

 

Museums

About thirty museums work in Odessa.
The Odesa Archaeological Museum of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine is one of the oldest in Ukraine (founded in 1825), which also works as a research institute;
The Odesa Art Museum is one of the most developed art museums in Ukraine and has almost all types of art in its collections: painting, graphics, sculpture, decorative and applied art, and contains the works of Russian and Ukrainian masters of icon painting from the 16th century to the present day, including more than 10 thousands of original works. It is located in the very center of Odessa, in the ancient Naryshkin palace, built in the 1820s in the best traditions of Russian classicism;
The Odesa Museum of Western and Eastern Art is one of the best museums of its kind in Ukraine, located in the former yard of the largest merchant Abaz;
Odesa Literary Museum - covers the history of literary Odesa for two centuries, as well as about 300 famous writers are presented in 24 halls, founded in 1977. The Sculpture Garden of the Literary Museum is considered a visiting card of Odessa. About 90-100 thousand tourists visit it annually.
The Greek Cultural Fund "Filiki Eteria" is a museum of the national liberation movement of Greece, which began in Odessa with the founding of a secret organization of the same name;
Military-historical museum of the Southern operational command;
Memorial of the Heroic Defense of Odesa — 411th Battery;
Museum of the History of the Jews of Odesa "Migdal-Shorashim";
The Holocaust Museum in memory of the victims of fascism tells about the tragic fate of the Jews of Transnistria (the territory between the Southern Bug and the Dniester), about the role of the Romanian-German occupiers and collaborators in the destruction of the Jewish population, about the courage of those who saved Jews during the years of occupation;
Odesa Historical and Local History Museum;
Odesa Sound Museum of Vasyl Pinchuk;
Museum of contraband;
Chocolate Museum;
Odesa Municipal Museum of Personal Collections named after A. V. Bleschunova;
Museum of the History and Development of the Ukrainian Cossacks;
Museum-apartment of Leonid Utyosov;
Odessa Underwater Historical Museum;
Museum of Catacombs "Secrets of Underground Odessa";
Odessa Museum of the Navy;
Museum named after F. P. De-Volana - the Odesa port museum is located in one of the old buildings on the Langheronivsky Uzvoz, which before the revolution housed "barjans" - overnight homes for the port's homeless loaders;
Literary and memorial museum named after OS Pushkin - in the house where he stayed for a month in one of the first hotels of the city - "Hotel du Nord";
K. H. Paustovsky Memorial Museum;
Odesa House-Museum named after MK Roerich is one of six museums in the world dedicated to the work of the Roerich family;
Academician V. P. Filatov's Memorial Building-Museum;
The Cinema Museum — located on the territory of the film studio, tells about the cinematographic activity in Odesa from the invention of the cinematograph to the present day;
Odessa Museum of Football;
Museum of Human Anatomy;
The Museum of Interesting Science is an interactive museum. designed for every visitor to be able to touch everything and experience scientific experiments with their own hands;
Odesa Museum of Numismatics;
The Museum of Modern Art of Odessa was created by a young businessman, intellectual and philanthropist Vadym Morochovsky based on the unique collection of works by the masters of the "second wave of the Odessa avant-garde" by the famous collector Mykhailo Knobel;
Museum of wax figures "At Baba Uta";
Museum of cognac named after N. L. Shustova.

 

Literature

Odesa is one of the Ukrainian literary centers. However, unlike another literary center of Ukraine, Lviv, which is famous for book publishing, Odesa is a place where books were written more often than published. At the beginning of the 19th century, the city was also visited by many writers of the then Russian Empire: Konstantin Batyushkov, Mykola Hnidych, Pavlo Morozov, Mykhailo Rosenberg, Pavlo Svinin, Olimpiada Shishkin, etc. Odesa is largely associated with the name of the creator of the modern Russian literary language, Alexander Pushkin, who was in exile in Odessa for 13 months - from July 3, 1823 to July 31, 1824. It was here that Pushkin wrote three chapters of one of his most famous works, "Eugene Onegin", the poem "Bakhchisarai Fountain" and began the poem "Gypsies", and also wrote about thirty lyrical poems. After Pushkin wrote his poems about Odessa, this topic became popular in the circles of the Russian intelligentsia. These were Volodymyr Benediktov, Ivan Borozdna, Andriy Podolinskyi, Semyon Raich, Vasyl Tumanskyi. In February 1825, the outstanding Polish poet Adam Mickiewicz came to the city. It was in Odessa that the Pole wrote about fifty poetic works, including "Sonety krymskie", and also began to write the poem "Konrad Wallenrod". In 1885, the famous Romanian poet Mihai Eminescu was treated in a sanatorium in Odesa. Odesa was visited twice by the outstanding Ukrainian writer, a classic of Russian literature, Mykola Vasyliovych Gogol. In Odessa, Gogol prepared a new edition of a four-volume collection of his works, and also worked on the second volume of Dead Souls. It was during Mykola Vasyliovych's stay in Odessa that his play "The Auditor" was staged in the local theater. At the beginning of the 1920s, many future famous Soviet writers worked in the Odessa newspaper Moryak. In particular, Isak Babel, Eduard Bagrytskyi, Valentyn Kataev, Yuriy Olesha and Kostyantyn Paustovskyi.

"Southern Palmyra" became a small homeland for many diverse future writers who were born there, in particular, Hanna Gorenko (later Akhmatova), Alain Boske, Ivan Bryl (also known as Janka Bryl), Volodymyr Zhabotynskyi, Yehiel-Leib Fainzilberg (also known as Ilya Ilf), Yevhen Kataev (also known as Yevhen Petrov), etc. In different years, there were many foreign writers in Odesa. In particular, Ivan Bunin, who lived for many years in Odessa, Ivan Vazov, Maxim Gorky, who later described this period of life in the future in the story "Chelkash", Oleksandr Green, who saw the sea for the first time in Odessa, Teodor Dreiser, Avetik Isaakyan, Oleksandr Kuprin, Volodymyr Mayakovsky, who mentioned Odesa in the poem "Cloud in Pants", Oleksandr Movsisyan (also known as Oleksandr Shirvanzade), who under the impression of being in the city wrote the novel "The Artist" and started another - "Melania", Mendele Moykher-Sforim , Oleksandr Ostrovsky, Yakiv Polonsky, who later described his stay in Odessa in the semi-autobiographical novel "Cheap City", Mark Twain, Leo and Alexei Tolstoy, who visited the city during the Crimean War, Anton Chekhov, Korniy Chukovsky, Sholom Aleichem, who wrote for the newspapers "Odesa News" and "Odesa Listok", as well as domestic ones: Ludmila Vasylevska-Berezina (also known as Dniprova Chaika), Volodymyr Korolenko, Mykhailo Kotsiubynskyi, Ivan and Yuriy Lipy, Ivan Nechui-Levytskyi, who described the life I of the Ukrainian intelligentsia in Odesa at the end of the century in the story "Over the Black Sea", Petro Nishchynskyi (also known as Petro Baida), the Ukrainian writer Lesya Ukrainka, Ivan Franko, etc. came three times. Among the famous modern writers of Odessa, we can mention poets Stanislav Stryzhenyuk, Boris Barskyi, Boris Khersonskyi and Anna Yablonska, satirist Mykhailo Zhvanetskyi, etc. There is an international book exhibition "Green Wave" and Ukrainian book festivals in the city. The city of Odesa is described in a number of novels written in different languages.

 

Traditions

Although nowadays Ukrainians make up the majority of the city's population, while Russians make up only a third, the city of Odesa has been a multinational city for centuries. The combination of dozens of different cultures in the city created its own unique, so-called "Odessa language". However, according to some researchers, the Odesa language is a combination of several different languages, primarily Russian, Ukrainian, and Yiddish. Other researchers consider this language "the Russian language of the Jews." In recent years, the number of people who speak Odessa has been steadily decreasing. For some reason, this was influenced by the large number of emigrants to the USA and Israel. Some of the most famous popularizers of this dialect were: writers Isak Babel, Ilya Ilf, Yevhen Petrov, singer and film actor Leonid Utyosov, as well as satirists Mykhailo Zhvanetskyi, Roman Kartsev, etc. In the 19th century - at the beginning of the 20th century, there was such a profession as a bindyuzhnyk in Odessa. Usually, this was the name of port porters, or a person who rules horses in a hired crew. This profession and the people who worked as bindyuzhny became the heroes of many literary works, movies, etc. In many respects, the Odesa bindyuzhniks are highlighted in culture approximately like the Lviv batyars. But, in contrast to batyars, who were considered non-standard people, adventurers, bindyuzhniki denoted uneducated people engaged in hard work.

It is also believed that Odesa is the capital of humor. In many ways, this stereotype lives on thanks to such humorists as Mykhailo Zhvanetsky, Viktor Ilchenko, Roman Kartsev, who became famous thanks to the famous humorist Arkady Raikin. In addition, there is an annual humorous festival in Odessa - "Humorina". Odesa, from the beginning of its existence in the Russian Empire, was a place of combination not only of Russian and European cultures, but also of political elites. So the fate of such famous political figures as Serhiy Witte, Mykhailo Vorontsov, Herman Pyntia, Armand Emmanuel du Plessis, Duke de Richelieu, Mikheil Saakashvili, etc., as well as many famous Ukrainian politicians, such as: Oleksandr Borovyk, Oleksiy Goncharenko, Eduard Hurwitz, Valentyn Symonenko, etc.

 

Festivals

In Soviet times, Odesa organized two significant festivals. The most famous, largest and one of the oldest festivals in the country is "Humorina", an annual festival of humor and satire, which has been held on April 1, the day of laughter, since 1973. The frightened authorities of the Ukrainian SSR and Odesa, after the festival reached the all-Union and international level in 1976, banned "Humorina". It was revived during Perestroika in 1987. In 2013, the organizers of this festival will celebrate the 40th anniversary of "Humorina". In 1988, 1990, and 1994, the Golden Duke film festival was held (in 1987, the trial film festival "Odesa Alternative" was held). The main prize of the festival, the statuette "Golden Duke" by the Odessa sculptor Mykhailo Reva, is also the main prize of the Odessa International Film Festival (2010-present).

In the 1990s, new festivals began to appear. Among those that were founded in the 90s and are still ongoing are: International Rock Festival "Pike Vests" in honor of the founder of the Odesa Rock Club, guitarist and founder of the rock band "Bastion" Ihor Hankevich, the author of the song "A Walk in Odessa" (1991), "Two days and two nights of new music" (1995), a music festival of experimental music by Ukrainian and foreign authors, as well as a biker festival of rock music "Goblin Show".

From 2001 to 2011, the international "Jazz Carnival in Odessa" was held. Since 2011, after a change of concept, it is held as Odessa JazzFest.

In 2010, several festivals of a new generation appeared in Odesa at the same time - the chamber but original silent film and modern music festival "Silent Nights", held in the open air at the pier of the Sea Station, as well as the large-scale Odesa International Film Festival, which immediately aroused great interest among moviegoers and resonance both in Ukraine and abroad. If "Silent Nights" specializes more in silent cinema, OMCF has established itself as an art-mainstream festival: cinema of a high artistic level, intended for a wide audience. The organizers of the film event have set quite ambitious goals — to turn OMCF into one of the main film forums in Eastern Europe and call it the "Eastern European Cannes." Every year, this festival holds both paid and free screenings, as well as retrospectives and premieres of films. In addition, several competition programs for Ukrainian, Russian, short cinematography, as well as the main prize, "Golden Duke", for the best film, are active at the OMCF.

Since 2013, the Mayak Fest hardcore/punk festival has been held every summer, which gathers dozens of leading bands and hundreds of hardcore and punk fans. At the festival, you can trace the subcultural atmosphere, which is expressed in punks, hardcore, skinheads, etc. The cuisine of the festival is vegan.

During the winter holidays, Odesa hosts the festivals "Christmas on Deribasivska" and "Generous Christmas" (January 7). The holiday program is about the same as in other winter events: a holiday concert with New Year's and Ukrainian songs, contests and a program for children, New Year's treats and mulled wine, a touch of humor and fun. Attendance at such street events is free.

 

Religion

Today, the city is the center of the Odesa Diocese of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, the Diocese of the UOC MP (ROC in Ukraine), the Exarchate of the UGCC, the Diocese of the Roman Catholic Church, as well as the community of the Armenian Apostolic Church, Jewish. In addition, there are Protestant and Muslim communities in the city. Among the most famous religious buildings of the Orthodox Church are:

Transfiguration Cathedral Cathedral;
Holy Dormition Cathedral;
St. Archangel Michael women's monastery;
St. Illina Men's Monastery;
St. Iversky Men's Monastery;
Holy Assumption Patriarchal Men's Monastery;
Holy Trinity Cathedral, an Orthodox church built by the Greek community of the city;
Church of the Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos of All Sorrowful Joys.
Odesa Church - St. Paul's Cathedral.
Cathedral of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Church of St. Peter the Apostle

Cathedral Church of the Holy Apostle Andrew the First-Called UGCC.

The Brod Synagogue, also known as the Or Sameach Synagogue, is one of the oldest functioning synagogues in Ukraine.

The Arab cultural center in Odesa has every chance to become an architectural monument over time. The mosque is located in the building of the Arab Cultural Center. The building was built in Moorish style in 2001 at the expense of Syrian businessman Kivan Adnan. A new mosque is also being built.

There are about 34 necropolises in Odessa, but only five of them are open for burials. The most famous is the Second Christian Cemetery, where many famous people are buried. During the Soviet rule, most of Odessa cemeteries were destroyed, including religious ones, such as the First Christian Cemetery, the First Jewish Cemetery, and others where the most prominent residents of the city were buried in the past.

 

Architecture and sights

Since the capture of these lands by the Russian Empire, Odesa actively developed not only economically, but also in urban planning. In particular, the first plan of the city was developed at the end of the 18th century by the famous engineer Franz de Vollan. The city plan developed by Vollan envisaged the establishment of a central part of the city with a clear system of streets and blocks of equal length and width. From the first half of the 19th century, massive construction began in Odessa. In the 19th century, the city experienced several architectural stages, characterized by different styles. In particular, classicism (Transfiguration Cathedral, Richelieu Lyceum, Holy Trinity Cathedral, Circular Building, etc., architects — Francesco Boffo, Alexander Digby, Thomas de Tomon, Giovanni and Francesco Frapolli, Francois Chal), Empire (Old Exchange, Vorontsov Palace , Duke de Richelieu monument, Marazli building, Potemkin stairs, Dormition Cathedral of the Assumption Monastery, Felix de Ribas House, Saban Barracks, etc., architects — Caetano Dallacqua, Giorgio Torricelli, Nikifor Cherkunov, Wilhelm Schmidt), Palladianism (Palais Royale, buildings on Theater Square, the building of the Archaeological Museum), Neo-Gothic (Bzozovsky Palace, Brod Synagogue, New Exchange, Marazli Dacha, Church, Main Odesa Synagogue, Church of Peter and Paul (destroyed), architects — Oleksandr Bernardazzi, Franz Boffo, Felix Gonsiorovskyi, Josyp Kolovich , Adolf Minkus, Franz Morandi, Mykola Tolvinsky), etc.

The climate had a great influence on the appearance of the city. In particular, this applies to the wide use of limestone, shell stone as a building material. It helped the inhabitants from the scorching heat, it was also used for this purpose in the construction of porticoes, loggias, covered galleries, etc. At the end of the century, a mixture of different styles became popular, as well as neo-baroco, modern, etc., which were depicted in the Passage, the "Imperial" and "Velika Moskovskaya" hotels, the Russov and Blumberg houses, the building of the Opera House, the building of the Odessa Synagogue, etc.

The beginning of the 20th century was marked by a frantic demand for a new architectural style, constructivism (the buildings of the Institute of Cold, the Institute of Eye Diseases named after V. Filatov and the boarding school named after P. Stolyarskyi, the "Londonskyi" hotel, etc., architects - Oleksandr Dubinin, Noah Kanevskyi, Faifel Troup' Yansky). In many ways, the large number of buildings in the style of constructivism, as well as the Stalinist empire, is connected with the repeated bombing of the city during the Second World War. In particular, this is how the railway station was rebuilt, and a large number of "Khrushchevs" were built. As a result of the fact that at the end of the century, many residents of the city did not have enough apartments, several "sleeping" microdistricts were built from the same type of panel houses, such as the village of Kotovsky, Tairov, Cheremushki, etc. The Odessa and Black Sea hotels, the main building of the port, were also built. Among the modern buildings, the residential complex "Miracle City", the shopping center "Athena", the building "Shah-name", the Arab Cultural Center, etc. should also be noted. Among modern local architects, Dmytro and Mykhailo Povstaniuk, etc., should be mentioned. Over the past two decades, Odesa has suffered significant losses from the development of the historic center with modern residential buildings and business centers. For example, Greek Square was almost completely destroyed. Arcadia is completely destroyed, French Boulevard is intensively built up.

On the outskirts of the city, "cave houses" that belonged to the stone-mason Cossacks of the 18th century have been preserved.

 

Sport

The most popular team sport in Odessa is football. The most popular Odessa football club Chornomorets repeatedly won sports trophies both in the USSR and in Ukraine, and also took part in international competitions of the highest quality. In addition, "Chornomorets" has become a sports symbol of the city. It should also be noted the amateur football club "Richelieu", which is the current record holder of the championship of Ukraine among veterans. The history of football in Odessa begins in 1884, when members of the city's athletic club, natives of Great Britain, built the city's first indoor football field, which was located opposite the modern film studio on French Boulevard. In addition to OBAK, the following sports clubs should be noted: Mestran, Sporting Club, Sheremetyevo Sports Club, Maccabi Jewish Sports Club, etc. Already in 1910, a football league was founded in Odessa, which was part of the All-Russian Football Union. In the also popular sport of basketball, the city also has its significant representative in the Ukrainian championship - BC "Odesa", which has repeatedly brought gold medals to its native city. In women's volleyball in Odesa, the club "Ginestra" is well-known, in the ranks of which volleyball professionals have been participating in competitions of the highest level for many years.

The main sports facility of Odesa is the Chornomorets stadium, which seats 34,164 spectators. In addition, the city has stadiums "Spartak", "SKA", etc.

The city also has a hippodrome, which is the oldest in Ukraine. In addition to equestrian competitions, it also hosted the first airplane flights in the Russian Empire: pilots Mykhailo Yefimov (March 21, 1910) and Sergey Utochkin (April 13, 1910). The Black Sea city has also repeatedly given countries of different eras excellent athletes in a wide variety of sports. Among them are many Olympic champions of Ukraine and the USSR. In particular, Gennadiy Avdeyenko, Mykola Avilov, Oksana Bayul, Tetyana Gutsu, Yakiv Zheleznyak, Yevhen Lapinsky, Mykola Milchev, Viktor Mikhalchuk, Nadiya Mushta-Olizarenko, Margarita Nikolayeva, Viktor Petrenko, Serhiy Petrenko, Eduard Sibiryakov, Yulia Ryabchynska, Yuriy Cheban, Olga Shkurnova. Among others:
Utochkin Sergey Isayovych is one of the first test pilots in the Russian Empire. Popularizer of aviation at the beginning of the 20th century, football player, cyclist, tennis player, boxer, wrestler, participant in sailing regattas, etc.
Mykhailo Ivanovich Rybalchenko is a Soviet cyclist of the 1930s, a three-time champion of the USSR, the only person whose pre-war and still unsurpassed sports achievement was entered into the Guinness Book of Records.
Yukhym Petrovich Heller is a Soviet and Russian chess player, a grandmaster since 1952, a contender for the world championship in 1950-1970.
Belanov Ihor Ivanovich is a Soviet and Ukrainian football player, winner of the "Golden Ball" in 1986 (one of the most prestigious football awards in the world), winner of the Cup Winners' Cup in 1986, vice-champion of Europe in 1988.
There are many interesting, extreme water sports in Odessa: kayaking, diving, kitesurfing, wakeboarding.

 

Tourism

Odesa's climate is characterized by mildness and a large number of sunny days. In summer, thanks to the breezes, even on hot days it is more comfortable here than in the neighboring steppes. Healing mud of estuaries and mineral springs attract many vacationers to Odessa. The Odesa resort area stretches for dozens of kilometers along the coast and estuaries and is one of the oldest and most popular in the country. Kuyalnytskyi estuary is popular - a unique natural laboratory with healing salt water and mud mud. Kuyalnik is one of the oldest mud resorts in the country. The city has many different places for recreation: bowling clubs, go-karting, roller rinks, ice rinks, a circus, a zoo, yacht clubs, etc. Odesa has significant tourist potential and prerequisites for its development. Along the entire coast of Odesa, there are beaches: Luzanivka, Langheron, Vidrada, Delphin, Arcadia, a group of beaches of Veliky Fontan, Lustdorf, as well as many sanatorium beaches and holiday homes. The largest dolphinarium in the country operates on the "Lanjeron" beach.

Hotels and sanatoriums
Odesa is known for its sanatoriums, resorts, boarding houses, etc. For the most part, such institutions are located in once sparsely populated seaside areas, such as Maly, Srednyi and Velikiy Fontanas, Arcadia and Lustdorf. Among the well-known sanatoriums, the following institutions can be noted: sanatorium named after Gorky, "Odesa", "Odesa", "White Acacia", "Red Stars", "Magnolia", named after Chkalov and "Lermontovsky". Among the well-known resorts that exist in the city or near it, one should note the resorts located in the villages of Zatoka, Serhiivka and Chornomorske, in the villages of Hrybivka and Karolino-Bugaz, as well as the resort "Kuyalnik", located near the estuary of the same name. There are many hotels in Odessa. As of February 1, 2014, Odesa has 1 five-star, 15 four-star, 7 three-star and 51 other hotels. Some of them have a century-old history. Such famous personalities as Robert Louis Stevenson, Ivan Aivazovsky, Henri Barbus, Georges Simenon stayed there. Among such hotels, we can mention "Bristol", "Great Moskovskaya", "Imperial", "Londonsky", etc. Among the hotels that were founded recently, we can first of all note: "London", "Mozart", "Odesa", etc.

Other
Odesa in art
The theme of the "Southern capital", as Odesa is called, has repeatedly entered the works of various artists - artists, writers, architects, musicians, etc. Thus, the first poem about Odessa with the same name was published in 1806 in the St. Petersburg magazine Lyceum. Its author was an unknown person who signed himself as "P. F. B."

Alexander Pushkin was one of the first to describe Odessa in literature. During his exile in 1823-1824, Pushkin lived in the city, where he wrote three chapters of one of his most famous works, Eugene Onegin, vividly describing Odessa and the European spirit of Odessa at that time. In addition, the writer wrote about thirty lyric poems, many of which were dedicated to the city.

The action of Sergei Eisenstein's silent feature film "Battleship Potemkin" (Mosfilm, 1925), which was repeatedly recognized as the best or one of the best films of all time and peoples according to polls by critics, filmmakers and the public, takes place in Odessa in June 1905 , when the crew on the battleship "Knyaz Potemkin Tavriyskyi" revolted. The famous scene of the shooting on the Potemkin Stairs has become a classic of world cinema. On July 11, 2015, the commemorative sign of the European Film Academy (European Film Academy, EFA) was unveiled on the Potemkin Stairs. This sign secures the title "Treasure of European Film Culture" for the Potemkin Stairs. The press release of the European Film Academy states that "The Potemkin Stairs are undoubtedly one of the most famous historical places in the world of cinema." Such signs were previously installed in four places: in Lyon (France) on the house where the Lumiere brothers were born; scientific and methodical office-museum of Sergei Eisenstein in Moscow; Bergman Center in Forjo (Sweden) and Tonino Guerra World in Pennabilla (Italy).

At the end of the 19th century, the Ukrainian writer Ivan Nechuy-Levytskyi described the life of the Ukrainian intelligentsia at the end of the century in Odesa in the story "Over the Black Sea", and in the work "Mykola Dzhera" he provides details that are closely related to the city. In particular, the main character of the story is a serf who runs away from his lordship and goes to the Black Sea to join local fishermen.

Odessa landscapes became a leading theme in the works of Ukrainian painter Volodymyr Litvinenko.

Recognition
On May 1, 1945, the city was awarded the title of "Hero City".
In 1998, Odesa became the first city among the countries of the former Soviet Union to receive the "Flag of Honor of the Council of Europe" award. It is awarded to those cities that "spread the European ideology". But only on December 28, 2006, the award was handed over to the local authorities.
In 2009, Odesa received another award of the Council of Europe - "Table of the Council of Europe", which is the second most important award of this organization.
In February 2010, the analytical and research center "Institute of the City" named Odessa the best Ukrainian city in terms of the quality of life of the population.
In the same year, "fDi Magazine" recognized Odessa as the fourth in the ranking of the most attractive European cities. Only representatives of the EU — Amsterdam, Riga and Vilnius — overtook the Ukrainian city.
In 2011, according to the magazine "Focus", Odesa took the first place in the ranking of Ukrainian cities in terms of standard of living.