State and Municipal Museums of Historical, Literary, Archeological, Artistic Heritage:
Odesa Museum of Fine Arts
5a Sofiivska Street | Telephone: +380 48 723 8393
https://www.ofam.ua/en
The building that houses the Odesa Museum of Fine Arts was constructed between 1824 and 1828. The author of the architectural project has not been identified. After construction was completed, the building was inspected by the renowned Odesa architect Franz Karl Boffo. The first owner of the palace was Countess Olga Naryshkina (née Potocka).
In 1888 the palace was purchased by the Mayor of Odesa, Grigory Marazli, an outstanding public figure, collector, and patron of the arts. In 1892 Grigory Marazli donated the palace to the city with the intention of establishing a museum of fine arts there. The museum was officially opened on 24 October (6 November, according to the Gregorian calendar) 1899.
The architecture of the palace embodies the finest traditions of Russian classicism of the early nineteenth century. The central composition of the building consists of a two-storey main structure with a portico of six Corinthian order columns supporting a triangular pediment. On both sides are single-storey wings arranged symmetrically and connected to the main building by curved galleries. The overall composition is distinguished by restrained elegance and harmonious proportions.
A tribute to the Romantic era is the large grotto constructed beneath the central part of the main building. It features a vaulted ceiling designed to imitate a natural cave with an artificial waterfall. Underground galleries extend from the grotto and once led to a large garden that descended along the slope toward the seashore. A small exhibition placed before the entrance to the grotto presents the history of the palace and the creation of the museum.
In the basement of the main building, on the side facing the sea, there is a spacious gallery. Murals created during the “Home Exhibition” of 1895, which took place in the palace and its garden, are still preserved on the vaults and walls. Today this part of the palace houses the experimental gallery “Yellow Giants”.
The museum exhibition begins with works of icon painting from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, imbued with the distinctive spirit of early secular portraiture.
Academic painting is represented by works reflecting its traditional grandeur. Among them are paintings by the outstanding marine painter Ivan Aivazovsky.
The museum also holds comprehensive collections of works by artists associated with the democratic artistic movement of the Russian Empire in the second half of the nineteenth century, especially members of the Society for Traveling Art Exhibitions (an association of artists who organized mobile exhibitions throughout the empire). Visitors can see works by such masters as Alexei Savrasov, Isaac Levitan, Ivan Shishkin, Arkhip Kuindzhi, Ilya Repin, and Vasily Surikov.
The exhibition further includes works created at the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, reflecting the diversity and intensity of the search for artistic ideals during that complex historical period. This section presents works by renowned masters such as Valentin Serov, Mikhail Vrubel, Nicholas Roerich, Boris Kustodiev, Alexandre Benois, Konstantin Somov, and Wassily Kandinsky.
A unique collection of paintings by masters of the Society of South Russian Artists is also displayed. This artistic association, founded in Odesa in 1890, is often abbreviated as TYURJ, which stands for “Society of South Russian Artists.” Among its representatives are Kyriak Kostandi, Grigory Ladyzhensky, Grigory Golovkov, Pyotr Nilus, Nikolai Kuznetsov, and Timofey Dvornikov.
The Decorative and Applied Arts Hall contains more than two hundred objects that reflect traditional Ukrainian folk art. These include ceramics and glassware, embroidery and woven textiles, wood carving, metal and leather objects, and painted Easter eggs known as pysanky, a traditional Ukrainian form of decorated eggs created using wax-resist techniques.
The Department of Contemporary Art displays works created from the 1920s of the twentieth century onward.
En 2023, el edificio fue parcialmente destruido como resultado de un ataque con misiles por parte del agresor ruso.
Odesa Museum of Western and Eastern Art
16 Hretska Street / 9 Italian Street (formerly Pushkinska Street) | Telephone:+380 48 722 4815
https://www.facebook.com/Odessa.Museum.Western.Eastern.Art
The museum was founded in 1924 on the basis of private collections assembled by the local Committee for the Protection of Monuments of Art and Antiquity, as well as items transferred from the Municipal Museum of Fine Arts and the Art History Cabinet of Novorossiysk University.
In subsequent years the collection was enriched by contributions from major national museums, including the State Hermitage Museum and the Kyiv Museum of Western and Eastern Art.
The museum building is an architectural monument dating from the mid-nineteenth century. It is a palace constructed between 1856 and 1858 according to the design of the architect Ludwig Otton. Its architectural style reflects the eclecticism characteristic of that period: Baroque features coexist with elements of the Empire and Rococo styles.
From an architectural perspective, the most remarkable part of the building is the entrance hall with its main “floating” staircase carved from Carrara marble. The construction of the staircase is highly original: it was built without supporting beams (stringers), and together with the landings forms a spectacular suspended structure. The palace interiors are distinguished by their rich stucco decoration, ornamental carvings on the doors, and bronze fittings.
The Odesa Museum of Western and Eastern Art is one of the most important art museums in Ukraine, and its collection contains numerous works of exceptional artistic and cultural value. The exhibition presents works of Western European art from the fifteenth to the twentieth century, art from the countries of the East, and works of ancient art. The museum is housed in the palace of Count Oleksandr Ageievych.
Odesa Literary Museum
2 Lanzheronivska Street | Telephone: +380 48 722 3370
https://museum-literature.odessa.ua/en/project/museum-halls/
Literary Odesa is not merely a list of writers who were connected with the city either through their biographies or their creative work. It is also an artistic image that has enriched world culture. A reflection of all the distinctive features of the city—a kind of mirror of Odesa—is the Odesa Literary Museum.
The Odesa Literary Museum is one of the largest literary museums in the world. It was founded in 1977 and opened to the public in 1984. The principal author of the exhibition design was the outstanding Ukrainian designer and Shevchenko Prize laureate, the artist Anatolii Haidamaka. The founder and first director of the museum was Nadiia Bryhin.
The building that houses the Odesa Literary Museum was constructed in the mid-nineteenth century according to the design of the architect Ludwig Otton. The palace belonged to one of the earliest citizens of Odesa, Prince Dmytro Gagarin, a member of the high Russian aristocracy, and to his wife Sofia. The palace interiors impress visitors with their unexpected combination of styles—Classicism, Baroque, and Empire—characteristic of the southern regions of the Russian Empire in the mid-nineteenth century, a style often referred to as “free southern eclecticism”.
The Odesa Literary Museum is simultaneously a museum of the history of the book and, in part, a memorial museum displaying the personal belongings of writers. It is also a museum dedicated to the history of the city’s literature and culture.
The museum exhibition is organized as a system of symbols and signs that incorporates authentic historical documents: books, manuscripts, newspapers, journals, photographs, personal belongings of writers, and period objects. The design of the museum combines striking artistic solutions with accurate literary and historical content.
The museum presents more than three hundred writers whose lives and works were connected with Odesa, ranging from Ivan Kotliarevskyi, Alexander Pushkin, and Adam Mickiewicz to Heinrich Böll, Georges Simenon, and Boris Pasternak. Alongside the great masters of literature—Nikolai Gogol, Leo Tolstoy, Mykhailo Kotsiubynskyi, Lesia Ukrainka, Sholem Aleichem, Anton Chekhov, Ivan Bunin, Ivan Franko, Anna Akhmatova, Isaac Babel, Ilya Ilf, Yevgeny Petrov, Valentin Kataev, and Mykola Kulish—many authors of the so-called “second tier,” who nevertheless played an important role in shaping national culture, are also represented.
Twenty museum halls, arranged in an enfilade layout across two floors of the palace, present the history of literary Odesa in chronological order. The atmosphere of each hall conveys the spirit of the city during a particular period, revealing the secrets, legends, and realities of the “pearl by the sea”.
Today the Odesa Literary Museum serves as a cultural calling card of the city and as a major scientific, publishing, and cultural center. In addition to its permanent exhibition, the museum is well known for its literary and art exhibitions, classical music concerts, book presentations, lectures, and cultural events. The magnificent Golden Hall of the museum, with its splendid interior and excellent acoustics, is considered the finest chamber concert venue in Odesa.
Next to the museum building there is an Italian-style courtyard that continues the long-standing tradition of Odesa courtyards, known for their welcoming charm and distinctive character. Decorated with flowerbeds and a central fountain, the courtyard is inhabited by original sculptures. In 1995 the creation of the Sculpture Garden began there—an open-air exhibition and a unique cultural site without analogues.
Today the Sculpture Garden contains seventeen humorous sculptural compositions dedicated to writers, literary heroes, and iconic figures of urban folklore. These works were created by contemporary sculptors and include: “The Hero of Odesa Jokes Rabinovich”, “The Gnu Antelope”, “Monument to the Future Genius”, “Sashka the Musician”, “The Denim Duke”, “The Green Van”, “Odesa Mama”, “Misha the Odesite”, “Boats Full of Mullet”, “Monument to the Unknown Reader”, the monument to Ilya Ilf and Yevgeny Petrov, the monument to Nikolai Gogol titled “The Troika Bird”, the monument to Kostiantyn Paustovskyi titled “The Time of Great Expectations”, “The Odesa School”, the monument to Volodymyr Vysotskyi titled “Heart of Gold”, the sculpture “The Silver Age” and “The Brotherhood of the Museum”.
The garden also displays ancient sculptures from the northern Black Sea region—Scythian and Cumanian stone figures from the collections of the Archaeological Museum. Year after year the Sculpture Garden transforms into an exhibition of contemporary sculpture. Humor and irony expressed in bronze and marble have become a visual guide to a wide variety of sculptural solutions. Sculptors representing diverse artistic movements—both traditional and entirely unconventional—have worked on these statues.
The entire exhibition conveys the unique image of Odesa, a city built upon ancient land yet eternally young. The author of the “Sculpture Garden” project is Leonid Liptuga.
Odesa State Historical and Ethnographic Museum
4 Havanna Street | Telephone: +380 48 722 8490
https://history.odessa.ua/museum_en.htm
On 6 May 1956, the Odesa State Historical and Ethnographic Museum warmly opened its doors to its first visitors. The museum was created on the basis of the Museum of the Defense of Odesa and the Odesa Regional Museum of Local History.
Documents, printed publications, objects of decorative and fine art, numismatic collections, and weapons dating from the seventeenth to the nineteenth centuries related to the history of the city and the region became part of its holdings. Many of these items had previously belonged to the collections of the Odesa Society of History and Antiquities, the Museum of the Book, the Museum of Old Odesa, and several other institutions.
In 1983 the museum closed for a major renovation that lasted eleven long years. As a result of extensive restoration work carried out by Odesa’s artistic and restoration workshops, the palace interiors of the mansion were restored to their original appearance. The museum’s inner courtyard—essentially a small miniature park with an elegant fountain known as “The Grotto”—was also transformed and quite literally brought back to life. The courtyard owes its intimate and welcoming atmosphere to the traditional trees typical of Odesa—acacia, chestnut, and linden—as well as some species less common for the region, such as Crimean pine and evergreen boxwood.
Today the museum features several permanent exhibitions, including “Old Odesa” and “Odesa and the Region during the German–Soviet War of 1941–1945,” as well as temporary exhibitions such as “The Multicultural Character of the Odesa Region,” “Sister Cities of Odesa,” and “The Culture of Odesa.” As new materials are gathered through ongoing scholarly research and collection work, additional exhibitions will be created to reveal the many different aspects of the life of our city and region.
Odesa Municipal Museum of Private Collections Named after A. Bleshchunov
19 Polska Street | Telephone: +380 48 770 1037
https://www.facebook.com/bleschunov
The museum exhibition “Memorial Hall of A. Bleshchunov” recreates the study of the collector himself. Here visitors can see the objects that were most valuable to the founder of the museum—family relics, photographs of friends and students—as well as materials connected with the military and mountaineering periods of his life.
The “Buddhist East” Hall presents works of art from the peoples of Japan, China, Mongolia, and Tibet. The name of the hall is somewhat conditional: although Mongolia and Tibet are historically Buddhist countries, China and Japan are only partly associated with Buddhism. Among the most notable objects displayed here is a seventeenth-century Coromandel lacquer screen distinguished by its exceptional artistic quality. The hall also includes small but fascinating collections of Chinese and Japanese porcelain and snuff bottles made of semi-precious stones. In addition, a small pantheon of Buddhist deities created using the traditional lost-wax casting technique is exhibited.
The “Western Europe” Hall displays furniture, porcelain and glass objects, as well as paintings dating from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The compositional center of the hall is a Venetian mirror set in a carved wooden frame, above which hangs a gallery of portraits of sovereign rulers of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The hall contains a wide range of European porcelain, including works produced in Meissen, Vienna, Berlin, and Limoges. A remarkable collection of miniature portraits is also displayed here, including images of Richard Wagner, Napoleon Bonaparte, Empress Joséphine, and Marie Louise of Austria. Another highlight of the Western art collection is a unique assortment of fans made from a variety of materials such as tortoiseshell, ivory, and ostrich and rooster feathers.
The staircase landing is decorated with a small collection of works by Boris Smirnov-Rusetsky, one of the disciples of the renowned painter and philosopher Nicholas Roerich.
The museum’s collection of Ukrainian art is relatively small but notable for the careful selection of its objects. It presents examples of traditional Ukrainian folk crafts. The hall is adorned with several paintings dedicated to Ukraine, as well as a beautiful nineteenth-century lubok print depicting the classic scene “At the Fountain.” Of particular interest are examples of icon painting, especially the well-known Ukrainian folk icons which, unlike traditional Russian icons painted on wooden boards, were created on canvas. The hall also features a collection of nineteenth-century linen ritual towels from Krolevets decorated with stylized representations of the Russian imperial coat of arms typical of that period.
The “Muslim East” Hall mainly presents household objects from Central Asia and the Caucasus. One of the most interesting collections in this hall is the carpet collection, which includes a famous Persian carpet depicting a flowering tree with birds, as well as hurchumi, small bag-shaped carpets. The collection of utensils from Central Asia and Iran—used for washing, tea preparation, and smoking—creates a particularly exotic impression.
The “Odesa” Hall is dedicated to the native city itself, and therefore its exhibition is highly diverse. It includes memorial objects, books that have become bibliographic rarities, old newspapers, photographs, and works by Odesa artists.
In the “Christianity” Hall visitors can see a very interesting collection of icons created by Old Believers, valuable collections of Rostov enamels, as well as a varied assortment of church utensils such as altar cloths, chalices, patens, lamps, and censers.
Odesa Archaeological Museum of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine
4 Lanzheronivska Street | Telephone: +380 48 722 6302
https://www.archaeology.odessa.ua/eng/
The Odesa Archaeological Museum is the oldest museum in Ukraine. Since its founding in 1825, it has changed location four times.
Initially, the museum was located at 2 Kanatna Street, in the courtyard of the house of its founder and first director, Ivan Blaramberg, an official entrusted with special assignments under Count Mikhail Vorontsov, a corresponding member of several foreign academies, as well as a scholar, collector, and patron of the arts. Most of the objects displayed in the newly created museum came from Blaramberg’s personal collection, which he donated to the city.
Several years later, thanks to numerous donations—including those from Count Vorontsov and his wife—the collection grew so large that it had to be moved to the new building of the Odesa government institutions located on the semicircular square of Prymorsky Boulevard, directly opposite the famous monument to the Duke de Richelieu. In 1858, the collections of the municipal museum and the Society of History and Antiquities were united under the roof of a specially constructed building near the Opera House, designed by the architect Grigory Torichelli.
In 1883, by decision of the Mayor of Odesa, the wealthy philanthropist Grigory Marazli, the present “sanctuary” of antiquities was built on the same site (2 Lanzheronivska Street) according to the design of the architect Gonsiorovski. The main funds for its construction—thirty thousand gold rubles—were provided personally by the mayor from his own savings.
Among the benefactors of the museum, in addition to the Vorontsov family, Blaramberg, and Marazli, were the archaeologist Stempkovsky, Prince Cantacuzino, Count Potocki, the Collegiate Counselor Marini, the merchant Sazonov, and many other admirers of antiquities.
The Odesa Archaeological Museum is famous not only for its unique exhibitions. The building itself has independent historical value. Despite its relatively modest size, it impresses with its grandeur, as it was constructed in accordance with the traditions of ancient classicism. Over time, however, the organic connection between the exterior and interior of the building deteriorated. The decoration of the halls appeared outdated, and the old shelves and display cases became obsolete. They were eventually replaced with new ones ordered in Kyiv and designed specifically for archival storage.
In 2003 the museum underwent a complete renovation and partial restructuring thanks to the efforts of the Hellenic Cultural Foundation, financial support from the Anastasios G. Leventis Foundation, and sponsorship from the company Coca-Cola Beverages Ukraine Limited. A modern refurbishment was carried out using contemporary finishing materials. Suspended ceilings were installed in four exhibition halls, the entrance hall, and the restoration laboratory; the floors and walls were repaired; and the roof of the museum was renewed. With the assistance of Professor Vassos Karageorghis, a renowned Cypriot archaeologist and adviser to the Leventis Foundation, a catalogue of the Odesa museum was published.
The museum’s collection includes more than 160,000 ancient artifacts. Among them are true precious relics: the legendary Scythian gold and a unique numismatic collection preserved in the so-called Golden Chamber. Visitors can see rare gold and silver coins, jewelry from Scythian and Sarmatian burial mounds, medieval graves of nomadic peoples, and works created by Slavic craftsmen. Although “ancient gold rarely shines,” thanks to the careful work of restorers these treasures are presented in all their brilliance.
Artifacts obtained during excavations in Olbia, Chersonesus, Panticapaeum, Tyra, and other ancient Greek colonies of the Black Sea region date from the sixth to the first centuries before Christ.
Visitors to the Odesa Archaeological Museum are also drawn to its extensive collection of classical antiquities. The museum’s Cypriot collection is one of the largest in Eastern Europe and the only one of its kind in Ukraine. The collection of exceptionally beautiful Greek ceramic vessels was donated to the museum by the Vorontsov governor’s family.
The museum also preserves the largest collection of antiquities from the northern Black Sea region. The material evidence of distant historical epochs—from the cultures of the Scythians, Sarmatians, and early Slavic peoples—is particularly fascinating.
Another unique feature of the Odesa museum is its collection of monuments from Ancient Egypt, which is the third most significant such collection in the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and the only one in Ukraine. It includes sarcophagi decorated with intricate patterns, funerary equipment, stone slabs, fragments of papyrus with hieroglyphic inscriptions, and even mummies.
Out of approximately 50,000 coins preserved in the museum, the rarest examples of gold and silver are displayed—coins minted in Ancient Greece, Rome, and Byzantium. The later numismatic section presents coins ranging from the zlatnik of Prince Volodymyr to the coinage of the last Russian emperors, as well as commemorative medals.
The jewel of the museum’s collection is a treasure hoard of electrum coins—an alloy of gold and silver—dating from the sixth century before Christ, discovered in the village of Orlivka in the Odesa region. These coins originated from the city of Cyzicus, known as the “minting center” of the ancient cities of the northern Black Sea region. This hoard is the second largest discovery of its kind in the world and possesses enormous historical value.
Conveniently located near Primorsky Boulevard and the Opera House, the Archaeological Museum attracts both adults and children. It is easy to find: in front of the classical building with its columns stands the sculpture “Laocoön.” This is a copy of the famous ancient Greek composition whose original is preserved in the Vatican Museums.
Since the beginning of the active phase of the Russian-Ukrainian war, almost the entire museum collection has been evacuated for safety. Since 2022 the museum has remained temporarily closed to visitors.
Memorial Museums. Museums Dedicated to Great Figures:
F. De Volan Museum of the Odesa Commercial Port
2 Langeronivskyi Descent / 4 Polskyi Descent | Telephone: +380 48 729 3857
The Museum of the Odesa Port named in honor of Franz De Volan was founded on 10 April 1990 and opened to visitors on the occasion of the two-hundredth anniversary of Odesa. It is located in one of the historic buildings on Langeron Descent which, before the Revolution, housed the so-called “barjanes”—night shelters for homeless dock workers.
The principal purpose of establishing this museum was educational activity and the creation of an exhibition that would inform visitors about the past and present of the Odesa Port, which is inseparably connected with the history of the city.
The museum’s extensive collection was initiated by its founder and first director, Mykola Hleb-Koshansky, a career officer and participant in what was then known as the Great Patriotic War (the term used in the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics for the Eastern Front of the Second World War from 1941 to 1945). He followed a combat path from Kharkiv to Stalingrad and later to the walls of Berlin.
Within only a few years, the museum became a unique center reflecting the history of the country’s principal port which, like all ports of Ukraine, has deep historical roots. At the same time, its exhibition reveals the thousand-year history of Odesa and the entire Northern Black Sea region, placing it on a level with other major museums of the city.
Museum Exhibition
Today the museum exhibition consists of five halls with a total area of 490 square meters. The exhibition presents the many facets of port activity. Visitors can see rare archaeological discoveries, diagrams, maps, and old engravings that tell about the life, customs, and culture of the peoples who inhabited the Northern Black Sea region during Antiquity and in later periods, about the complex history of the region, and about the founding of Odesa and its development.
The third hall alone presents around five hundred exhibits and copies of unique documents. Most of them are little known to the general public because they are preserved in the collections of museums in other cities, in archival repositories, or in private collections. Paintings and graphic works by artists of earlier periods are also displayed, including works by Ivan Aivazovsky, Maxim Vorobyov, and others. Today any visitor can come here and imagine what this land looked like in the past and how ancient cities and settlements once appeared.
The museum also displays objects discovered by the staff of the Archaeological Museum during excavations in Luzanivka, on Primorsky Boulevard, and beneath Chersonesus. Archaeological excavations continue near Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi, in the village of Roksolany. In the village of Koshary, near the Tylihul Estuary, remains of the ancient settlement Odessos were discovered—the settlement whose name later inspired the name of the modern city.
A unique map is also displayed here, illustrating what the area surrounding the Odesa Bay looked like in ancient times. The Kuyalnyk and Khadzhibey estuaries were once freely connected with the sea and served as harbors for ancient Greek sailors. Over time these estuaries became filled with sand, and the area where Turkish ships once anchored later became the site of the modern port. A view of Khadzhibey during the period of Ottoman rule is depicted in a painting by the artist Grigory Ladyzhensky.
Odesa House-Museum Named after Nicholas Roerich
47 Velyka Arnautska Street, Office 2 | Telephone: +380 48 715 5858
The Odesa House-Museum named after Nicholas Roerich was opened on 10 March 2000 with the status of a public organization. Its founders were the Odesa Committee of the Roerich Pact for Culture and Peace—a public organization that at the time of the museum’s creation was celebrating its tenth anniversary—and the South Ukrainian Charitable Foundation named after Nicholas Roerich. The principal mission of the museum is the scholarly study and comprehensive dissemination of the creative legacy of the entire Roerich family: the world-renowned painter Nicholas Roerich (1874–1947), the philosopher Helena Roerich (1879–1955), wife of Nicholas Roerich, and their sons—the orientalist scholar Yuri Roerich (1902–1963) and the painter Svetoslav Roerich (1904–1993). The museum’s activities are devoted primarily to the study of the Roerich family heritage. However, the principles for organizing and operating the museum were originally established by Nicholas Roerich himself when he founded the first Roerich Museum in New York. These principles encourage openness to broad cooperation with cultural figures and organizations throughout the world. The development of the museum was strongly influenced by the disciple of Nicholas Roerich, the painter and scholar Boris Smirnov-Rusetsky (1905–1993), as well as by the professor and Indologist Natalia Sazanova (1931–2006).
