Odesa
Odesa (also spelled Odessa)[a] is the third most populous city and municipality in Ukraine and a major seaport and transport hub located in the south-west of the country, on the northwestern shore of the Black Sea. The city is also the administrative centre of the Odesa Raion and Odesa Oblast, as well as a multiethnic cultural centre. As of January 2021, Odesa's population was approximately 1,010,537.[6] On 25 January 2023, its historic city centre was declared a World Heritage Site and added to the List of World Heritage in Danger by the UNESCO World Heritage Committee in recognition of its influence on cinema, literature, and the arts.[7][8] The declaration was made in response to the bombing of Odesa during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, which has damaged or destroyed buildings across the city.
For other uses, see Odesa (disambiguation) and Odessa (disambiguation).
Odesa
ОдесаOdessa
19 May 1415
Gennadiy Trukhanov[1] (Truth and Deeds[2])
162.42 km2 (62.71 sq mi)
3,656 km2 (1,412 sq mi)
40 m (130 ft)
65 m (213 ft)
−4.2 m (−13.8 ft)
1,010,537
3rd in Ukraine
6,200/km2 (16,000/sq mi)
1,378,490[3]
+380 48
Cultural
II and IV
2023 (18th extraordinary World Heritage Committee session)
1703
2023–
In classical antiquity a large Greek settlement existed at its location no later than the middle of the 6th century BC. It has been researched as a possible site of the ancient Greek settlement of Histria.
The first chronicle mention of the Slavic settlement-port of Kotsiubijiv, which was part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, dates back to 1415, when a ship was sent from here to Constantinople by sea.[9][10] After the Grand Duchy lost control, the port and its surroundings became part of the domain of the Ottoman Empire in 1529, under the name Hacibey, and remained in it until the Ottomans' defeat in the Russo-Turkish War (1787–1792).
In 1794, a decree of the Russian empress Catherine II was issued to establish a navy harbor and trading place in Khadjibey, which was named Odessa soon after.[11][12] From 1819 to 1858, Odesa was a free port. During the Soviet period, it was an important trading port and a naval base.
During the 19th century, Odesa was the fourth largest city of the Russian Empire, after Moscow, Saint Petersburg and Warsaw.[13] Its historical architecture is more Mediterranean than Russian, having been heavily influenced by French and Italian styles. Some buildings are built in a mixture of different styles, including Art Nouveau, Renaissance and Classicist.[14]
Odesa is a warm-water port. The city of Odesa hosts both the Port of Odesa and Port Pivdennyi, a significant oil terminal situated in the city's suburbs. Another notable port, Chornomorsk, is located in the same oblast, to the south-west of Odesa. Together they represent a major transport hub integrating with railways. Odesa's oil and chemical processing facilities are connected to the Russian and other European networks by strategic pipelines. In 2000, the Quarantine Pier at Odesa Commercial Sea Port was declared a free port and free economic zone for a period of 25 years.
Odesa is sometimes called the Pearl by the Sea,[16] the Southern Capital,[17] Odesa-mama and the Humour Capital, as well as Southern Palmyra.[18]
In 1795 the city was named Odessa in accordance with the Greek Plan of Empress Catherine II. Catherine's Secretary of State Adrian Gribovsky claimed in his memoirs that the name was his suggestion. Some expressed doubts about this claim, while others noted the reputation of Gribovsky as an honest and modest man.[19] Odesa is located between the ancient Greek cities of Tyras and Olbia[20] and it was named using a Slavic feminine form for the ancient Greek city of Odessos (Ancient Greek: Ὀδησσός; in Roman times, Odessus). This refers to the second ancient Odessos, founded between the end of the 5th and beginning of the 4th centuries BC (the first one, identified with modern Varna in Bulgaria, is the older of the two, founded c. 610 BC). The exact location of this ancient Odessos is unknown, but modern efforts have attempted to localize it 40 km northeast of Odesa, near the village of Koshary, Odesa Oblast.,[21] near the Tylihul Estuary.[22]
Odessa, the transliteration of the name from Russian, was the traditional English spelling of the city's name favoured before Ukraine's independence in 1991 (similarly to the spelling of Kyiv versus Kiev).
Odesa became the internationally standardized Latin-alphabet transliteration of the Ukrainian name according to the Ukrainian National romanization system, which was adopted for official use by Ukraine's cabinet in 2010, approved by the UN Group of Experts on Geographical Names in 2012, and adopted by the BGN/PCGN in 2019.[23][24][25][26] This spelling appears in Encyclopædia Britannica[27] and in dictionaries as the spelling for the Ukrainian city.[28][29][30][31] As noted by the Christian Science Monitor, many in the English-language media outlets historically spelled the city Odessa, even after changing the spelling of Kiev to Kyiv, but since the beginning of Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine more outlets[4][5] and style guides[32][33][34] have been shifting away from Russian transliterations.
Postage stamp of the USSR 1965 "Hero-City Odesa 1941–1945"
Obverse of the Soviet campaign medal "For the Defence of Odesa"
Reverse of the Soviet campaign medal "For the Defence of Odesa"; inscription reads "For our Soviet homeland".
Certificate "For taking part in the heroic defense of Odesa"; Logvinov Petr Leontievich was awarded the Medal for the Defense of Odesa.
Odesa is the administrative centre of Odesa Raion and Odesa Oblast, and it is the only constituent of Odesa urban hromada, one of the hromadas of Ukraine.[102]
The city of Odesa is governed by a mayor and city council which work cooperatively to ensure the smooth-running of the city and procure its municipal bylaws. The city's budget is also controlled by the administration.
The mayoralty[103] plays the role of the executive in the city's municipal administration. Above all comes the mayor, who is elected, by the city's electorate, for five years in a direct election. 2015 Mayoral election of Odesa Hennadii Trukhanov was reelected in the first round of the election with 52,9% of the vote.[104] Trukhanov was again reelected in the second round of the 2020 Mayoral election of Odesa when 54.28% of the voters voted for him.[1]
There are five deputy mayors, each of which is responsible for a certain particular part of the city's public policy.
The City Council[105] of the city makes up the administration's legislative branch, thus effectively making it a city 'parliament' or rada. The municipal council is made up of 120 elected members,[106] who are each elected to represent a certain district of the city for a four-year term. The current council is the fifth in the city's modern history, and was elected in January 2011. In the regular meetings of the municipal council, problems facing the city are discussed, and annually the city's budget is drawn up. The council has seventeen standing commissions[107] which play an important role in controlling the finances and trading practices of the city and its merchants.
The territory of Odesa is divided into four administrative districts (raions):
In addition, every district has its own administration, subordinate to the Odesa City council, and with limited responsibilities.
The city's Preobrazhensky Park surrounds its cathedral.
The Londonskaya Hotel, on Odesa's magnificent Prymorsky Bulvar, is one of the city's landmark buildings.
Odesa's port is Ukraine's busiest. The harbour remains accessible all year round and serves as a vital import/export channel for the Ukrainian economy.
Odesa's economy largely stems from its traditional role as a port city. The nearly ice-free port lies near the mouths of the Dnieper, the Southern Bug, the Dniester and the Danube rivers, which provide good links to the hinterland.[129]
During the Soviet period (until 1991) the city functioned as the USSR's largest trading port; it continues in a similar role as independent Ukraine's busiest international port. The port complex contains an oil and gas transfer and storage facility, a cargo-handling area and a large passenger port. In 2007 the Port of Odesa handled 31,368,000 tonnes of cargo.[130][131]
The port of Odesa is one of the Ukrainian Navy's most important bases on the Black Sea. Rail transport is an important sector of the economy in Odesa – largely due to the role it plays in delivering goods and imports to and from the city's port. The Container Terminal Odesa (CTO) in the port is the largest container terminal in Ukraine. It has been operated by the Hamburg-based HHLA Group since 2001 and, in addition to containers, also handles bulk goods, general cargo and project cargo. This means that Odesa is networked with the ports of Hamburg, Muuga and Trieste via the logistics group HHLA.[132][133]
Industrial enterprises located in and around the city include those dedicated to fuel refinement, machine building, metallurgy, and other types of light industry such as food preparation, timber plants and chemical industry. Agriculture is a relatively important sector in the territories surrounding the city. The Seventh-Kilometer Market is a major commercial complex on the outskirts of the city where private traders now operate one of the largest market complexes in Eastern Europe.[134] The market has roughly 6,000 traders and an estimated 150,000 customers per day.
Daily sales, according to the Ukrainian periodical Dzerkalo Tyzhnia, were believed to be as high as US$20 million in 2004. With a staff of 1,200 (mostly guards and janitors), the market is also the region's largest employer. It is owned by local land and agriculture tycoon Viktor A. Dobrianskyi and three partners of his. Tavria-V is the most popular retail chain in Odesa. Key areas of business include: retail, wholesale, catering, production, construction and development, private label. Consumer recognition is mainly attributed to the high level of service and the quality of services. Tavria-V is the biggest private company and the biggest tax payer.
Deribasivska Street is one of the city's most important commercial streets, hosting many of the city's boutiques and higher-end shops. In addition to this there are a number of large commercial shopping centres in the city. The 19th-century shopping gallery Passage was, for a long time, the city's most upscale shopping district, and remains to this day an important landmark of Odesa.
The tourism sector is of great importance to Odesa, which is currently the second most-visited Ukrainian city.[135] In 2003 this sector recorded a total revenue of ₴189.2 million. Other sectors of the city's economy include the banking sector: the city hosts a branch of the National Bank of Ukraine. Imexbank, one of Ukraine's largest commercial banks, was based in the city, however on 27 May 2015, the Deposit Guarantee Fund of Ukraine made a decision to liquidate the bank.
Foreign business ventures have thrived in the area, as since 1 January 2000, much of the city and its surrounding area has been declared a free economic zone – this has aided the foundation of foreign companies' and corporations' Ukrainian divisions and allowed them to more easily invest in the Ukrainian manufacturing and service sectors. To date a number of Japanese and Chinese companies, as well as a host of European enterprises, have invested in the development of the free economic zone, to this end private investors in the city have invested a great deal of money into the provision of quality office real estate and modern manufacturing facilities such as warehouses and plant complexes.
Odesa also has a well-developed IT industry with large number of IT outsourcing companies and IT product startups. Among most famous startups is Looksery[136] and AI Factory both developed in Odesa and acquired by Snap inc.[137]
Scientists
A number of scientists have lived and worked in Odesa. They include: Illya Mechnikov (Nobel Prize in Medicine 1908),[138] Igor Tamm (Nobel Prize in Physics 1958), Selman Waksman (Nobel Prize in Medicine 1952), Dmitri Mendeleev, Nikolay Pirogov, Ivan Sechenov, Vladimir Filatov, Nikolay Umov, Leonid Mandelstam, Aleksandr Lyapunov, Mark Krein, Alexander Smakula, Waldemar Haffkine, Valentin Glushko, Israel Dostrovsky, Catherine Chamié, and George Gamow.[139]