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Sights of Ukraine. Odessa, Kiev
Lvov, Sevastopol in Crimea
Odessa Sightseeing Information
Monument to Richelieu / The Potemkin Stairs / Don Josef de Ribas / Primorsky Boulevard / Monument to A. Pushkin / Monument to Vorontsov / Colonnade of the Vorontsov Palace / Opera and Ballet Theatre / City Hall / Odessa Sea Port / Catacombs / Museums / Old Stock Exchange / Deribasovskaya St. / City park / Vorontsov Palace / Beaches of Odessa / Odessa Cathedrals & Monasteries
The Potemkin Steps
The Potemkin Stairs are a formal entrance
into the city from the direction of the sea. Sure, each city has its own
place of mostly pronounced originality. For Odessa, no doubt, it will
be Potemkin Stairs. The stairs leading from
Prymorsky Boulevard down to the sea were constructed from 1837 through
1841 to the design of the architect F. Bofford. This imposing monument
numbers 192 stairs arranged in ten flights and flanked by two-meters thick
parapets. The difference in width between the highest (13.4 m) and the
lowest (21.6 m) flights produces an optical illusion that enhances the
grandeur of the structure. Originally, the stairs were faced with grey
Trieste sandstone With time, however, the sandstone weathered and was
replaced with granite. The famous Potemkin Stairs serve as a symbol of
the city. It has recently been complemented with ramp over bridges to
extend as far as the Novy Pier, where a modern structure of the new seaport
is located on a high platform. Memorial
plagues state that it was on precisely this spot that the first Odessa buildings were founded in 1794.