There is hardly a city in the world comparable to Odessa in terms of the indescribable flavor of her life. It manifests itself in the charm of southern nature, the architecture of the city, whimsically combining samples of various styles and trends. But the main thing, of course, in its inhabitants is a completely unique people, called Odessans, who speak the only language peculiar to them, the "Odessa" language. Who founded this city on the shores of the world's bluest Black Sea?
How long ago that was
Speaking with all objectivity, then the real founders of Odessa are not the Duke de Richelieu and not the illustrious Prince G. A. Potemkin, who are credited with this honor. The first inhabitants of Odessa were our common ancestors - the inhabitants of the Paleolithic era, whose sites archaeologists still find on the western shore of the Kuyalnitsky Bay. Following them, already in the first millennium BC, vacationers from the Cimmerian tribe were seen on the beaches of the Odessa Bay. They were replaced two and a half thousand years ago by the Scythians, who also fell in love with the sun and the splashing of the Black Sea waves.
Butthe laws of history are inexorable. And soon these savages were forced out by the Greeks, who by that time had known all the charm of high civilization. Having created trading posts (or, to put it more simply, trading settlements) in the areas of present-day Luzanovka, as well as the Trading Port, the sons of Hellas lingered there until the 2nd century AD. They also left a wide field for activity for modern archaeologists. But they also disappeared from these places, not going down in history as the founders of Odessa. They did not receive this honor.
Middle Ages and their characters
During the Middle Ages, the entire vast area adjacent to the Odessa Bay, repeatedly became the prey of foreign conquerors. Here the ancient Slavic tribes of the streets and Tivertsy ruled, the Tatar hordes swept through them, the predatory hand of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania reached out to them. Until, finally, in the 18th century, the period of Ottoman rule came.
The Highest Order of Mother Empress
Where the acacias of Primorsky Boulevard rustle today, the Turkish fortress of Yeni-Dunya once stood, which had the misfortune to attract the attention of General I. V. Gudovich, who in 1789 led the Russian troops to Bendery. His advance detachment, under the command of Count Joseph José de Ribas, captured the citadel at dawn on September 13, preventing the faithful from completing morning prayers, inscribed the fortress among the trophies of the Russian-Turkish war of 1787-1791.
Two years after that, the Iasi peace treaty was signed, which put an end to the militaryactions. According to the document, a significant territory, called Novorossiya, went under the Russian scepter. In its western part, on the Black Sea coast, Empress Catherine II, by her decree of May 27, 1794, ordered the construction of a city, a fortress and a port to begin. So, with a stroke of the royal pen, this unique city received the right to life.
The name given to the newborn
The founders of Odessa began their work exactly three months later. The first pile driven into the ground was preceded by a solemn prayer service with the sprinkling of holy water on it. Wanting to give the future city truly European features, the empress entrusted the construction project to the Dutch engineer-architect Francois de Vollan, who entered the Russian service in 1787 under the patronage of the Russian ambassador in The Hague.
It's so common in the world that at their birth, not only babies receive names, but entire cities. A year after the start of construction, this stone newborn for the first time began to be called by its real name - Odessa, which, according to researchers, came from the name of another ancient Greek city, Odessa, which was once a little to the east, on the banks of the current Tiligul estuary.
Deribas is the founder of Odessa
The city, born by the decree of the Empress, was built under the direct supervision of one of the heroes of the Catherine era, Vice Admiral Joseph de Ribas, the very dashing warrior who once immediately took the Turkish fortress of Yeni-Dunya. Spanisha nobleman by birth, always driven forward by a thirst for adventure, he lived a bright life full of the most incredible adventures, capable of serving as the plot of more than one adventure novel.
As the founder of Odessa and its first mayor, de Ribas immortalized his name in the name of the main street Deribasovskaya. This is exactly how, in a word, without separating the French noble prefix “de”, the inhabitants of Odessa call it. The residents of the city erected a monument to this honored person only in 1994, timed to coincide with the celebration of the bicentenary of their city.
Second Odessa Mayor
When de Ribas was transferred to St. Petersburg in 1803, his luxurious mansion housed the office and living quarters of the next mayor, who also went down in history as the founder of Odessa. It was no less famous than his predecessor, the Duke de Richelieu, a French aristocrat who entered the Russian service after the French Revolution. His monument crowning the Potemkin Stairs has become a sort of hallmark of the city.
The Duke was an exceptionally smart and talented administrator. During the period of his reign (1803-1815), extensive construction was carried out in the city, many new streets appeared, gardens were laid out, Orthodox and Catholic churches, a synagogue, barracks, a market were erected, several educational institutions were opened and a reservoir for fresh water was created, which at that time it was very relevant.
The fruits of the government of worthy people
Thanks to his wise leadership, in Odessa, as nowhere else, there was a favorable environment for the development of trade. Despite the broad powers granted to him by Alexander I, the second founder of Odessa, Duke (Duke) de Richelieu, turned out to be smart enough to rid local trade of petty administrative care, leaving the merchants themselves to choose a convenient way to develop their business. By this, he attracted a significant number of Russian and foreign businessmen to the city, and, accordingly, their capital.
These two people, the founders of Odessa - Vice-Admiral Joseph de Ribas and the Duke de Resolier - created a city that has become not only the economic and cultural center of Novorossia, but also a powerful fortification on the Black Sea coast, more than once in history reflecting enemy attacks.
Fearless and generous Count Langeron
In 1815, the place of the Odessa mayor was taken by another no less worthy person - Count Alexander Fedorovich Lanzheron. He covered his name with glory on the walls of Izmail, in the storming of which he took part side by side with A. V. Suvorov. As contemporaries testified, in addition to desperate courage, his main quality was generosity, forcing him to share the last penny with anyone who asked for it.
Achieving for the city the right to import goods almost duty-free for thirty years (free port regime), he enriched it unspeakably, but after his death he left the heirs only a small house and an almost ruined farm. In Odessa, during the years of governmentAlexander Fedorovich, the Botanical Garden and several parks appeared, the first newspaper in the city began to be published and the Richelieu Lyceum opened its doors, which became the second in Russia after the famous Tsarskoye Selo.
City of splendor and luxury
In the future, Prince Mikhail Sergeevich Vorontsov joined the glorious galaxy of mayors. Thanks to him, Odessa acquired an aristocratic splendor. Possessing a colossal fortune, being related to the highest nobility of Russia and England, he managed to attract to the city many representatives of the high society and those who, without having a big name, nevertheless had a solid fortune. In this, the prince was assisted by his wife, the Polish aristocrat Countess Bronitskaya. Thanks to her connections, many we althy families moved to Odessa from Poland.
This contributed to the further prosperity of commerce, the emergence of new theaters and restaurants. Prosperous from the grain and other branches of trade, the city was constantly expanding and improving. Having achieved the extension of the free port for another ten years, Prince Vorontsov made Odessa the largest shopping center in the south of Russia.
Unfading memory of the founders of Odessa
In 2007, the monument to the founders of Odessa, erected in 1900 and dismantled under Soviet rule, was restored on Ekaterininskaya Square in the city. This composition by the sculptor M. P. Popov represents the figure of Catherine II, raised to a high pedestal, and four of her associates standing at its base. Among them is the already mentioned de Ribas,as well as the most prominent figures of that era G. A. Potemkin, de Volan and P. A. Zubov. Each of them left their mark on the history of the city.
It was a significant event in the cultural life of the village. Odessa in general is unusually rich in monumental works by masters of past centuries and our days. Many of them are recognized masterpieces. This is a monument to the Duke de Richelieu, which adorns Primorsky Boulevard, Prince Vorontsov on Cathedral Square, the Polish poet Adam Mickiewicz at the beginning of Alexander Avenue and many others that make up the glory of Odessa.
Despite the fact that history has preserved the names of only those who, due to their high social and official position, had a noticeable impact on its growth and development, the true founders of the city, whom Odessa remembers, are those who ago, with his own hands, he created it on the Black Sea coast scorched by the sun. By their labor a miracle was born, sung by many poets, which became the birthplace of many wonderful people. It is the people who are the true founder of Odessa. The history of the city is evidence of this.
