
Located by the Black Sea, Odessa is the capital of the Odessa Oblast of Ukraine, the largest port city in Ukraine and the third largest city in Ukraine (after Kyiv and Kharkiv). Often Odessa is called the "pearl of the Black Sea".
Due to its location, from the very beginning it was a multicultural city of many religions in which the cultures of the East and the West have been brought together for years, which is reflected in the diverse architecture of the city. It is a young city, less than 200 years old, although in ancient times there were already Greek settlements in this area. It was founded in May 1794 by the decree of Tsarina Catherine II, recommending the establishment of a commercial and military port.
Odessa is a coastal city with beautiful beaches and warm sea, making it a major tourist, holiday, spa, cultural and scientific centre. It attracts more and more tourists who want to rest by the Black Sea. It is also an important centre of the developing shipbuilding, electrotechnical, refining, chemical and food industries.
In Odessa, you can find many traces of Polish presence. Adam Mickiewicz, exiled to Russia for his patriotic activity, stayed in the city, where he wrote, inter alia, two important works: "Crimean Sonnets" and "Odessa Sonnets". Odessa was also visited by Julian Ursyn Niemcewicz (Historical Travels) and Józef Ignacy Kraszewski (Memoirs of Odessa, Jedysan and Budżak). In Odessa, there were also, inter alia, Polish inventor Stefan Drzewiecki and Seweryn Potocki, Polish architects: Feliks Gąsiorowski (Hotel Imperiał / Spartak, Nowikowa House, Archaeological Museum), Lew Włodek (Hotel Pasaż), Mikołaj Tołwiński (including the University Library and other university buildings, Railway Directorate).
Odessa is also a city of writers. Alexander Pushkin, exiled for anti-tsarist activity, stayed there for some time. Izaak Babel was born in Odessa - a writer of Jewish origin, author of "Odessa Tales", poets Regina Dereva and Anna Akhmatova, as well as writers: Yevgeny Petrov, Witold Wirpsza, Vladimir Żabotyński.
The Potemkin Stairs are the symbol of Odessa. The first association with the stairs is the famous film "Battleship Potemkin" by Sergei Eisenstein - a Russian director and one of the most eminent authors of the Soviet editing school.