There is hardly a city in the world comparable to Odessa in the indescribable flavor of its life. It manifests itself in the charm of southern nature, the architecture of the city, fancifully combining samples of a wide variety of styles and trends. But the main thing, of course, in its inhabitants is a completely unique people, called the inhabitants of Odessa, speaking only one peculiar “Odessa” language. Who founded this city on the shores of the world's bluest Black Sea?
How long has it been!
Speaking with all objectivity, the real founders of Odessa are not at all the Duke de Richelieu and not the magnificent Prince G. A. Potemkin, who is credited with this honor. The first inhabitants of Odessa were our common ancestors - residents of the Paleolithic era, whose archeologists still find sites 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 Odessa Bay. Two and a half thousand years ago they were replaced by Scythians, who also fell in love with the sun and the splash of the Black Sea waves.
But the laws of history are inexorable. And soon these savages were supplanted by the Greeks, who knew at that time all the charm of high civilization. Having created factories in the areas of present Luzanovka, as well as Trading port (or, more simply, trading settlements), the sons of Hellas lingered there until the 2nd century AD. They also left a wide field of activity for modern archaeologists. But they disappeared from these places, without 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 invaders. Ancient Slavic tribes ruled the streets and Tiberts here, Tatar hordes swept through them, a predatory hand of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania reached them. Until, finally, in the XVIII century the period of Ottoman rule came.
The High Command of Mother Empress
Where the acacias of Primorsky Boulevard rustle today, the Turkish fortress Yeni-Dunya once rose, which had the misfortune of attracting the attention of General I.V. Gudovich, who followed Bender in 1789 at the head of the Russian troops. His advance detachment, under the command of Count Joseph Jose de Ribas, captured the citadel at dawn on September 13, preventing the faithful from completing the morning prayer, entering the fortress among the trophies of the Russian-Turkish war of 1787-1791.
Two years after this, the Iasi Peace Treaty was concluded, putting an end to hostilities. According to the document, a significant territory, called Novorossia, went under the Russian scepter. In its western part, on the Black Sea coast, Empress Catherine II ordered by her decree of May 27, 1794 to begin construction of the city, fortress and port. So, with a stroke of the royal pen, this unique city got the right to life.
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 its holy water sprinkling. Desiring to give the future city truly European features, the empress commissioned a construction project to the Dutch engineer-architect Francois de Vollan, who entered the Russian service in 1787 with the patronage of the Russian ambassador in The Hague.
It is so established in the world that at their birth not only babies receive names, but also 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, as the researchers believe, came from the name of another ancient Greek city, Odessa, which was once a little east, on the banks of the present Tiligul estuary.
Deribas - 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 same dashing warrior who once took the Turkish fortress Yeni-Dunya. A Spanish nobleman by birth, always driven forward by a thirst for adventure, he lived a vibrant life full of the most incredible adventures, capable of serving as a plot for 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 of Deribasovskaya. That is, in a word, without separating the French noble prefix "de", its inhabitants call it Odessa. The city’s residents erected a monument to this honored person only in 1994, dedicated to the celebration of the bicentennial of their city.
The second Odessa mayor
When de Ribas was transferred to Petersburg in 1803, the office and living quarters of the next mayor, who also went down in history as the founder of Odessa, were housed in his luxurious mansion. It was no less famous than his predecessor, the Duke de Richelieu - the French aristocrat who entered the Russian service after the French Revolution. His monument, crowning the Potemkin Stairs, has become a kind of hallmark of the city.
The Duke was an exceptionally smart and talented administrator. During his reign (1803-1815), the city underwent extensive construction, many new streets appeared, gardens were built, Orthodox and Catholic churches, a synagogue, barracks, a market were erected, several educational institutions were opened and a freshwater reservoir was created, which at that time it was very important.
The fruits of the rule of worthy people
Thanks to his wise leadership, in Odessa, as nowhere else, a favorable environment has developed for the development of trade. Despite the wide powers granted to him by Alexander I, the second founder of Odessa, the duke (duke) de Richelieu, was smart enough to save local trade from petty administrative custody, leaving the merchants to choose the most convenient way to develop their business. By this he attracted a significant number of Russian and foreign merchants to the city, and, accordingly, their capital.
These two people, the founders of Odessa - Vice Admiral Joseph de Ribas and Duke de Reshill - created the city, which became not only the economic and cultural center of New Russia, but also a powerful fortification on the Black Sea coast, which repeatedly reflected the attacks of the enemy in history.
Fearless and generous Count Langeron
In 1815, the place of the Odessa city governor was taken by another no less worthy person - Count Alexander Fedorovich Langeron. He covered his name with fame on the walls of Ishmael, in the assault of which he took part side by side with A.V. Suvorov. As contemporaries testified, besides desperate courage, his main quality was generosity, which forced him to share the last penny with everyone, whoever asked for it.
Having achieved the right for the city to import goods for almost thirty years (port-free regime) for almost thirty years, he enriched it indescribably, but after his death he left only a small house and an almost ruined farm. In Odessa, during the reign of Alexander 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, becoming the second in Russia after the famous Tsarskoye Selo.
A city of splendor and luxury
Subsequently, the glorious galaxy of city governors was supplemented by Prince Mikhail Sergeyevich Vorontsov. Thanks to him, Odessa acquired an aristocratic brilliance. Owning a colossal fortune, being related to the highest nobility of Russia and England, he managed to attract many representatives of the upper world and those who, without a big name, possessed a solid fortune nonetheless. In this, the prince was helped by his wife - the Polish aristocrat Countess Bronitskaya. Thanks to her connections, many wealthy families moved to Odessa from Poland.
This contributed to the further prosperity of commerce, the emergence of new theaters and restaurants. A city prosperous from bread and other branches of trade, it was constantly expanding and improving. Having achieved the extension of port-free for another ten years, Prince Vorontsov made Odessa the largest shopping center in southern Russia.
The unfading memory of the founders of Odessa
In 2007, a monument to the founders of Odessa was erected in 1900 and dismantled during the Soviet era on the Catherine Square in the city. This composition of the sculptor M.P. Popov represents the figure of Catherine II, raised to a high pedestal, and her four associates standing at its base. Among them - 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 its mark in 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 of masters of past centuries and today. Many of them are recognized masterpieces. This is a monument to Duke de Richelieu, adorning Primorsky Boulevard, Prince Vorontsov on Cathedral Square, the Polish poet Adam Mickiewicz at the beginning of Alexander Prospect and many others that make up the glory of Odessa.
Despite the fact that history retained the names of only those who, due to their high social and official position, had a noticeable influence on its growth and development, the true founders of the city, whose Odessa is remembered, are those who created it more than two centuries ago on the black sea coast scorched by the sun. Through their work, a miracle was born, sung by many poets, who became the birthplace of many wonderful people. It is the people - the true founder of Odessa. The history of the city is evidence of this.