Monument to the founders of Odessa

Monument to the founders of Odessa, also known as monument to Catherine the Great and her companions: José de Ribas, François Sainte de Wollant, and Grigory Potemkin. Located in Odessa on Ekaterininskaya Square. Built in 1900 by the project of Odessa architect . Sculptor M. Popov, with the participation of sculptors B.V. Eduards, M.D. Mentsione, engineer A. Sikorski. Dismantled in 1920. Restored in 2007 at the expense of the family of Ruslan Tarpan, Odessa businessman.

Catherine the Great by her rescript in 1794 put a beginning of construction of Odessa city and its port. In gratitude for this Odessites in 1900 erected monument to Catherine and her companions, who played an important role in the formation of young Odessa. Opening of the monument took place on May 6, 1900, in the eponymous square in the city center.

To build a Monument to the Founders of the city was offered even in 1890 at a meeting of City council on the subject of the celebration of the 100th anniversary of Odessa. On September 23, 1891 the Odessa City Council decided to establish a monument projects contest with two awards (two and one thousand rubles) for the best work. By May 1, 1892 the first prize was awarded to the project under the slogan "Odessa port" by Odessa architect Y.M.Dmitrenko, the second - under the slogan "Esperance" by foreign architect Donato Barkalaja. January 14, 1893, after the report by the Minister of Internal Affairs to the Emperor, Imperial permission followed to erect a monument to the Founders of the city to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Odessa. The estimates of the project amounted to 57 thousands rubles. Models of monument sculpture was manufactured by the professor, Imperial Academy of Arts (St. Petersburg) academician M.P.Popov, and works on building the foundations of a pedestal and casting of bronze figures themselves were commissioned to the sculptor and to the foreman of overall craft council of marble shop in Odessa Leopold Mentsione.

Opening of the Monument to the Founders was accompanied by solemn ceremonies and citywide celebration, culminating in a fireworks.

Three years after the October Revolution, in 1920, the monument was dismantled, under the dominant ideology of struggle against heritage the Czarist regime. Statues of Empress companions have been stored in the Odessa Museum of Regional History, and the figure of Empress herself was partially destroyed. In 1965, on the 60th anniversary of the uprising at the battleship "Potemkin" a monument to its sailors was built in this place.

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Wikipedia