Odesa City Hall () is the

city hall In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or municipal hall (in the Philippines) is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses the city o ...

Odesa Odesa, also spelled Odessa, is the third most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city and List of hromadas of Ukraine, municipality in Ukraine and a major seaport and transport hub located in the south-west of the country, on the northwestern ...

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

, located at the junction of Prymorskyi Boulevard, Teatralnyi Lane and Italiiska Street. It occupies a Neoclassical building, built to a design by

Francesco Boffo Francesco Carlo Boffo (Cyrillic: Франц Карлович Боффо; 8 September 1796 – Cherson, 10 November 1867) was a Neoclassical architect who designed more than 30 buildings in Odesa between 1818 and 1861, including the famous Pote ...

and Gregorio Toricelli in 1828–34. Rebuilt in 1871-1873 by Franz Morandi.

Description

The frontage features two large statues depicting Ceres and Mercury in their roles as the goddess of agriculture and the god of trade respectively, marking the building's original purpose as an

Exchange Exchange or exchanged may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Film and television * Exchange (film), or ''Deep Trap'', 2015 South Korean psychological thriller * Exchanged (film), 2019 Peruvian fantasy comedy * Exchange (TV program), 2021 Sou ...

. Ceres and Mercury designed by sculptor Luigi Iorini. Sculptures of Greek gods appeared on the building later. Initially, on both sides of the entrance to the niches were sculptures of a lion and a bear made by Joseph and Peter Genari. Every half-hour, the clock above the entrance chimes the melody "Odesa my town" (the same tune greeting incoming trains at the Odesa Train Station). This is from the operetta ''White Acacia'' by the Soviet composer

Isaak Dunayevsky Isaak Osipovich Dunayevsky ( ; also transliterated as Dunaevski or Dunaevskiy; 25 July 1955) was a Soviet film composer and conductor of the 1930s and 1940s, who composed music for operetta and film comedies, frequently working with the film dire ...

. In front of the building is a small square called "Dumska", containing a monument to

Alexander Pushkin Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin () was a Russian poet, playwright, and novelist of the Romantic era.Basker, Michael. Pushkin and Romanticism. In Ferber, Michael, ed., ''A Companion to European Romanticism''. Oxford: Blackwell, 2005. He is consid ...

who spent 13 months in Odesa, and a

Naval artillery Naval artillery is artillery mounted on a warship, originally used only for naval warfare and then subsequently used for more specialized roles in surface warfare such as naval gunfire support (NGFS) and anti-aircraft warfare (AAW) engagements. ...

recovered from the British frigate , that grounded and was sunk near the town during the Crimean War.

Storm of the Odesa City Hall

On 21 December 2012 fighting occurred at the doors of the Odesa City Hall. Three members of law enforcement were reported to have been hospitalized with minor injuries. The city mayor

Oleksiy Kostusyev Oleksiy Oleksiiovych Kostusyev (; June 29, 1954) is a Ukrainian politician and former mayor of Odesa. Kostusyev is the father of fellow Ukrainian politician Oleksiy Honcharenko.Svoboda Svoboda () means "freedom" in various Slavic languages. It may refer to: People * Svoboda (surname) Organizations Media * Radio Svoboda, operated by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty * ''Svoboda'' (newspaper), a daily Ukrainian language newspa ...

equipped with non-firing weapons engaged in a fight with the building security and tried to disrupt work of the Odesa City Council. Kostusyev also used term ''fashistvuyushchie'' (a new invented term meaning fascists that cause havoc) and called the people "not quite vanished successors of fascism". The mayor explained the reasons for those actions were intentions to prevent renaming a city street after the

Soviet Army The Soviet Ground Forces () was the land warfare service branch of the Soviet Armed Forces from 1946 to 1992. It was preceded by the Red Army. After the Soviet Union ceased to exist in December 1991, the Ground Forces remained under th ...

. He also claimed that his announcement was supported unanimously by all council members. According to the official press release of Svoboda, the protest event took place after one of the members of the Odesa City Council was not allowed to participate in a session. In the statement Svoboda claimed that the member of council had the intention to address the session of council in regards to recent events connected with local markets and role of the city authorities in city life. Supposedly there is a supporting document adopted by the council about not allowing the particular member of council to participate in its sessions. The region prosecutor's office was scheduled to conduct an investigation. File:City Hall Odessa 4.jpg, Clock File:City Hall Odessa 2.jpg, Ceres File:City Hall Odessa 3.jpg, Mercury

References

{{Coord, 46, 29, 8.26, N, 30, 44, 38.22, E, region:UA-51_type:landmark, display=title Buildings and structures in Odesa City and town halls in Ukraine Government buildings completed in 1834 Neoclassical architecture in Ukraine Prymorskyi Boulevard Tourist attractions in Odesa