Odesa

• {{langx|en|{{yesitalic|Odesa}} or {{yesitalic|Odessa}}|link=yes}} {{IPAc-en|oʊ|ˈ|d|ɛ|s|ə}} {{Respell|oh|DESS|ə}}{{cite web|title=Odesa|url=https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/odesa|website=Collinsdictionary.com}}
• {{langx|uk|Одеса|translit=Odesa}} {{IPA|uk|oˈdɛsɐ||uk-Одеса.ogg}}
• {{langx|ru|Одесса|translit=Odessa}} {{IPA|ru|ɐˈdʲes(ː)ə||ru-Одесса.ogg}}
• {{langx|el|Οδησσός|translit=Odissós}}
• {{langx|yi|אָדעס|translit=Odes}}
• {{langx|ro|Odesa}}

Odesa is sometimes called the Pearl by the Sea,Note: "Pearl by the Sea" comes from the popular song "Ах, Одесса, жемчужина у моря" ("Ah, Odessa, a pearl by the sea") written by Odessa-born composer {{ill|Modest Tabachnikov|ru|Табачников, Модест Ефимович}} the Southern Capital,Nicknamed "Southern Capital" by an analogy with the nickname "Northern Capital" for St. Petersburg, see [https://books.google.com/books?id=tSwWAAAAYAAJ Biblioteka dli͡a chtenii͡a] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230604021040/https://books.google.com/books?id=tSwWAAAAYAAJ |date=4 June 2023 }},

Volume 42, October 1840, p. 19 (a non-OCR text, so you will need to scroll and scroll and scroll... until you notice a verse " Одесса , южная столица , Владычица эвксинскихъ водъ , Стоитъ какъ гордая царица , Вѣнець ей свљтимый небосвод") Odesa-mama and the Humour Capital, as well as Southern Palmyra.Note: "Southern Palmyra" is an apposition to St. Petersburg nicknamed "Northern Palmyra".

In 1795 the city was named Odessa in accordance with the Greek Plan of Empress Catherine II. Catherine's Secretary of State Adrian Gribovsky claimed in his memoirs that the name was his suggestion. Some expressed doubts about this claim, while others noted the reputation of Gribovsky as an honest and modest man.[http://ukrainianweek.com/History/123898 "Odesa: Through Cossacks, Khans and Russian Emperors"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181024101327/http://ukrainianweek.com/History/123898 |date=24 October 2018 }}, The Ukrainian Week, 18 November 2014 (retrieved 2 August 2015) Odesa is located between the ancient Greek cities of Tyras and Olbia{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LcfLKHVi2UUC&pg=PA254|title=The Greek Settlements in Thrace Until the Macedonian Conquest|first=Benjamin H.|last=Isaac|date=1 January 1986|publisher=BRILL|via=Google Books|isbn=9004069216|access-date=25 October 2015|archive-date=16 December 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231216035813/https://books.google.com/books?id=LcfLKHVi2UUC&pg=PA254#v=onepage&q&f=false|url-status=live}} and it was named using a Slavic feminine form for the ancient Greek city of Odessos ({{langx|grc|Ὀδησσός}}; in Roman times, Odessus). This refers to the second ancient Odessos, founded between the end of the 5th and beginning of the 4th centuries BC (the first one, identified with modern Varna in Bulgaria, is the older of the two, founded c. 610 BC). The exact location of this ancient Odessos is unknown, but modern efforts have attempted to localize it 40 km northeast of Odesa, near the village of Koshary, Odesa Oblast.,Papuci-Władyka, Ewdoksia, et al. "Greek settlement on the northern Black Sea coast: Polish-Ukrainian excavations in Koshary (Odessa province): third preliminary report: seasons 2000-2003." (2006), pp. 354, 355 (footnote 4), 356 near the Tylihul Estuary.{{Cite book |last=Herlihy |first=Patricia |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/15649318 |title=Odessa : a history, 1794-1914 |date=1986 |publisher=Distributed by Harvard University Press for the Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute |isbn=0-916458-08-3 |page=7 |location=Cambridge, Mass. |oclc=15649318 |access-date=9 August 2022 |archive-date=16 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231216035819/https://search.worldcat.org/title/15649318 |url-status=live }}

Odessa, the transliteration of the name from Russian, was the traditional English spelling of the city's name favoured before Ukraine's independence in 1991 (similar to the spelling of Kiev versus Kyiv).

Odesa became the internationally standardized Latin-alphabet transliteration of the Ukrainian name according to the Ukrainian National romanization system, which was adopted for official use by Ukraine's cabinet in 2010, approved by the UN Group of Experts on Geographical Names in 2012, and adopted by the BGN/PCGN in 2019.{{Cite web |date=2-6 May 2011 |title=United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names |url=https://unstats.un.org/unsd/geoinfo/ungegn/docs/26th-gegn-docs/WP/WP21_Roma_system_Ukraine%20_engl._.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220419132557/https://unstats.un.org/unsd/geoinfo/UNGEGN/docs/26th-gegn-docs/WP/WP21_Roma_system_Ukraine%20_engl._.pdf |archive-date=19 April 2022 |access-date=25 March 2022}}{{Cite web |date=4 October 2018 |title=Open Letter of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine |url=https://ireland.mfa.gov.ua/news/67570-open-letter-of-the-ministry-of-foreign-affairs-of-ukraine |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220406185944/https://ireland.mfa.gov.ua/news/67570-open-letter-of-the-ministry-of-foreign-affairs-of-ukraine |archive-date=6 April 2022 |access-date=25 March 2022}}{{Cite book |last=UNGEGN Working Group on Romanization Systems |url=https://www.eki.ee/wgrs/rom1_uk.pdf |title=Report on the Current Status of United Nations Romanization Systems for Geographical Names |publication-date=February 2013 |chapter=Ukrainian |access-date=14 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220420084523/http://eki.ee/wgrs/rom1_uk.pdf |archive-date=20 April 2022 |url-status=live}}{{cite web |date=24 April 2020 |title=Guidance on the US Board on Geographic Names (BGN)/Permanent Committee on Geographical Names (PCGN) romanization systems |url=https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/romanization-systems |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140627005821/http://pcgn.org.uk/Romanisation_systems.htm |archive-date=27 June 2014 |access-date=14 May 2022 |website=GOV.UK |language=en}} This spelling appears in Encyclopædia Britannica{{Cite web |title=Odesa |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Odessa-Ukraine |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150717060303/https://www.britannica.com/place/Odessa-Ukraine |archive-date=17 July 2015 |access-date=12 July 2022 |website=Encyclopedia Britannica |language=en}} and in dictionaries as the spelling for the Ukrainian city.{{Cite book |title=Oxford Dictionary of English |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2023 |chapter=Odesa}}{{Cite web |title=Definition of Odesa |url=https://www.dictionary.com/browse/odesa |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220624131126/https://www.dictionary.com/browse/odesa |archive-date=24 June 2022 |access-date=24 June 2022 |website=Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary |language=en}}{{Cite web |title=Odesa |url=https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/odesa |access-date=12 July 2022 |website=Collins Dictionary |language=en}}{{Cite web |title=Definition of ODESA |url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/odesa |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220320204251/https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/odesa |archive-date=20 March 2022 |access-date=24 June 2022 |website=Merriam-Webster |language=en}} The spelling Odesa has also been adopted as the Library of Congress Name Authority Heading.{{Cite web |title=LCCN Permalink - No Connections Available |url=https://lccn.loc.gov/n79139057 |access-date=2025-02-27 |website=lccn.loc.gov |language=en}} As noted by the Christian Science Monitor, many in the English-language media outlets historically spelled the city Odessa, even after changing the spelling of Kiev to Kyiv, but since the beginning of Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine more outlets{{Cite news |date=29 March 2022 |title=Kyiv, Odesa, and what's in a name |language=en |work=Christian Science Monitor |url=https://www.csmonitor.com/Daily/2022/20220329/Kyiv-Odesa-and-what-s-in-a-name |url-status=live |access-date=12 July 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220712010415/https://www.csmonitor.com/Daily/2022/20220329/Kyiv-Odesa-and-what-s-in-a-name |archive-date=12 July 2022}}{{cite news |last=Lee |first=Ella |date=13 April 2022 |title=Russia's invasion of Ukraine has sparked questions over why Ukrainian cities have historically been transliterated after their Russian versions |work=USA Today |url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2022/04/13/kyiv-kiev-ukraine-cities-why-spelling-matters/7231437001/ |url-status=live |access-date=29 December 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221230004728/https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2022/04/13/kyiv-kiev-ukraine-cities-why-spelling-matters/7231437001/?gnt-cfr=1 |archive-date=30 December 2022}} and style guides{{Cite news |date=2020-12-23 |title=Guardian and Observer style guide: O |language=en-GB |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/guardian-observer-style-guide-o |access-date=2023-11-14 |issn=0261-3077 |archive-date=17 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160317154926/http://www.theguardian.com/guardian-observer-style-guide-o |url-status=live }}{{Cite web |title=The ABC Style Guide {{!}} About the ABC |url=https://about.abc.net.au/abc-editorial/the-abc-style-guide/#U |access-date=2023-11-14 |website=about.abc.net.au |archive-date=5 November 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201105140015/https://about.abc.net.au/abc-editorial/the-abc-style-guide/#U |url-status=live }}{{Cite web |date=2022-05-11 |title=Associated Press Stylebook |url=https://www.apstylebook.com/topical_most_recent |access-date=2023-11-14 |archive-date=11 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220511180352/https://www.apstylebook.com/topical_most_recent |url-status=bot: unknown }} have been shifting away from Russian transliterations.

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File:Античный музей на бульваре.jpg

Odesa was the site of a large Greek settlement no later than the middle of the 6th century BC (a necropolis from the 5th–3rd centuries BC has long been known in this area). Some scholars believe it to have been a trade settlement established by the Greek city of Histria. Whether the Bay of Odesa is the ancient "Port of the Histrians" cannot yet be considered a settled question based on the available evidence."The Greek Colonisation of the Black Sea Area: Historical Interpretation of Archaeology," December 1998, Tsetskhladze, Gocha R. (ed.), Franz Steiner Verlag, p. 41, n. 116. Archaeological artifacts confirm extensive links between the Odesa area and the eastern Mediterranean.

In the Middle Ages successive rulers of the Odesa region included various nomadic tribes (Petchenegs, Cumans), the Golden Horde, the Crimean Khanate, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and the Ottoman Empire. Yedisan Crimean Tatars traded there in the 14th century.

Since the middle of the 13th century the city's territory belonged to the Golden Horde domain.{{Cite web |last=Vermenych |first=Ya. |title= |script-title=uk:ОДЕСА |trans-title=Odesa |url=http://resource.history.org.ua/cgi-bin/eiu/history.exe?&I21DBN=EIU&P21DBN=EIU&S21STN=1&S21REF=10&S21FMT=eiu_all&C21COM=S&S21CNR=20&S21P01=0&S21P02=0&S21P03=TRN=&S21COLORTERMS=0&S21STR=Odesa_mst |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220329031231/http://resource.history.org.ua/cgi-bin/eiu/history.exe?&I21DBN=EIU&P21DBN=EIU&S21STN=1&S21REF=10&S21FMT=eiu_all&C21COM=S&S21CNR=20&S21P01=0&S21P02=0&S21P03=TRN=&S21COLORTERMS=0&S21STR=Odesa_mst |archive-date=29 March 2022 |access-date=16 July 2023 |website=Encyclopedia of History of Ukraine}} On Italian navigational maps of 14th century on the place of Odesa is indicated the castle of Ginestra, at the time the center of a Gazarian colony of the Republic of Genoa. During the reign of Khan Hacı I Giray of Crimea (1441–1466), the Khanate was endangered by the Golden Horde and the Ottoman Turks and, in search of allies, the khan agreed to cede the area to Lithuania. The site of present-day Odesa was then a fortress known as Khadjibey (named for Hacı I Giray, and also spelled Kocibey in English, Hacıbey or Hocabey in Turkish, and Hacıbey in Crimean Tatar). Khadjibey was first mentioned in 1415 in Polish chronicles by Jan Długosz, when a ship with grain sailed from there to Constantinople.{{Cite news |title=Історія Одеси. Що робить її справжнім українським містом? |url=https://www.radiosvoboda.org/a/30723938.html |access-date=5 August 2022 |website=Радіо Свобода |date=2 May 2021 |language=uk |last1=Штекель |first1=Михайло |archive-date=5 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220805132657/https://www.radiosvoboda.org/a/30723938.html |url-status=live }} By the middle of the 15th century, the settlement was depopulated.

Khadjibey came under direct control of the Ottoman Empire after 1529. In the mid-18th century, the Ottomans rebuilt the fortress at Khadjibey (also known as Hocabey), which was named Yeni Dünya (literally "New World").

A series of wars between the Russian Empire and the Ottoman Empire, as well as the demise of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, allowed Russia to start to fully exploit the ancient Black Sea trade across the coastal area through the steppe across southern and eastern Ukraine, into the hinterland of East Central Europe. Stable commercial activity in this region in practice in the past required both security through the overland routes, and knowledge of where products could go overseas. In antiquity, various Greek colonies had taken this role, followed by the Varangians who established Kievan Rus' in the 9th century, as well as various Italian colonies after the Mongol invasion of Europe.{{r|Herlihy|page=1-3}} Under Catherine the Great, Russia gained, via the Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca, the lands where Mariupol, Kherson, and Mykolaiv would be founded. However, they were all handicapped in various ways relative to how much commercial interest there was. For example, the latter two cities were situated in lowlands near marshes, which provided for poor sanitary conditions in the technology available at that time.{{r|Herlihy|page=5}}

File:CASTELNAU(1827) p3.020 PLAN D' ODESSA EN 1794.jpg

File:CASTELNAU(1827) p3.039 PLAN DE LA VILLE D' ODESSA EN 1814.jpg

{{see also|Russo-Turkish War (1787–1792)}}

The sleepy fishing village of Odesa had witnessed a sea-change in its fortunes when the wealthy magnate and future Voivode of Kiev (1791), Antoni Protazy Potocki, established trade routes through the port for the Polish Black Sea Trading Company and set up the infrastructure in the 1780s.Łubieński, Tomasz Wentworth. (1886). Henryk Łubieński i jego bracia: wspomnenia rodzinne odnoszące się do historyi Królestwa Polskiego i Banku Polskiego. Warsaw: Księg. G. Gebethner, p.41 (in Polish)

During the Russian-Turkish War of 1787–1792, on 25 September 1789, a detachment of Russian forces, including Zaporozhian Cossacks under Alexander Suvorov and Ivan Gudovich, took Khadjibey and Yeni Dünya for the Russian Empire. One section of the troops came under command of a Spaniard in Russian service, Irishman Major General José de Ribas (known in Russia as Osip Mikhailovich Deribas); today, the main street in Odesa, Deribasivska Street, is named after him.

Russia formally gained possession of the Sanjak of Özi (Ochakiv Oblast){{sfn|Imperial|1848|p=183}} as a result of the Treaty of Jassy (Iaşi) in 1792 and it became a part of Yekaterinoslav Viceroyalty. The Russian Empire took full control of Crimea, as well as land between the Southern Bug and the Dniester, including the Khadzhibey Estuary where the Turkish fortress of Khadjibey was located. The newly acquired Ochakov Oblast was promised to the Cossacks by the Russian government for resettlement.Yefimenko, Aleksandra. [https://books.google.com/books?id=ASGYCgAAQBAJ&dq=%D0%BE%D1%87%D0%B0%D0%BA%D0%BE%D0%B2%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%B0%D1%8F++%D0%BE%D0%B1%D0%BB%D0%B0%D1%81%D1%82%D1%8C&pg=PT126 Ochakov Oblast] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230604020728/https://books.google.com/books?id=ASGYCgAAQBAJ&dq=%D0%BE%D1%87%D0%B0%D0%BA%D0%BE%D0%B2%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%B0%D1%8F++%D0%BE%D0%B1%D0%BB%D0%B0%D1%81%D1%82%D1%8C&pg=PT126 |date=4 June 2023 }}. History of Ukraine and its people. Litres. 2018 On permission of the Archbishop of Yekaterinoslav Amvrosiy, the Black Sea Kosh Host, that was located around the area between Bender and Ochakiv, built second after Sucleia wooden church of Saint Nicholas.{{sfn|Imperial|1848|p=184}}{{Clarify|date=March 2022}}

By the Highest{{Clarify|date=March 2022}} rescript of 17 June 1792 addressed to General Kakhovsky it was ordered to establish the Dniester Border Line of fortresses.{{sfn|Imperial|1848|p=184}} The commander of the land forces in Ochakiv Oblast was appointed Graf (Count) Suvorov-Rymnikskiy.{{sfn|Imperial|1848|p=184}} The main fortress was built near Sucleia at the mouth of river Botna as the Head Dniester Fortress by Engineer-Major de Wollant.{{sfn|Imperial|1848|p=184}} Near the new fortress saw the formation of a new "Vorstadt" (suburb) where people moved from Sucleia and Parkan.{{sfn|Imperial|1848|p=184}} With the establishment of the Voznesensk Governorate on 27 January 1795, the Vorstadt was named Tiraspol.{{sfn|Imperial|1848|p=184}}

The Flemish engineer working for the Russian Empress Catherine the Great, José de Ribas's collaborator Franz de Voland recommended the area of Khadjibey fortress as the site for the region's basic port: it had an ice-free harbor, breakwaters could be cheaply constructed that would render the harbor safe and it would have the capacity to accommodate large fleets. The Namestnik of Yekaterinoslav and Voznesensk, Platon Zubov (one of Catherine's favorites), supported this proposal. In 1794 Catherine issued a Rescript to José de Ribas: "Considering favorable Khadjibey location... I order to establish here a navy harbor and trading pierce..." and invested the first money (26.000 rubles) in construction. Franz de Voland drew up a plan that would end up being the city's plan.{{r|Herlihy|page=7}}

File:Odessa vlasenko.jpg's statue of the Duc de Richelieu in Odesa]]

However, adjacent to the new official locality, a Moldavian colony already existed, which by the end of the 18th century was an independent settlement named Moldavanka. Some local historians consider that the settlement predates Odesa by about thirty years and assert that the locality was founded by Moldavians who came to build the fortress of Yeni Dunia for the Ottomans and eventually settled in the area in the late 1760s, right next to the settlement of Khadjibey, on what later became the Primorsky Boulevard. Another version posits that the settlement appeared after Odesa itself was founded, as a settlement of Moldavians, Greeks, and Albanians fleeing the Ottoman yoke.Richardson, p. 110.

Under Paul I of Russia, construction of Odesa was stopped, Franz de Voland was removed from the project, and José de Ribas was implicated in a plot to assassinate the Emperor. After Paul's assassination in 1801, the city resumed construction, and used a plan largely from de Voland's work. It was thus one of the few master planned cities in the Russian Empire.{{r|Herlihy|page=13}}

In 1795, Khadjibey was officially renamed with the feminine name "{{Lang|ru|Одесса}} ({{transliteration|ru|Odessa}})" after a Greek colony of Odessos that supposedly was located in the area. The first census that was conducted in Odesa was in 1797 which accounted for 3,455 people. Since 1795, the city had its own city magistrate, and since 1796 a city council of six members and the Odesa Commodity Exchange. In 1801, in Odesa had opened the first commercial bank. In 1803, the city accounted for 9,000 people.{{Cite web |last=Tronko |first=Petro |author-link=Petro Tronko |title= |script-title=uk:Виникнення і розвиток міста Одеса |trans-title=Creation and development of the city of Odesa |url=http://ukrssr.com.ua/odeska/viniknennya-i-rozvitok-mista-odesa |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230609064004/https://ukrssr.com.ua/odeska/viniknennya-i-rozvitok-mista-odesa |archive-date=9 June 2023 |access-date=16 July 2023 |language=uk-UA}}

File:Большая Московская.jpg

File:CP Odessa Dom Russova circa 1920s.JPG

In their settlement, also known as Novaya Slobodka, the Moldavians owned relatively small plots on which they built village-style houses and cultivated vineyards and gardens. What became Mykhailovsky Square was the center of this settlement and the site of its first Orthodox church, the Church of the Dormition, built in 1821 close to the seashore, as well as a cemetery. Nearby stood the military barracks and the country houses (dacha) of the city's wealthy residents, including that of the Duc de Richelieu, appointed by Tsar Alexander I as Governor of Odesa in 1803.{{Cite EB1911|wstitle= Richelieu, Armand Emmanuel Sophie Septemanie du Plessis, Duc de |volume= 23 | pages = 302–303 |short= 1}} Richelieu played a role during Ottoman plague epidemic which hit Odesa in the autumn 1812.{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=G6W32VE42L0C&dq=plague+Odessa+1812&pg=PA312|title=Travels in Russia, and a residence at St. Petersburg and Odessa, in the years 1827-1829|first=Edward|last=Morton|date=12 July 1830|publisher=Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, and Green|via=Google Books|access-date=12 July 2022|archive-date=16 December 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231216035813/https://books.google.com/books?id=G6W32VE42L0C&dq=plague+Odessa+1812&pg=PA312#v=onepage&q=plague%20Odessa%201812&f=false|url-status=live}}{{Cite web|url=http://balkanist.net/plague-and-political-tyranny-odessa/|title=Odessa, 1812: Plague and Tyranny at the Edge of the Empire|date=5 December 2015|access-date=12 July 2022|archive-date=29 June 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220629030148/http://balkanist.net/plague-and-political-tyranny-odessa/|url-status=live}} Dismissive of any attempt to forge a compromise between quarantine requirements and free trade, Prince Kuriakin (the Saint Petersburg-based High Commissioner for Sanitation) countermanded Richelieu's orders.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QSd7DQAAQBAJ&dq=plague+Odessa+1812&pg=PA147|title=Migration and Disease in the Black Sea Region: Ottoman-Russian Relations in the Late Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth Centuries|first=Andrew|last=Robarts|date=1 December 2016|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing|isbn=9781474259507|via=Google Books|access-date=12 July 2022|archive-date=16 December 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231216035813/https://books.google.com/books?id=QSd7DQAAQBAJ&dq=plague+Odessa+1812&pg=PA147#v=onepage&q=plague%20Odessa%201812&f=false|url-status=live}}

In the period from 1795 to 1814, the population of Odesa increased 15 times over and reached almost 20 thousand people. The first city plan was designed by the engineer F. Devollan in the late 18th century. Colonists of various ethnicities settled mainly in the area of the former colony, outside of the official boundaries, and as a consequence, in the first third of the 19th century, Moldavanka emerged as the dominant settlement. After planning by the official architects who designed buildings in Odesa's central district, such as the Italians Francesco Carlo Boffo and Giovanni Torricelli (see Italians of Odesa), Moldovanka was included in the general city plan, though the original grid-like plan of Moldovankan streets, lanes, and squares remained unchanged.

The new city quickly became a major success although initially, it received little state funding and privileges.[http://ukrainianweek.com/History/123898 Odesa: Through Cossacks, Khans and Russian Emperors] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181024101327/http://ukrainianweek.com/History/123898 |date=24 October 2018 }}, The Ukrainian Week (18 November 2014) Its early growth owed much to the work of the Duc de Richelieu, who served as the city's governor between 1803 and 1814. Having fled the French Revolution, he had served in Catherine's army against the Turks. He is credited with designing the city and organizing its amenities and infrastructure, and is considered{{by whom|date=August 2011}} one of the founding fathers of Odesa, together with another Frenchman, Count Andrault de Langeron, who succeeded him in office.

Richelieu is commemorated by a bronze statue, unveiled in 1828 to a design by Ivan Martos. His contributions to the city are mentioned by Mark Twain in his travelogue Innocents Abroad: "I mention this statue and this stairway because they have their story. Richelieu founded Odessa – watched over it with paternal care – labored with a fertile brain and a wise understanding for its best interests – spent his fortune freely to the same end – endowed it with a sound prosperity, and one which will yet make it one of the great cities of the Old World".

In 1819, Odesa became a free port, a status it retained until 1859. Odesa became home to an extremely diverse population of Albanians, Armenians, Azeris, Bulgarians, Crimean Tatars, Frenchmen, Germans (including Mennonites), Greeks, Italians, Jews, Poles, Romanians, Russians, Turks, Ukrainians, and traders representing many other nationalities (hence numerous "ethnic" names on the city's map, for example Frantsuzky (French) and Italiansky (Italian) Boulevards, Grecheskaya (Greek), Yevreyskaya (Jewish), Arnautskaya (Albanian) Streets).

The Filiki Eteria, a Greek freemasonry-style society that was to play an important role in the Greek War of Independence, was founded in Odesa in 1814 before relocating to Constantinople in 1818. Odesa's cosmopolitan nature was documented by the great Russian poet Alexander Pushkin, who lived in internal exile in Odesa between 1823 and 1824. In his letters, he wrote that Odesa was a city where "the air is filled with all Europe, French is spoken and there are European papers and magazines to read".

Odesa's growth was interrupted by the Crimean War of 1853–1856, during which it was bombarded by British and Imperial French naval forces.Clive Pointing, The Crimean War: The Truth Behind the Myth, Chatto & Windus, London, 2004, {{ISBN|0-7011-7390-4}}. It soon recovered and the growth in trade made Odesa Russia's largest grain-exporting port. In 1866, the city was linked by rail with Kyiv and Kharkiv as well as with Iaşi in Romania.

File:potemkinstairs.jpg (constructed 1837–1841), which were famously featured in the 1925 film Battleship Potemkin. It was built with the important contribution of the Italians of Odesa]]

The city became the home of a large Jewish community during the 19th century, and by 1897 Jews were estimated to comprise some 37% of the population. The community, however, was repeatedly subjected to anti-Semitism and anti-Jewish agitation from almost all Christian segments of the population.{{cite web |title=The Jewish Community of Odessa |url=https://dbs.anumuseum.org.il/skn/en/c6/e224090/Place/Odessa |publisher=The Museum of the Jewish People at Beit Hatfutsot |access-date=18 February 2023 |archive-date=4 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230604020731/https://dbs.anumuseum.org.il/skn/en/c6/e224090/Place/Odessa |url-status=live }} Pogroms were carried out in 1821, 1859, 1871, 1881 and 1905. Many Odesan Jews fled abroad after 1882, particularly to the Ottoman region that became Palestine, and the city became an important base of support for Zionism.

Until the 1870s, Odesa's Italian population grew steadily. From the following decade this growth stopped, and the decline of the Italian community in Odesa began. The reason was mainly one, namely the gradual integration into the Slavic population of Odesa, i.e. Russians and Ukrainians. Surnames began to be Russianized and Ukrainianized. The revolution of 1917 sent many of them to Italy, or to other cities in Europe. In Soviet times, only a few dozen Italians remained in Odesa, most of whom no longer knew their own language.{{cite web|url=https://rime.cnr.it/index.php/rime/article/download/585/950/|title=Odessa. Un'identità mutevole e plurale|access-date=24 September 2024|language=it}} Over time they merged with the local population, losing the ethnic connotations of origin.Father Pietro Leoni to Pietro Quaroni, 21 September 1944 (ASMAE, Italian embassy in Russia, 1861/1950, b. 321). They disappeared completely by World War II.

{{see also|Odesa Governorate}}

File:Entry of the Red Army in Odessa, April 1919.jpg

In 1905, Odesa was the site of a workers' uprising supported by the crew of the Russian battleship Potemkin and the Menshevik's Iskra. Sergei Eisenstein's famous motion picture The Battleship Potemkin commemorated the uprising and included a scene where hundreds of Odesan citizens were murdered on the great stone staircase (now popularly known as the "Potemkin Steps"), in one of the most famous scenes in motion picture history. At the top of the steps, which lead down to the port, stands a statue of the Duc de Richelieu.

The actual massacre took place in streets nearby, not on the steps themselves, but the film caused many to visit Odesa to see the site of the "slaughter". The "Odesa Steps" continue to be a tourist attraction in Odesa. The film was made at Odesa's Cinema Factory, one of the oldest cinema studios in the former Soviet Union.

Following the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917 during Ukrainian-Soviet War, Odesa saw two Bolshevik armed insurgencies, the second of which succeeded in establishing their control over the city; for the following months, the city became a center of the Odesa Soviet Republic. After signing of the Brest-Litovsk Treaty all Bolshevik forces were driven out by 13 March 1918 by the combined armed forces of the Austro-Hungarian Army, providing support to the Ukrainian People's Republic.{{citation | last = Tynchenko | first = Yaros | title = The Ukrainian Navy and the Crimean Issue in 1917-18 | url = http://ukrainianweek.com/History/105648 | work = The Ukrainian Week | date = 23 March 2018 | access-date = 14 October 2018 | archive-date = 11 November 2019 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20191111180649/https://ukrainianweek.com/History/105648 | url-status = live }}

With the end of the World War I and the withdrawal of armies of Central Powers, the Soviet forces fought for control over the country with the army of the Ukrainian People's Republic. A few months later the city was occupied by the French Army and the Greek Army that supported the Russian White Army in its struggle with the Bolsheviks. The Ukrainian general Nykyfor Hryhoriv who sided with Bolsheviks managed to drive the Triple Entente forces out of the city, but Odesa was soon retaken by the Russian White Army. By 1920 the Soviet Red Army managed to overpower both the Ukrainian and Russian White Army and secure the city.

The people of Odesa suffered badly from a famine that resulted from the Russian Civil War in 1921–1922 due to the Soviet policies of prodrazverstka. In 1937, around 1,000 Poles were executed in Odesa during the Polish Operation of the NKVD.{{cite book|author= |title=Deportacje ludności polskiej do Kazachstanu w 1936 roku. Zarys historyczny|year=2016|language=pl|publisher=Kancelaria Senatu|location=Warszawa|page=37}}

{{See also|Romania during World War II}}

File:Odessa Soviet artilery.JPG

During World War II, Odesa was attacked by Romanian and German troops in August 1941. The Siege of Odessa (1941) started on 5 August and lasted for 73 days. The defense was organized on three lines with emplacements consisting of trenches, anti-tank ditches and pillboxes. The first line was {{cvt|80|km|abbr=on}} long and situated some {{cvt|25|to|30|km|abbr=on}} from the city. The second and main line of defense was situated {{cvt|6|to|8|km|abbr=on}} from the city and was about {{cvt|30|km|abbr=on}} long. The third and last line of defense was organized inside the city itself. Lyudmila Pavlichenko, the famous female sniper, took part in the battle for Odesa. She recorded 187 confirmed kills during the defense of Odesa. Pavlichenko's confirmed kills during World War II totaled 309 (including 36 enemy snipers).

The city fell to the Axis on 16 October 1941, and it was henceforth subject to Romanian administration.{{Sfn|Mykhailutsa|Niculcea|2020|pp=197–198}} By that time, the Soviet authorities had been able to evacuate 200,000 people as well as weaponry and industrial equipment.{{Sfn|Mykhailutsa|Niculcea|2020|pp=192, 198}} A day later, Odesa was made the capital of Transnistria.{{Cite journal|journal=Güney-Doğu Avrupa Araştırmaları Dergisi - the Journal of Southeastern European Studies|volume=35|year=2020|doi=10.26650/gaad.794916|title=The Southern Bug - Dnister Interfluve During World War II: Administrative Organization, Staffing and Statistics|first1=Mykola|last1=Mykhailutsa|first2=Igor|last2=Niculcea|issue=35|page=195|s2cid=243955109|url=https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/download/article-file/1290366|access-date=22 March 2022|archive-date=21 May 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220521210724/https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/download/article-file/1290366|url-status=live|doi-access=free}} Partisan fighting continued, however, in the city's catacombs.

File:Odessa opera house advertisement transnistria times.jpg

Following the siege, and the Axis occupation, approximately 25,000 Odesans were murdered in the outskirts of the city and over 35,000 deported; this came to be known as the 1941 Odessa massacre. Most of the atrocities were committed during the first six months of the occupation which officially began on 17 October 1941, when 80 per cent of the 210,000 Jews in the region were killed, compared to Jews in Romania proper where the majority survived.Richardson, p. 33.{{Cite web|url=https://foreignpolicy.com/2016/02/05/the-antonescu-paradox-romania-world-war-ii-hitler/|title=The Antonescu Paradox|date=5 February 2016|website=Foreign Policy|access-date=19 June 2018|archive-date=6 February 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160206082954/https://foreignpolicy.com/2016/02/05/the-antonescu-paradox-romania-world-war-ii-hitler/|url-status=live}} After the Nazi forces began to lose ground on the Eastern Front, the Romanian administration changed its policy, refusing to deport the remaining Jewish population to extermination camps in German occupied Poland, and allowing Jews to work as hired labourers. As a result, despite the events of 1941, the survival of the Jewish population in this area was higher than in other areas of occupied eastern Europe.

A Soviet medal, "For the Defence of Odesa", was established on 22 December 1942. It was one of the first four Soviet cities to be awarded the title of "Hero City" in 1945. (The others were Leningrad, Stalingrad, and Sevastopol). The city suffered severe damage and sustained many casualties over the course of the war. Many parts of Odesa were damaged during both its siege and recapture on 10 April 1944, when the city was finally liberated by the Red Army. Some of the Odesans had a more favourable view of the Romanian occupation, in contrast with the Soviet official view that the period was exclusively a time of hardship, deprivation, oppression and suffering – claims embodied in public monuments and disseminated through the media to this day.Richardson, p. 103. Subsequent Soviet policies imprisoned and executed numerous Odesans (and deported most of the German population) on account of collaboration with the occupiers.Richardson, p. 17.

File:Odessa (timbre soviétique).jpg|Postage stamp of the USSR 1965 "Hero-City Odesa 1941–1945"

File:Defence of Odessa OBVERSE.jpg|Obverse of the Soviet campaign medal "For the Defence of Odesa"

File:Defence of Odessa REVERSE.jpg|Reverse of the Soviet campaign medal "For the Defence of Odesa"; inscription reads "For our Soviet homeland".

File:Наградное удостоверение к медали За оборону Одессы.jpg|alt=Certificate "For taking part in the heroic defense of Odessa" Logvinov Petr Leontievich was awarded the Medal for the Defense of Odessa.|Certificate "For taking part in the heroic defense of Odesa"; Logvinov Petr Leontievich was awarded the Medal for the Defense of Odesa.

File:RIAN archive 171693 Fleet of whalers lying up in Odessa port.jpg

During the 1960s and 1970s, the city grew. Nevertheless, the majority of Odesa's Jews emigrated to Israel, the United States and other Western countries between the 1970s and 1990s.{{citation needed|date=April 2022}} Many ended up in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Brighton Beach, sometimes known as "Little Odesa". Domestic migration of the Odesan middle and upper classes to Moscow and Leningrad, cities that offered even greater opportunities for career advancement, also occurred on a large scale. Despite this, the city grew rapidly by filling the void of those left with new migrants from rural Ukraine and industrial professionals invited from all over the Soviet Union.

File:Russov House Odessa2020.png

As a part of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, the city preserved and somewhat reinforced its unique cosmopolitan mix of Russian/Ukrainian/Jewish culture and a predominantly Russophone environment with the uniquely accented dialect of Russian spoken in the city. The city's unique identity has been formed largely thanks to its varied demography; all the city's communities have influenced aspects of Odesan life in some way or form.

In the 1991 Ukrainian independence referendum 85.38% of Odesa Oblast voted for independence.{{cite web |title=Ukrainian Independence Referendum |date=28 September 2015 |url=https://soviethistory.msu.edu/1991-2/the-end-of-the-soviet-union/the-end-of-the-soviet-union-texts/ukrainian-independence-declaration/ |access-date=20 November 2022 |archive-date=14 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220414065531/https://soviethistory.msu.edu/1991-2/the-end-of-the-soviet-union/the-end-of-the-soviet-union-texts/ukrainian-independence-declaration/ |url-status=live }}

Odesa is a city of more than 1 million people. The city's industries include shipbuilding, oil refining, chemicals, metalworking, and food processing. Odesa is also a Ukrainian naval base and home to a fishing fleet. It is known for its large outdoor market – the Seventh-Kilometer Market, the largest of its kind in Europe.

Odesa was a contender for hosting Euro 2012 football matches in, but lost the competition to other cities in Ukraine.{{Cite web |title=Дніпропетровськ і Одеса втратили ЧЄ, бо не виконали взяті зобов'язання |url=https://www.unian.ua/euro2012/222978-dnipropetrovsk-i-odesa-vtratili-che-bo-ne-vikonali-vzyati-zobovyazannya.html |access-date=31 March 2022 |website=www.unian.ua |language=uk |archive-date=31 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220331214319/https://www.unian.ua/euro2012/222978-dnipropetrovsk-i-odesa-vtratili-che-bo-ne-vikonali-vzyati-zobovyazannya.html |url-status=live }}

The city saw violence in the 2014 pro-Russian unrest in Ukraine during the 2014 Odesa clashes. The 2 May 2014 Odesa clashes between pro-Ukrainian and pro-Russian protestors killed 42 people. Four were killed during the protests, and at least 32 people were killed after a trade union building was set on fire after Molotov cocktails exchange between sides.{{Cite web|date=2 May 2014|title=Ukraine clashes: dozens dead after Odessa building fire|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/may/02/ukraine-dead-odessa-building-fire|access-date=16 October 2020|website=The Guardian|language=en|archive-date=3 May 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140503014148/http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/may/02/ukraine-dead-odessa-building-fire|url-status=live}}{{cite news|author=Canada|date=2 May 2014|title=At least 35 killed in Odessa, Ukraine, as building set on fire|newspaper=The Globe and Mail|url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/ukrainian-helicopters-shot-down-pilots-killed-as-violence-breaks-out-in-eastern-city/article18385793/|url-status=dead|access-date=22 May 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140506162417/http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/ukrainian-helicopters-shot-down-pilots-killed-as-violence-breaks-out-in-eastern-city/article18385793/|archive-date=6 May 2014}} Polls conducted from September to December 2014 found no support for joining Russia.{{cite news|url=https://dt.ua/UKRAINE/lishe-3-ukrayinciv-hochut-priyednannya-yih-oblasti-do-rosiyi-160641_.html|title=Лише 3% українців хочуть приєднання їх області до Росії|language=uk|trans-title=Only 3% of Ukrainians want their region to become part of Russia|work=Dzerkalo Tyzhnia|date=3 January 2015|access-date=20 January 2021|archive-date=6 November 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191106223654/https://dt.ua/UKRAINE/lishe-3-ukrayinciv-hochut-priyednannya-yih-oblasti-do-rosiyi-160641_.html|url-status=live}}

Odesa was struck by three bomb blasts in December 2014, one of which killed one person (the injuries sustained by the victim indicated that he had dealt with explosives).[http://mashable.com/2014/12/27/ukraine-blasts/ Two dead after Ukraine rocked by series of blasts] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150128111107/http://mashable.com/2014/12/27/ukraine-blasts/ |date=28 January 2015 }}, Mashable (28 December 2014)
[http://en.interfax.com.ua/news/general/241835.html Interior minister's advisor says Kharkiv, Odesa explosions aim at escalating tensions in Ukraine] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141230005503/http://en.interfax.com.ua/news/general/241835.html |date=30 December 2014 }}, Interfax-Ukraine (25 December 2014)[http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/bomb-explosion-in-odessa-could-have-targeted-volunteer-organization-for-ukraine-army/513053.html Bomb Explosion in Odessa Could Have Targeted Ukraine Army Charity Point] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150318230918/http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/bomb-explosion-in-odessa-could-have-targeted-volunteer-organization-for-ukraine-army/513053.html |date=18 March 2015 }}, The Moscow Times (10 December 2014) Internal Affairs Ministry advisor Zorian Shkiryak said on 25 December that Odesa and Kharkiv had become "cities which are being used to escalate tensions" in Ukraine. Shkiryak said that he suspected that these cities were singled out because of their "geographic position". On 5 January 2015 the city's Euromaidan Coordination Center and a cargo train car were (non-lethally) bombed.[https://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/06/world/europe/francois-hollande-says-destabilizing-sanctions-on-russia-must-stop-now.html French Leader Urges End to Sanctions Against Russia Over Ukraine] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211005042804/https://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/06/world/europe/francois-hollande-says-destabilizing-sanctions-on-russia-must-stop-now.html |date=5 October 2021 }}, New York Times (5 January 2015)
[http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/latest-explosion-in-odessa-strikes-pro-ukraine-organization/514043.html Latest Explosion in Odessa Strikes Pro-Ukraine Organization (Video)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150113044414/http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/latest-explosion-in-odessa-strikes-pro-ukraine-organization/514043.html |date=13 January 2015 }}, The Moscow Times (5 January 2015)
[http://mashable.com/2015/01/05/explosion-in-odessa-ukraine/ Mysterious bombing rocks Ukrainian port city of Odessa] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150114080936/http://mashable.com/2015/01/05/explosion-in-odessa-ukraine/ |date=14 January 2015 }}, Mashable (5 January 2015)

Until 18 July 2020, Odesa was incorporated as a city of oblast significance. In July 2020, as part of the administrative reform of Ukraine, which reduced the number of raions of Odesa Oblast to seven, the city of Odesa was merged into newly established Odesa Raion.{{Cite news|title=Про утворення та ліквідацію районів. Постанова Верховної Ради України № 807-ІХ.|url=http://www.golos.com.ua/article/333466|access-date=3 October 2020|date=18 July 2020|website=Голос України|language=uk|archive-date=9 July 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210709121303/http://www.golos.com.ua/article/333466|url-status=live}}{{cite web |title=Нові райони: карти + склад |url=https://www.minregion.gov.ua/press/news/novi-rajony-karty-sklad/ |publisher=Міністерство розвитку громад та територій України |language=Ukrainian |access-date=27 March 2023 |archive-date=2 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210302224321/https://www.minregion.gov.ua/press/news/novi-rajony-karty-sklad/ |url-status=live }}

In the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, the city faced some Russian bombing attacks. On 23 April 2022, Russian troops bombarded Odesa with cruise missiles. They destroyed both the city's military infrastructure and residential buildings, killing eight people and wounding another eighteen people.{{Cite web |title=Унаслідок ракетного удару по Одесі загинуло п'ятеро людей, серед них – немовля |url=https://www.slovoidilo.ua/2022/04/23/novyna/suspilstvo/unaslidok-raketnoho-udaru-po-odesi-zahynulo-pyatero-lyudej-sered-nyx-nemovlya |access-date=5 August 2022 |website=Слово і Діло |language=uk |archive-date=5 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220805140404/https://www.slovoidilo.ua/2022/04/23/novyna/suspilstvo/unaslidok-raketnoho-udaru-po-odesi-zahynulo-pyatero-lyudej-sered-nyx-nemovlya |url-status=live }}{{Cite web |title=Росія обстріляла Одесу крилатими ракетами, є влучання в об'єкти інфраструктури |url=https://www.unian.ua/war/rosiyski-viyskovi-obstrilyali-odesu-krilatimi-raketami-novini-odesi-11798160.html |access-date=5 August 2022 |website=www.unian.ua |language=uk |archive-date=5 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220805140403/https://www.unian.ua/war/rosiyski-viyskovi-obstrilyali-odesu-krilatimi-raketami-novini-odesi-11798160.html |url-status=live }} In addition, the Russian military destroyed more than 1,000 m² of the territory of the cemetery.{{Cite web |date=24 April 2022 |title=Russia-Ukraine. The Russians shot at the cemetery and the house in Odessa |url=https://polishnews.co.uk/russia-ukraine-the-russians-shot-at-the-cemetery-and-the-house-in-odessa/ |access-date=5 August 2022 |website=Polish News |language=en-GB |archive-date=16 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231216040320/https://polishnews.co.uk/russia-ukraine-the-russians-shot-at-the-cemetery-and-the-house-in-odessa/ |url-status=live }} The city suffered further aerial attacks on regional infrastructure facilities in October 2022, cutting off power to 10,500 households and injuring three people.{{cite web | url=https://cepa.org/article/sirens-and-flaming-shots-life-in-wartime-odesa/ | title=Sirens and Flaming Shots — Life in Wartime Odesa | date=26 October 2022 | access-date=1 November 2022 | archive-date=1 November 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221101154046/https://cepa.org/article/sirens-and-flaming-shots-life-in-wartime-odesa/ | url-status=live }}

On 25 January 2023, UNESCO announced that the historical city center of Odesa was added to UNESCO's World Heritage List. In order to provide technical and financial assistance if needed, it was also included into the list of world heritage sites in danger.{{cite web

|language = en

|url = https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-64408145

|title = Ukraine's Odesa designated Unesco World Heritage site

|publisher = BBC

|date = 26 January 2023

|access-date = 26 January 2022

|archive-date = 26 January 2023

|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20230126120016/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-64408145

|url-status = live

}}{{cite web

|language = en

|url = https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jan/26/ukraines-odesa-the-pearl-of-the-black-sea-added-to-unesco-world-heritage-list

|title = Ukraine's Odesa, the 'pearl of the Black Sea', added to Unesco World Heritage list

|work = The Guardian

|date = 26 January 2023

|access-date = 26 January 2022

|archive-date = 26 January 2023

|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20230126120014/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jan/26/ukraines-odesa-the-pearl-of-the-black-sea-added-to-unesco-world-heritage-list

|url-status = live

}}

File:Воронцовський маяк.JPG in the Gulf of Odesa. The city is located on the Black Sea.]]

Odesa is located ({{Coord|46|28|N|30|44|E|type:city(1,012,500)_region:UA}}) in the Black Sea Lowland in Southern Ukraine which being part of the greater Eastern European Plain gradually slopes towards the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov. The city lies on the northwestern coast of the Black Sea along the southwestern shore of the Gulf of Odesa, approximately {{convert|31|km|mi|abbr=on}} north of the estuary of the Dniester river and some {{convert|443|km|mi|abbr=on}} south of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv. The international border between Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova lies some {{convert|40|km|mi|abbr=on}} west of the city.

The city is situated on terraced hills overlooking a small harbor. The average elevation at which the city is located is around {{convert|50|m|ft|abbr=off}}. The maximum is {{convert|65|m|ft|abbr=off}} and minimum (on the coast) amounts to {{convert|4.2|m|1|abbr=off}} above sea level. There are three large estuaries near the city: Kuialnyk, Khadzhibey and Sukhyi.

The city currently covers a territory of {{convert|162.42|km²|0|abbr=on}}.{{cite web|url=https://zakon.rada.gov.ua/laws/show/3064-iii?lang=en|language=uk|website=zakon.rada.gov.ua|title=About change area of Odesa city|access-date=22 April 2020|archive-date=23 July 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190723123133/https://zakon.rada.gov.ua/laws/show/3064-iii?lang=en|url-status=live}} The population density for which is around 6,139 persons/km². Sources of running water in the city include the Dniester River, from which water is taken and then purified at a processing plant just outside the city. Being located in the south of Ukraine, the topography of the area surrounding the city is typically flat and there are no large mountains or hills for many kilometres around. Flora is of the deciduous variety and Odesa is known for its tree-lined avenues which, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, made the city a favourite year-round retreat for the Russian aristocracy.{{citation needed|date=November 2011}}

The city's location on the coast of the Black Sea has also helped to create a booming tourist industry in Odesa.{{citation needed|date=November 2011}} The city's Arkadia beach has long been a favourite place for relaxation, both for the city's inhabitants and its visitors.{{citation needed|date=January 2019}} This is a large sandy beach which is located to the south of the city centre. Odesa's many sandy beaches are considered to be quite unique in Ukraine,{{citation needed|date=January 2019}} as the country's southern coast (particularly in the Crimea) tends to be a location in which the formation of stoney and pebble beaches has proliferated.

The coastal cliffs adjacent to the city are home to frequent landslides, resulting in a typical change of landscape along the Black Sea. Due to the fluctuating slopes of land, city planners are responsible for monitoring the stability of such areas, and for preserving potentially threatened building and other structures of the city above sea level near water.{{Cite journal|last1=Cherkez|first1=E. A.|last2=Dragomyretska|first2=O. V.|last3=Gorokhovich|first3=Y.|date=11 November 2006|title=Landslide protection of the historical heritage in Odessa (Ukraine) |journal=Landslides|volume=3|issue=4|pages=303–309|doi=10.1007/s10346-006-0058-8|bibcode=2006Lands...3..303C |s2cid=17314959}} Also a potential danger to the infrastructure and architecture of the city is the presence of multiple openings underground. These cavities can cause buildings to collapse, resulting in a loss of money and business.{{citation needed|date=April 2022}} Due to the effects of climate and weather on sedimentary rocks beneath the city, the result is instability under some buildings' foundations.

{{Panorama

| image = File:Odessa panorama.jpg

| fullwidth = 2400

| fullheight = 518

| caption = {{center|A panoramic view of central Odesa, as seen from the Black Sea}}

| alt =

| height = 250

}}

Odesa has a hot-summer humid continental climate (Dfa, using the {{convert|0|C|disp=sqbr}} isotherm), bordering a cold semi-arid (BSk) as well as a humid subtropical climate (Cfa). This has, over the past few centuries, aided the city greatly in creating conditions necessary for the development of summer tourism. During the tsarist era, Odesa's climate was considered to be beneficial for the body, and thus many wealthy but sickly persons were sent to the city in order to relax and recuperate. This resulted in the development of spa culture and the establishment of a number of luxury hotels in the city. The average annual temperature of the sea is {{convert|13|-|14|C}}. Seasonal sea temperatures range from an average of {{convert|6|C}} from January to March, to {{convert|23|C}} in August. Typically, for a total of 4 months – from June to September – the average sea temperature in the Gulf of Odesa and the city's bay area exceeds {{convert|20|C}}.{{cite web|url=http://www.weather2travel.com/climate-guides/ukraine/odessa.php|title=Odessa Climate Guide|access-date=5 June 2009|archive-date=5 October 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111005121556/http://www.weather2travel.com/climate-guides/ukraine/odessa.php|url-status=live}}

The city typically experiences dry, cold winters which are relatively mild when compared to most of Ukraine, as they are marked by temperatures that rarely fall below {{convert|-10|C}}. Summers see an increased level of precipitation, and the city often experiences warm weather with temperatures often reaching the high 20s and low 30s °C. Snow cover is light to moderate due to the city's location on the northern coast of the Black Sea, and municipal services rarely experience problems that can often be found in other, more northern Ukrainian cities. The city hardly ever faces sea ice formation.

{{Weather box

|location = Odesa (1991–2020, extremes 1894–present)

|metric first = Y

|single line = Y

| Jan record high C = 15.7

| Feb record high C = 19.2

| Mar record high C = 24.8

| Apr record high C = 29.4

| May record high C = 33.3

| Jun record high C = 37.2

| Jul record high C = 39.3

| Aug record high C = 38.0

| Sep record high C = 35.4

| Oct record high C = 31.1

| Nov record high C = 26.0

| Dec record high C = 16.9

| year record high C = 39.3

| Jan high C = 2.3

| Feb high C = 3.4

| Mar high C = 7.7

| Apr high C = 13.6

| May high C = 20.3

| Jun high C = 25.1

| Jul high C = 27.9

| Aug high C = 27.7

| Sep high C = 21.8

| Oct high C = 15.3

| Nov high C = 9.1

| Dec high C = 4.2

| year high C = 14.9

| Jan mean C = -0.4

| Feb mean C = 0.4

| Mar mean C = 4.3

| Apr mean C = 10.0

| May mean C = 16.2

| Jun mean C = 20.8

| Jul mean C = 23.4

| Aug mean C = 23.1

| Sep mean C = 17.8

| Oct mean C = 12.0

| Nov mean C = 6.3

| Dec mean C = 1.5

| year mean C = 11.3

| Jan low C = -2.7

| Feb low C = -2.1

| Mar low C = 1.6

| Apr low C = 6.9

| May low C = 12.6

| Jun low C = 16.9

| Jul low C = 19.1

| Aug low C = 18.5

| Sep low C = 14.0

| Oct low C = 8.9

| Nov low C = 3.9

| Dec low C = -0.8

| year low C = 8.1

| Jan record low C = -26.2

| Feb record low C = -28.0

| Mar record low C = -16.0

| Apr record low C = -5.9

| May record low C = 0.3

| Jun record low C = 5.2

| Jul record low C = 7.5

| Aug record low C = 7.9

| Sep record low C = -0.8

| Oct record low C = -13.3

| Nov record low C = -14.6

| Dec record low C = -19.6

| year record low C = -28.0

| precipitation colour = green

| Jan precipitation mm = 43

| Feb precipitation mm = 35

| Mar precipitation mm = 35

| Apr precipitation mm = 28

| May precipitation mm = 39

| Jun precipitation mm = 47

| Jul precipitation mm = 45

| Aug precipitation mm = 40

| Sep precipitation mm = 44

| Oct precipitation mm = 37

| Nov precipitation mm = 39

| Dec precipitation mm = 38

| year precipitation mm = 470

| Jan snow depth cm = 2

| Feb snow depth cm = 2

| Mar snow depth cm = 1

| Apr snow depth cm = 0

| May snow depth cm = 0

| Jun snow depth cm = 0

| Jul snow depth cm = 0

| Aug snow depth cm = 0

| Sep snow depth cm = 0

| Oct snow depth cm = 0

| Nov snow depth cm = 0

| Dec snow depth cm = 1

| year snow depth cm = 2

| Jan rain days = 9

| Feb rain days = 7

| Mar rain days = 10

| Apr rain days = 11

| May rain days = 12

| Jun rain days = 13

| Jul rain days = 10

| Aug rain days = 8

| Sep rain days = 9

| Oct rain days = 10

| Nov rain days = 13

| Dec rain days = 10

| year rain days = 122

| Jan snow days = 11

| Feb snow days = 10

| Mar snow days = 6

| Apr snow days = 0.4

| May snow days = 0

| Jun snow days = 0

| Jul snow days = 0

| Aug snow days = 0

| Sep snow days = 0

| Oct snow days = 0.2

| Nov snow days = 4

| Dec snow days = 9

| year snow days = 41

| Jan humidity = 83.9

| Feb humidity = 81.6

| Mar humidity = 76.7

| Apr humidity = 72.8

| May humidity = 71.3

| Jun humidity = 69.1

| Jul humidity = 65.0

| Aug humidity = 62.8

| Sep humidity = 70.5

| Oct humidity = 77.4

| Nov humidity = 82.6

| Dec humidity = 84.1

| year humidity = 74.8

| Jan sun = 55

| Feb sun = 88

| Mar sun = 153

| Apr sun = 219

| May sun = 299

| Jun sun = 315

| Jul sun = 348

| Aug sun = 323

| Sep sun = 239

| Oct sun = 158

| Nov sun = 63

| Dec sun = 48

| year sun = 2308

|source 1 = Pogoda.ru{{cite web

| url = http://www.pogodaiklimat.ru/climate/33837.htm

| script-title = ru:Погода и Климат – Климат Одессы

| trans-title = Weather and Climate – The Climate of Odesa

| publisher = Weather and Climate (Погода и климат)

| language = ru

| access-date = 8 November 2021

| archive-date = 16 August 2013

| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130816220319/http://www.pogodaiklimat.ru/climate/33837.htm

| url-status = live

}}

|source 2 = NOAA (humidity and sun 1991–2020){{cite web |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250422015149/https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/data/oceans/archive/arc0216/0253808/6.6/data/0-data/Region-6-WMO-Normals-9120/Ukraine/CSV/Odesa_33837.csv |archive-date=22 April 2025 |url=https://www.nodc.noaa.gov/archive/arc0216/0253808/2.2/data/0-data/Region-6-WMO-Normals-9120/Ukraine/CSV/ODESA_33837.csv |title=Odesa Climate Normals 1991–2020 |work=World Meteorological Organization Climatological Standard Normals (1991–2020) |publisher=National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration |format=CSV |access-date=21 April 2025 }}

}}

{{Historical populations

|shading=on

|percentages = pagr

|1795|2349

|1800|6000

|1802|9000

|1813|35000

|1829|52000

|1832|60000

|1844|77800

|1858|104200

|1863|118900

|1873|193513

|1880|217000

|1885|240600

|1891|297600

|1897|403815

|1907|449700

|1910|506000

|1912|635000

|1914|481500

|1920|454200

|1925|325354

|1936|534000

|1939|601651

|1956|607000

|1959|667182

|1970|891546|1979|1046133|1989|1115371|2001|1029049|2011|1009145|2022|1010537|footnote=at{{Cite web|url=http://2001.ukrcensus.gov.ua/rus/results/total_population/structure_population/sel_1/?box=1.1W&k_t=51&rn=51101&id=&botton=cens_db|title=Âñåóêðà¿íñüêèé ïåðåïèñ íàñåëåííÿ 2001|Ðóññêàÿ âåðñèÿ|Ðåçóëüòàòû|×èñëåííîñòü è òåððèòîðèàëüíîå ðàçìåùåíèå íàñåëåíèÿ|×èñëåííîñòü íàëè÷íîãî íàñåëåíèÿ è åãî ðàñïðåäåëåíèå ïî ïîëó|Ðåçóëüòàò âûáîðà|website=2001.ukrcensus.gov.ua|access-date=7 March 2020|archive-date=20 November 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121120131043/http://2001.ukrcensus.gov.ua/rus/results/total_population/structure_population/sel_1/?box=1.1W&k_t=51&rn=51101&id=&botton=cens_db|url-status=live}}{{ВТ-ЭСБЕ|Одесса}}{{cite web |title = Одесса в Большой советской энциклопедии |url = http://cultinfo.ru/fulltext/1/001/008/083/686.htm |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070107052358/http://www.cultinfo.ru/fulltext/1/001/008/083/686.htm |archive-date = 7 January 2007 |url-status=dead }}{{Cite web|url=http://2001.ukrcensus.gov.ua/rus/results/general/city/|title=Âñåóêðà¿íñüêèé ïåðåïèñ íàñåëåííÿ 2001|Ðóññêàÿ âåðñèÿ|Ðåçóëüòàòû|Îñíîâíûå èòîãè ïåðåïèñè|Êîëè÷åñòâî ãîðîäîâ|website=2001.ukrcensus.gov.ua|access-date=7 March 2020|archive-date=3 May 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110503064709/http://2001.ukrcensus.gov.ua/rus/results/general/city|url-status=live}}{{cite web |title = Статья в журнале "Держава" "Сколько действительно населения в Одессе?" |url = http://2000.net.ua/print/derzhava/skolkodejstvitelnonaselen.html |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070930185108/http://2000.net.ua/print/derzhava/skolkodejstvitelnonaselen.html |archive-date = 30 September 2007 |url-status=dead}}{{Cite web|url=http://pop-stat.mashke.org/ukraine-cities.htm|title=Cities & towns of Ukraine|website=pop-stat.mashke.org}}

}}

{{div col|colwidth=20em}}

• 1897{{cite web|url=http://demoscope.ru/weekly/ssp/rus_lan_97_uezd.php?reg=1665|title=Демоскоп Weekly – Приложение. Справочник статистических показателей.|work=demoscope.ru|access-date=16 April 2015|archive-date=23 January 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220123225611/http://www.demoscope.ru/weekly/ssp/rus_lan_97_uezd.php?reg=1665|url-status=live}}

1. Russians: 198,233 people (49.09%)
2. Jews: 124,511 people (30.83%)
3. Ukrainians: 37,925 people (9.39%)
4. Poles: 17,395 people (4.31%)
5. Germans: 10,248 people (2.54%)
6. Greeks: 5,086 people (1.26%)
7. Tatars: 1,437 people (0.36%)
8. Armenians: 1,401 people (0.35%)
9. Belarusians: 1,267 people (0.31%)
10. French: 1,137 people (0.28%)

• 1926{{cite web |url=http://demoscope.ru/weekly/ssp/sng_nac_26.php?reg=2119/ |title=Данные Всесоюзной переписи населения 1926 года по регионам республик СССР |publisher=Demoscope.ru |access-date=22 May 2014 |archive-date=4 July 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210704182736/http://www.demoscope.ru/weekly/ssp/sng_nac_26.php?reg=2119/ |url-status=live }}

1. Russians: 162,789 people (39.97%)
2. Jews: 153,243 people (36.69%)
3. Ukrainians: 73,453 people (17.59%)
4. Poles: 10,021 people (2.40%)
5. Germans: 5,522 people (1.32%)
6. Belarusians: 2,501 people (0.60%)
7. Armenians: 1,843 people (0.44%)
8. Greeks: 1,377 people (0.33%)
9. Bulgarians: 1,186 people (0.28%)
10. Moldovans: 1,048 people (0.25%)

• 1939{{cite web |url=http://demoscope.ru/weekly/ssp/ussr_nac_39_ra.php?reg=336 |title=Всесоюзная перепись населения 1939 года. Национальный состав населения районов, городов и крупных сел союзных республик СССР |publisher=Demoscope.ru |access-date=15 April 2015 |archive-date=10 November 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211110060722/http://www.demoscope.ru/weekly/ssp/ussr_nac_39_ra.php?reg=336 |url-status=live }}

1. Jews: 200,961 people (33.26%)
2. Russians: 186,610 people (30.88%)
3. Ukrainians: 178,878 people (29.60%)
4. Poles: 8,829 people (1.46%)
5. Germans: 8,424 people (1.39%)
6. Bulgarians: 4,967 people (0.82%)
7. Moldovans: 2,573 people (0.43%)
8. Armenians: 2,298 people (0.38%)

• 1941{{cite book |title=Recensămintele României: 1899–1992 |publisher=Editura Meronia |year=2002 |pages=358 |language=ro}}

1. Ukrainians: 120,945 people (49.45%)
2. Russians: 92,584 people (37.85%)
3. Germans: 8,643 people (3.53%)
4. Poles: 7,488 people (3.06%)
5. Bulgarians: 4,928 people (2.01%)
6. Moldovans: 3,224 people (1.32%)
7. Tatars: 436 people (0.18%)
8. Lipovans: 429 people (0.17%)

• 2001{{cite web|url=http://2001.ukrcensus.gov.ua/eng/results/general/nationality/Odesa|title=Всеукраїнський перепис населення 2001 - English version - Results - General results of the census - National composition of population - Odesa region|work=ukrcensus.gov.ua|access-date=16 April 2015|archive-date=23 October 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151023045009/http://2001.ukrcensus.gov.ua/eng/results/general/nationality/Odesa|url-status=live}}

1. Ukrainians: 622,900 people (61.6%)
2. Russians: 292,000 people (29.0%)
3. Bulgarians: 13,300 people (1.3%)
4. Jews: 12,400 people (1.2%)
5. Moldovans: 7,600 people (0.7%)
6. Belarusians: 6,400 people (0.6%)
7. Armenians: 4,400 people (0.4%)
8. Poles: 2,100 people (0.2%)

{{div col end}}

Odesa Oblast is also home to many different nationalities and minority ethnic groups, including Albanians, Armenians, Azeris, Crimean Tatars, Bulgarians, Georgians, Greeks, Jews, Poles, Roma, Romanians, Turks, among others. Up until the early 1940s the city had a large Jewish population. As the result of mass deportation to extermination camps during the Second World War, the city's Jewish population declined considerably. Since the 1970s, the majority of the remaining Jewish population emigrated to Israel and other countries, shrinking the Jewish community. Through most of the 19th century and until the mid-20th century, the largest ethnic group in Odesa was Russians, with the second largest ethnic group being Jews.Dnistryansky, М.S. (2006) Этнополитическая география Украины = Етнополітична географія України. – Лівів: Літопис, видавництво ЛНУ імені Івана Франка. p. 342. – {{ISBN|966-7007-60-X}}

File:Anatra Anasalj.jpg, an aircraft built by Anatra factory, a manufacturing founded by an Italian of Odesa]]

Italians trace their presence in what later would become Odessa to as early as 1200, when Genoese "Ginestra" trade ships anchored there.{{cite web|url=https://www.reportdifesa.it/ucraina-odessa-citta-italiana-la-nostra-cultura-e-la-nostra-arte-presente-nelle-bellezze-artistiche-e-architettoniche/|title=Ucraina: Odessa città italiana. La nostra cultura e la nostra arte presente nelle bellezze artistiche e architettoniche|access-date=23 September 2024|language=it}} In 1797 there were about 800 Italians in Odesa, equal to 10% of the total population.{{cite book |first1 = Elena |last1 = Dundovich |first2 = Francesca |last2 = Gori |first3 = Emanuela |last3 = Guercett |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=57hb64WZLKQC |title = Gulag. Storia e memoria |publisher = Feltrinelli |year = 2004 |isbn = 88-07-81818-3 |page = 187 |access-date = 9 June 2015}} For more than a century the Italians of Odesa greatly influenced the culture, art, industry, society, architecture, politics and economy of the city.{{cite web|url=http://www.lavita-odessita.com/italiani4.html|title=Gli italiani a Odessa|language=it|url-status=usurped|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151005192716/http://www.lavita-odessita.com/italiani4.html|archive-date=5 October 2015}}{{cite book|first=Detlef|last=Brandes |language=de |page=252 |publisher=Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag |title=Von den Zaren adoptiert: Die deutschen Kolonisten und die Balkansiedler in Neurußland und Bessarabien (1751-1914) |year=1993|isbn=978-3486560145}}{{cite web|url=https://www.italiani.it/odessa-citta-ucraina-fondata-da-un-italiano/|title=Odessa, la città ucraina fondata da un italiano|access-date=23 September 2024|language=it}}{{cite web|url=http://www.eastjournal.net/archives/73532|title= UCRAINA: Odessa città napoletana, dove l'italiano era lingua ufficiale|language=it|access-date=24 September 2024}} Among the works created by the Italians of Odesa there were the Potemkin Stairs and the Odesa Opera and Ballet Theater. At the beginning of the 19th century the Italian language became the second official language in Odesa, after Russian. Until the 1870s, Odesa's Italian population grew steadily. From the following decade this growth stopped, and the decline of the Italian community in Odesa began. The reason was mainly one, namely the gradual integration into the Slavic population of Odesa, i.e. Russians and Ukrainians. Surnames began to be Russianized and Ukrainianized. The revolution of 1917 sent many of them to Italy, or to other cities in Europe. In Soviet times, only a few dozen Italians remained in Odesa, most of whom no longer knew their own language. Over time they merged with the local population, losing the ethnic connotations of origin. They disappeared completely by World War II.

File:Odessa Ethnicity 1897-2015.png

The peculiarity of the ethnic composition of the modern population of the city of Odesa is its ethnic diversity. According to the 2001 Ukrainian census, Ukrainians made up 62% of the Odesa's inhabitants, Russians 29%, Bulgarians 6.1%, Moldovans 5%, Gagauz 1.1%, Jews 0.6%, Belarusians 0.5%, Armenians 0.3%, Roma 0.2%, Poles, Germans, Georgians, Azerbaijanis, Tartars, Greeks, Albanians and Arabs each 0.1%, and 1.9% were people of other nationalities.{{cite web |url=http://2001.ukrcensus.gov.ua/results/general/nationality/odesa/ |title=All-Ukrainian Census of 2001 Official Site |publisher=2001.ukrcensus.gov.ua |access-date=22 May 2014 |archive-date=20 October 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131020081456/http://2001.ukrcensus.gov.ua/results/general/nationality/odesa/ |url-status=live }} A 2015 study by the International Republican Institute found that 68% of Odesa's population were ethnic Ukrainians, and 25% were ethnic Russians.

Distribution of the population of the city of Odesa by native language according to the 2001 census:{{cite web | language=uk | url=https://socialdata.org.ua/projects/mova-2001/ | title=Рідні мови в об'єднаних територіальних громадах України}}

According to the Seventh Annual Ukrainian Municipal Survey, 96% of the residents of Odesa spoke some Russian at home and 29% spoke some Ukrainian at home (overlap due to a lot of people speaking both languages). Ukrainian is gaining in popularity: in 2021, the share of residents speaking some Ukrainian at home has increased almost 5 times from 6% in 2015 to 29% in 2021.{{cite journal|title=Seventh Ukrainian Municipal Survey, May 12–June 3, 2021|journal=IRI|url=https://www.iri.org/sites/default/files/wysiwyg/seventh_municipal_survey_may_2021_eng_-_v2.pdf|access-date=11 November 2021|archive-date=28 January 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220128104615/https://www.iri.org/sites/default/files/wysiwyg/seventh_municipal_survey_may_2021_eng_-_v2.pdf|url-status=live}}{{cite journal|title=Ukrainian Municipal Survey, March 2–20, 2015|journal=IRI|url=http://www.iri.org/sites/default/files/wysiwyg/2015-05-19_ukraine_national_municipal_survey_march_2-20_2015.pdf|access-date=27 May 2015|archive-date=28 January 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220128012638/https://www.iri.org/sites/default/files/wysiwyg/2015-05-19_ukraine_national_municipal_survey_march_2-20_2015.pdf|url-status=live}}

According to a survey conducted by the International Republican Institute in April–May 2023, 53% of the city's population has higher or incomplete higher education, 16% spoke Ukrainian at home and 80% spoke Russian.{{cite web|url=https://ratinggroup.ua/files/ratinggroup/reg_files/municipal_survey_may_2023_ua_-_final.pdf|title=Municipal Survey 2023|website=ratinggroup.ua|access-date=9 August 2023|archive-date=19 July 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230719164824/https://ratinggroup.ua/files/ratinggroup/reg_files/municipal_survey_may_2023_ua_-_final.pdf|url-status=live}}{{Primary source inline|date=July 2023}}

58% of Odesa Oblast's population consider Ukrainian their native language,{{Cite news |title=Більше половини жителів Одещини вважають українську мову рідною — дослідження |work=Суспільне Новини |url=https://suspilne.media/415236-bilse-polovini-ziteliv-odesini-vvazaut-ukrainsku-movu-ridnou-doslidzenna/ |access-date=14 July 2023 |archive-date=26 September 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230926073357/https://suspilne.media/415236-bilse-polovini-ziteliv-odesini-vvazaut-ukrainsku-movu-ridnou-doslidzenna/ |url-status=live }} and 39% of population in Ukraine's South who consider Ukrainian their native language mostly speak Russian at home.{{Cite news |last=Свобода |first=Радіо |date=10 March 2023 |title=За рік в Україні кількість українськомовних зросла до 71% – опитування |language=uk |work=Радіо Свобода |url=https://www.radiosvoboda.org/a/news-ukrayinska-mova-opytuvannia/32311809.html |access-date=14 July 2023 |archive-date=14 July 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230714080936/https://www.radiosvoboda.org/a/news-ukrayinska-mova-opytuvannia/32311809.html |url-status=live }}

According to a sociological survey conducted by the Ilko Kucheriv Democratic Initiatives Foundation from 10 to 21 July 2023 in Odesa Oblast, the share of respondents who speak Ukrainian at home has increased to 42% (from 26% in 2021), while the share of those who speak Russian at home has dropped to 54%.{{cite web | url=https://dif.org.ua/article/demokratiya-bezpeka-ta-sotsialne-stanovishche-dumka-respondentiv-v-odeskiy-oblasti-u-2023-rotsi#_Toc150261406 | title=Демократія, безпека та соціальне становище: думка респондентів в Одеській області у 2023 році }}

File:Будівля старої біржі, Одеса DSC8077.jpg, the seat of the city's municipal authorities]]

Odesa is the administrative centre of Odesa Raion and Odesa Oblast, and it is the only constituent of Odesa urban hromada, one of the hromadas of Ukraine.{{cite web |title=Одесская громада |url=https://gromada.info/ru/obschina/odesa/ |publisher=Портал об'єднаних громад України |language=ru |access-date=27 March 2023 |archive-date=27 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230327111242/https://gromada.info/ru/obschina/odesa/ |url-status=live }}

The city of Odesa is governed by a mayor and city council which work cooperatively to ensure the smooth-running of the city and procure its municipal bylaws. The city's budget is also controlled by the administration.

The mayoralty{{cite web |url=http://www.odessa.ua/ua/mayor |title=Official Website of the city administration: Structure of the Mayorality |publisher=Odessa.ua |date=1 April 2008 |access-date=28 October 2011 |archive-date=19 October 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111019092343/http://www.odessa.ua/ua/mayor/ |url-status=live }} plays the role of the executive in the city's municipal administration. Above all comes the mayor, who is elected, by the city's electorate, for five years in a direct election. 2015 Mayoral election of Odesa Hennadii Trukhanov was reelected in the first round of the election with 52,9% of the vote.{{cite web|url=http://en.interfax.com.ua/news/general/299747.html|title=Incumbent Odesa Mayor Trukhanov declared winner in Sunday mayoral election|work=interfax.com.ua|access-date=28 October 2015|archive-date=29 October 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151029104751/http://en.interfax.com.ua/news/general/299747.html|url-status=live}} Trukhanov was again reelected in the second round of the 2020 Mayoral election of Odesa when 54.28% of the voters voted for him.{{in lang|uk}} [https://tyzhden.ua/post/249910 Trukhanov officially won the mayoral election in Odesa] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231216040325/https://tyzhden.ua/post-covid-19-rozvytok-kyieva-v-umovakh-hlobalnykh-vyklykiv-obhovoriat-na-investytsijnomu-forumi-mista-kyieva/ |date=16 December 2023 }}, The Ukrainian Week (17 November 2020)

There are five deputy mayors, each of which is responsible for a certain particular part of the city's public policy.

File:Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary b42 726-0.jpg

The City Council{{cite web |url=http://www.odessa.ua/council/ |title=Official Website of the city administration: City Council |publisher=Odessa.ua |date=14 July 2011 |access-date=28 October 2011 |archive-date=12 November 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111112060628/http://www.odessa.ua/council/ |url-status=live }} of the city makes up the administration's legislative branch, thus effectively making it a city 'parliament' or rada. The municipal council is made up of 120 elected members,{{cite web |url=http://www.odessa.ua/ua/council/members/ |title=City Council members |publisher=Odessa.ua |date=1 April 2008 |access-date=28 October 2011 |archive-date=19 January 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120119075812/http://www.odessa.ua/ua/council/members/ |url-status=live }} who are each elected to represent a certain district of the city for a four-year term. The current council is the fifth in the city's modern history, and was elected in January 2011. In the regular meetings of the municipal council, problems facing the city are discussed, and annually the city's budget is drawn up. The council has seventeen standing commissions{{cite web |url=http://www.odessa.ua/council/commissions/ |title=Official Website of the city administration, Standing commissions of the City Council |publisher=Odessa.ua |date=1 April 2008 |access-date=28 October 2011 |archive-date=15 October 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111015164802/http://www.odessa.ua/council/commissions/ |url-status=live }} which play an important role in controlling the finances and trading practices of the city and its merchants.

The territory of Odesa is divided into four administrative urban districts (raions):

• Kyivskyi District
• Khadzhybeiskyi District
• Prymorskyi District
• Peresypskyi District

In addition, every district has its own administration, subordinate to the Odesa City council, and with limited responsibilities.

{{Panorama

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{{further|Odesa catacombs}}

File:Opera2011.jpg facade of the Odesa Opera and Ballet Theater. It was started with the important contribution of the Italians of Odesa]]

Many of Odesa's buildings have, rather uniquely for a Ukrainian city, been influenced by the Mediterranean style of classical architecture. This is particularly noticeable in buildings built by architects such as the Italian of Odesa Francesco Boffo, who in the early 19th-century built a palace and colonnade for the Governor of Odesa, Prince Mikhail Vorontsov, the Potocki Palace and many other public buildings.

In 1887 one of the city's most well known architectural monuments was completed – the theatre, which still hosts a range of performances to this day; it is widely regarded as one of the world's finest opera houses. The first opera house was opened in 1810 and destroyed by fire in 1873. The modern building was constructed by Fellner and Helmer in neo-baroque; its luxurious hall was built in the rococo style. It is said that thanks to its unique acoustics, even a whisper from the stage can be heard in any part of the hall. The theatre was projected along the lines of Dresden's Semperoper built in 1878, with its nontraditional foyer following the curvatures of the auditorium; the building's most recent renovation was completed in 2007.Buildings for Music, Michael Forsythe, Cambridge University Press, p. 344 {{ISBN|9780521268622}}

Odesa's most iconic symbol, the Potemkin Stairs, is a vast staircase that conjures an illusion so that those at the top only see a series of large steps, while at the bottom all the steps appear to merge into one pyramid-shaped mass. The original 200 steps (now reduced to 192) were designed by Italian architect Francesco Boffo and built between 1837 and 1841. The steps were made famous by Sergei Eisenstein in his film, Battleship Potemkin.

Most of the city's 19th-century houses were built of limestone mined nearby. Abandoned mines were later used and broadened by local smugglers. This created a gigantic, complicated labyrinth of tunnels beneath Odesa, known as the Odesa catacombs. During World War II, the catacombs served as a hiding place for partisans and natural shelter for civilians, who were escaping airplane bombing.

Derybasivska Street, an attractive pedestrian avenue named after José de Ribas, the Neapolitan-born founder of Odesa and decorated Russian Navy Admiral from the Russo-Turkish War, is famous by its unique character and architecture.{{citation needed|date=January 2019}} During the summer it is common to find large crowds of people leisurely sitting and talking on the outdoor terraces of numerous cafés, bars and restaurants, or simply enjoying a walk along the cobblestone street, which is not open to vehicular traffic and is kept shaded by the linden trees which line its route.{{cite web|url=http://www.odessaapartments.dompavlov.com/content/deribasovskaya/ |access-date=26 December 2011 |url-status=dead |title=Deribasovskaya Street|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120104105310/http://www.odessaapartments.dompavlov.com/content/deribasovskaya/ |archive-date=4 January 2012 }} A similar streetscape can also be found in that of Prymorsky Bulvar, a grand thoroughfare which runs along the edge of the plateau upon which the city is situated, and where many of the city's most imposing buildings are to be found.

As one of the biggest on the Black Sea, Odesa's port is busy all year round. The Odesa Seaport is located on an artificial stretch of the Black Sea coast, along with the north-western part of the Gulf of Odesa. The total shoreline length of Odesa's seaport is around {{convert|7.23|km|2|abbr=out}}. The port, which includes an oil refinery, container handling facility, passenger area and numerous areas for handling dry cargo, is lucky in that its work does not depend on seasonal weather; the harbour itself is defended from the elements by breakwaters. The port is able to handle up to 14 million tons of cargo and about 24 million tons of oil products annually, whilst its passenger terminals can cater for around 4 million passengers a year at full capacity.{{cite web|url=http://www.odessaapartments.dompavlov.com/content/odessa-passage/ |access-date=26 December 2011 |url-status=dead |title=The Passage|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120104104712/http://www.odessaapartments.dompavlov.com/content/odessa-passage/ |archive-date=4 January 2012 }}

As Odesa has been inhabited by peoples of different religions, it has a variety of religious buildings, such as the Orthodox Transfiguration Cathedral, Catholic Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Cathedral, Lutheran St. Paul's Church, Brodsky Synagogue, and Al-Salam Mosque. There is also a number of historic cemeteries,{{Cite web |title=Головна |url=https://www.pomnim.od.ua/ |access-date=2024-04-01 |website=Місця скорботи Одеси}} including the Cossack Kuialnyk Cemetery.

In late 2022 one of the city's former central landmarks, the monument to the founders of Odesa with its statue of Catherine the Great, was dismantled and temporarily moved to the Odesa Fine Arts Museum.{{Cite web|title=Odesa deputies back decision to dismantle monument to Catherine II|url=https://www.ukrinform.net/rubric-society/3624865-odesa-deputies-back-decision-to-dismantle-monument-to-catherine-ii.html|date=30 November 2022|access-date=30 November 2022|website=Ukrinform|language=English|archive-date=30 November 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221130152755/https://www.ukrinform.net/rubric-society/3624865-odesa-deputies-back-decision-to-dismantle-monument-to-catherine-ii.html|url-status=live}}
{{Cite web|title=Odesa City Council finally agreed to demolish the monument to Catherine (Одеська міськрада нарешті погодилася знести пам'ятник Катерині)|url=https://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2022/11/30/7378612/|date=30 November 2022|access-date=30 November 2022|website=Ukrainska Pravda|language=uk|archive-date=30 November 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221130105931/https://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2022/11/30/7378612/|url-status=live}}

File:Primorskiy Parkway.jpg

There are a number of public parks and gardens in Odesa, among these are the Preobrazhensky, Gorky and Victory parks, the latter of which is an arboretum. The city is also home to a university botanical garden, which recently celebrated its 200th anniversary, and a number of other smaller gardens.

The City Garden, or Gorodskoy Sad, is perhaps the most famous of Odesa's gardens. Laid out in 1803 by Felix De Ribas (brother of the founder of Odesa, José de Ribas) on a plot of urban land he owned, the garden is located right in the heart of the city. When Felix decided that he was no longer able to provide enough money for the garden's upkeep, he decided to present it to the people of Odesa in 1806.{{cite web |first=Oleg |last=Gubar |url=https://www.odessitclub.org/publications/almanac/alm_27/alm_27_28-45.pdf |title=How was the City Garden formed? |publisher=Odessitclub |date=2011 |access-date=29 December 2019 |archive-date=29 December 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191229191643/https://www.odessitclub.org/publications/almanac/alm_27/alm_27_28-45.pdf |url-status=live }}

The garden is home to a bandstand and is the traditional location for outdoor theater in the summertime. Numerous sculptures can also be found within the grounds, as well as a musical fountain, the waters of which are computer controlled to coordinate with the musical melody being played.

Odesa's largest park, Shevchenko Park (previously Alexander Park), was founded in 1875, during a visit to the city by Emperor Alexander II. The park covers an area of around {{convert|700|by|900|m|ft|abbr=off}} and is located near the centre of the city, on the side closest to the sea. Within the park there are a variety of cultural and entertainment facilities, and wide pedestrian avenues.

In the center of the park is the local top-flight football team's Chornomorets Stadium, the Alexander Column and municipal observatory. The Baryatinsky Bulvar is popular for its route, which starts at the park's gate before winding its way along the edge of the coastal plateau. There are a number of monuments and memorials in the park, one of which is dedicated to the park's namesake, the Ukrainian national poet Taras Shevchenko.

File:Украина, Одесса - Свято-Преображенский кафедральный собор 02.jpg|The city's Preobrazhensky Park surrounds its cathedral.

File:Odessa AlexanderII colomn and spruce tree.jpg|The Alexander Column in Schevchenko Park

File:Украина, Одесса - Приморский бульвар, 11.jpg|The Londonskaya Hotel, on Odesa's magnificent Prymorsky Bulvar, is one of the city's landmark buildings.

File:Odesa Olgivska-4 0-1.jpg|alt=The main building of the Odesa National Medical University|The main building of the Odesa National Medical University

File:Odesa National scientific library-03.jpg is a major research library and the centre for studies in southern Ukraine.]]

Odesa is home to several universities and other institutions of higher education. The city's best-known and most prestigious university is the Odesa 'I.I. Mechnykov' National University. This university is the oldest in the city and was first founded by an edict of Tsar Alexander II of Russia in 1865 as the Imperial Novorossian University. Since then the university has developed to become one of modern Ukraine's leading research and teaching universities, with staff of around 1,800 and total of thirteen academic faculties. Other than the National University, the city is also home to the 1921-inaugurated Odesa National Economic University, the Odesa National Medical University (founded 1900), the 1918-founded Odesa National Polytechnic University.

In addition to these universities, the city is home to the National University "Odesa Law Academy", the National Academy of Telecommunications, the Odesa State Environmental University and the Odesa National Maritime Academy. The last of these institutions is a highly specialised and prestigious establishment for the preparation and training of merchant mariners which sees around 1,000 newly qualified officer cadets graduate each year and take up employment in the merchant marines of numerous countries around the world. The South Ukrainian National Pedagogical University is also based in the city, this is one of the largest institutions for the preparation of educational specialists in Ukraine and is recognised as one of the country's finest of such universities.{{citation needed|date=April 2022}}

In addition to all the state-run universities mentioned above, Odesa is also home to many private educational institutes and academies which offer highly specified courses in a range of different subjects.

With regard to primary and secondary education, Odesa has many schools catering for all ages from kindergarten through to lyceum (final secondary school level) age. Most of these schools are state-owned and operated, and all schools have to be state-accredited in order to teach children.

{{Main|Culture of Odesa}}

File:Odessa arheological museum.JPG was designed in the Neoclassical style just like many other landmarks of the city.]]

Fine Arts museum is the biggest art gallery in the city, which collection includes canvas mostly of Russian painters from 17th-21st centuries, icon collection and modern art. The Odesa Museum of Western and Eastern Art is big art museum; it has large European collections from the 16–20th centuries along with the art from the East on display. There are paintings from Caravaggio, Mignard, Hals, Teniers and Del Piombo.{{cite news|url=https://www.jpost.com/Travel/Travel-News/Odessa-The-Star-of-Exile|title=Odessa: The Star of Exile|work=jpost.com|access-date=18 February 2023|archive-date=18 February 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230218182904/https://www.jpost.com/Travel/Travel-News/Odessa-The-Star-of-Exile|url-status=live}}

Of note is Odesa's Alexander Pushkin Museum, which is dedicated to detailing the short time Pushkin spent in exile in Odesa, a period during which he continued to write.{{Cite EB1911|wstitle= Pushkin, Alexander |volume= 22 |last= Morfill |first= William Richard |author-link= William Richard Morfill | pages = 668–669 }} The poet also has a city street named after him, as well as a statue. Other museums in the city include the Odesa Archeological Museum, which is housed in a neoclassical building, the Odesa Numismatics Museum, the Odesa Museum of the Regional History, Museum of Heroic Defense of Odesa (411th Battery).

Among the city's public sculptures, two sets of Medici lions can be noted, at the Vorontsov Palace:Commons:Category:Medici lions at Vorontsov palace in Odesa as well as in the Starosinnyi Garden.:Commons:File:Starosinnyi Garden.JPG

File:Pushkin Monument, Odessa.jpg]]

Jacob Adler, the major star of the Yiddish theatre in New York and father of the actor, director and teacher Stella Adler, was born and spent his youth in Odesa. The most popular Russian show business people from Odesa are Yakov Smirnoff (comedian), Mikhail Zhvanetsky (legendary humorist writer, who began his career as a port engineer) and Roman Kartsev (comedian). Zhvanetsky's and Kartsev's success in the 1970s, along with Odesa's KVN team, contributed to Odesa's established status as "capital of Soviet humor", culminating in the annual Humoryna festival, carried out around the beginning of April.

Odesa was also the home of the late Armenian painter Sarkis Ordyan (1918–2003), the Ukrainian painter Mickola Vorokhta and the Greek philologist, author and promoter of Demotic Greek Ioannis Psycharis (1854–1929). Yuri Siritsov, bass player of the Israeli Metal band PallaneX is originally from Odesa. Igor Glazer Production Manager Baruch Agadati (1895–1976), the Israeli classical ballet dancer, choreographer, painter, and film producer and director grew up in Odesa, as did Franco-Israeli École de Paris painter and sculptor Isaac Frenkel Frenel, Israeli artist and author Nachum Gutman (1898–1980). Israeli painter Avigdor Stematsky (1908–89) was born in Odesa.

File:Bunina-15-135.jpg

Odesa produced one of the founders of the Soviet violin school, Pyotr Stolyarsky. It has also produced many musicians, including the violinists Nathan Milstein, David Oistrakh and Igor Oistrakh, Boris Goldstein, Zakhar Bron and pianists Sviatoslav Richter, Benno Moiseiwitsch, Vladimir de Pachmann, Shura Cherkassky, Emil Gilels, Maria Grinberg, Simon Barere, Leo Podolsky and Yakov Zak. (Note: Richter studied in Odesa but was not born there.)

The Odesa International Film Festival is also held in this city annually since 2010.

{{Further|Union Concert Hall, Odesa|label1=Union Concert Hall}}

File:Одеса 189115.JPG, founded in 1933, has long been recognised as a centre of musical excellence.]]

Poet Anna Akhmatova was born in Bolshoy Fontan near Odesa,{{cite book|last= Anderson|first= Nancy K.|author2=Anna Andreevna Akhmatova|title= The word that causes death's defeat|publisher=Yale University Press|year=2004|isbn= 0-300-10377-8}} however her further work was not connected with the city and its literary tradition. Odesa has produced many writers, including Isaac Babel, whose series of short stories, Odessa Tales, are set in the city.{{cite news|work=New York Times|title=They Invented a New Language for War|date=22 February 2025|last1=Gessen|first1=M|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/22/opinion/ukraine-war-poetry-poets.html}}

Edmund de Waal's best selling memoire, The Hare with the Amber Eyes is the story of his family, the Ephrussi, once a great banking dynasty based in Odesa.

Other Odesans are the duo Ilf and Petrov—authors of The Twelve Chairs, and Yuri Olesha, author of "The Three Fat Men". Vera Inber, a poet and writer, as well as the poet and journalist Margarita Aliger, were both born in Odesa. The Italian writer, Slavist and anti-fascist dissident Leone Ginzburg was born in Odesa into a Jewish family, and then went to Italy where he grew up and lived. The Hebrew author and poet Haim Bialik established a publishing house and worked in the city from the 1890s to 1911.{{Cite web |date=2017-05-18 |title=Insightful Biography of Hebrew Poet H. N. Bialik Misses Key Element |url=https://forward.com/culture/372334/insightful-biography-of-hebrew-poet-h-n-bialik-misses-key-element/ |access-date=2024-05-17 |website=The Forward |language=en}}{{Cite web |date=2013-10-06 |title=Israel's national poet Bialik honored in Odessa |url=https://www.jpost.com/jewish-world/jewish-features/israels-national-poet-bialik-honored-in-odessa-327989 |access-date=2024-05-17 |website=The Jerusalem Post {{!}} JPost.com |language=en}}

One of the most prominent pre-war Soviet writers, Valentin Kataev, was born here and began his writing career as early as high school (gymnasia). Before moving to Moscow in 1922, he made quite a few acquaintances here, including Yury Olesha and Ilya Ilf (Ilf's co-author Petrov was in fact Kataev's brother, Petrov being his pen-name). Kataev became a benefactor for these young authors, who would become some of the most talented and popular Russian writers of this period. In 1955 Kataev became the first chief editor of the Youth ({{langx|ru|link=no|Юность, Yunost'}}), one of the leading literature magazines of the Ottepel of the 1950s and 1960s. {{citation needed|date=November 2011}}

These authors and comedians played a great role in establishing the "Odesa myth" in the Soviet Union. Odesans were and are viewed in the ethnic stereotype as sharp-witted, street-wise and eternally optimistic.{{citation needed|date=November 2011}} These qualities are reflected in the "Odesa dialect", which borrows chiefly from the characteristic speech of the Odesan Jews, and is enriched by a plethora of influences common for the port city.{{cite book|last=Tanny|first=Jarrod|title=City of Rogues and Schnorrers: Russia's Jews and the Myth of Old Odessa|year=2011|publisher=Indiana University Press|location=Bloomington|isbn=978-0-253-22328-9|pages=13–22, 142–156|url=http://www.iupress.indiana.edu/product_info.php?products_id=650630|access-date=12 February 2016|archive-date=4 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304113836/http://www.iupress.indiana.edu/product_info.php?products_id=650630|url-status=live}}

The "Odesite speech" became a staple of the "Soviet Jew" depicted in a multitude of jokes and comedy acts, in which a Jewish adherent served as a wise and subtle dissenter and opportunist, always pursuing his own well-being, but unwittingly pointing out the flaws and absurdities of the Soviet regime. The Odesan Jew in the jokes always "came out clean" and was, in the end, a lovable character – unlike some of other jocular nation stereotypes such as The Chukcha, The Ukrainian, The Estonian or The American.

File:Beach-Chayka-aerial-4.jpg

File:Odessa Arcadia Plaza Beach Sea Water Sweaming Pool.JPG]]

Odesa is a popular tourist destination, with many therapeutic resorts in and around the city. The city's Filatov Institute of Eye Diseases & Tissue Therapy is one of the world's leading ophthalmology clinics.

File:В Одесі відбулися урочистості з нагоди святкування Дня Військово-Морських Сил ЗС України (27798398360).jpg Honour Guards during the Navy Day celebrations in Odesa in 2016]]

{{Further|Humorina}}

April Fools' Day, held annually on 1 April, is one of the most celebrated festivals in the city. Practical joking is a central theme throughout, and Odesans dress in unique, colorful attire to express their spontaneous and comedic selves. The tradition has been celebrated since the early 1970s, when the humor of Ukraine's citizens were drawn to television and the media, further developing into a mass festival. Large amounts of money are made from the festivities, supporting Odesa's local entertainers and shops.{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/02/world/europe/odessa-celebrates-april-fools-day.html|title=Odessa Celebrates April Fools' Day|last=Barry|first=Ellen|date=1 April 2013|newspaper=The New York Times|issn=0362-4331|access-date=14 November 2016|archive-date=14 November 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161114171159/http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/02/world/europe/odessa-celebrates-april-fools-day.html|url-status=live}}

• Pyotr Schmidt (1867–1906) (better known as "Lieutenant Schmidt"), one of the leaders of the Sevastopol uprising, was born in Odesa.
• Ze'ev Jabotinsky (1880–1940), was born in Odesa, and largely developed his version of Zionism there in the early 1920s.{{cite web|url=http://www.liberal.org.il/the_man.htm |title=Ze'ev Jabotinsky – Brief Biography |last=Nissani |first=Noah |publisher=Liberal.Org |year=1996 |access-date=9 June 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090620113613/http://www.liberal.org.il/the_man.htm |archive-date=20 June 2009 }} A Marshal of the Soviet Union, Rodion Malinovsky (1898–1967), a military commander in World War II and Defense Minister of the Soviet Union, was born in Odesa, whilst renowned Nazi hunter Simon Wiesenthal (1908–2005) lived in the city in 1934/1935.
• Haim Nahman Bialik (1873 - 1934), a poet and innovator in the Hebrew and Yiddish languages, he came to Odesa aged 18, inspired by his admiration for authors such as and Ahad Ha'am Mendele Mocher Sforim and worked there from the 1890s to 1911. He was commonly known as the national Hebrew poet.{{Citation |title=Haim Nahman Bialik: The National Poet's Cup of Sorrows |date=2023 |work=The Poetics of Prophecy: Modern Afterlives of a Biblical Tradition |pages=152–173 |editor-last=Raz |editor-first=Yosefa |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/poetics-of-prophecy/haim-nahman-bialik-the-national-poets-cup-of-sorrows/5A0B61FA4DE6563162FB30048393CBA3 |access-date=2024-05-17 |place=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |doi=10.1017/9781009366311.006 |isbn=978-1-009-36631-1|url-access=subscription }}
• Yitzhak Frenkel Frenel (1899 - 1981), a native Odesan painter and sculptor of the École de Paris who brought to Israel the influence of modern art and was its first abstract artist. He emigrated to Israel on the Ruslan in 1919.{{Cite book |last1=Endelman |first1=Todd M. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tkrYDwAAQBAJ&dq=frenkel+frenel+museum&pg=PA615 |title=The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, Volume 8: Crisis and Creativity Between World Wars, 1918-1939 |last2=Gitelman |first2=Zvi |last3=Moore |first3=Deborah Dash |date=2020-04-07 |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=978-0-300-13552-7 |language=en}}{{Cite book |last=Manor |first=Dalia |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=L_x-AgAAQBAJ&dq=yitzhak+frenkel+first+abstract+painter&pg=PA222 |title=Art in Zion: The Genesis of Modern National Art in Jewish Palestine |date=2004-12-03 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-134-36782-5 |language=en}}
• Sidney Reilly (ca.1873–1925), who was employed by William Melville (1850–1918) as one of the first spies of the British Secret Service Bureau, was a native Odesan. Another intelligence agent from Odesa was Genrikh Lyushkov (1900–1945), who joined the Odesa Cheka in 1920 and reached two-star rank in the NKVD before fleeing to Japanese-occupied Manchuria in 1938 to avoid being murdered.
• The composer Jacob Weinberg (1879–1956) was born in Odesa. He composed over 135 works and was the founder of the Jewish National Conservatory in Jerusalem before immigrating to the U.S. where he became "an influential voice in the promotion of American Jewish music".von Rhein, John (19 August 2005). [https://www.chicagotribune.com/2005/08/19/jacob-weinberg-piano-concerto-no-2-in-c-major-string-quartet-opus-55/ "Jacob Weinberg: Piano Concerto No. 2 in C Major"] . Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 29 August 2014.
• Valeria Lukyanova (born 1985), a girl from Odesa who looks very similar to a Barbie doll, has received attention on the Internet and from the media for her doll-like appearance.{{cite news|url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/katyasoldak/2012/10/17/barbie-flu-spreading-in-ukraine/|title=Barbie Flu Spreading in Ukraine|work=Forbes|first=Katya|last=Soldak|date=17 October 2012|access-date=7 September 2017|archive-date=20 October 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171020152524/https://www.forbes.com/sites/katyasoldak/2012/10/17/barbie-flu-spreading-in-ukraine/|url-status=live}}
• Mikhail Zhvanetsky (1934–2020), writer, satirist and performer best known for his shows targeting different aspects of the Soviet and post-Soviet everyday life, was born in Odesa.
• VitaliV (Vitali Vinogradov) (born 1957), an artist and sculptor based in London since 1989, was born in Odesa.{{cite web |title=Vitaly (VITALIV) Vinogradov |url=https://zet.gallery/artist/vitaly-vitaliv-vinogradov-16244 |website=zet.gallery |publisher=Zet Gallery |access-date=24 May 2019 |archive-date=24 May 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190524074856/https://zet.gallery/artist/vitaly-vitaliv-vinogradov-16244 |url-status=live }}
• Kostyantyn Mykolayovych Bocharov (born 1997), better known by his stage name Mélovin is a native of Odesa. He is best known for winning season six of X-Factor Ukraine and for representing Ukraine in the Eurovision Song Contest 2018, singing the song "Under the Ladder".
• Yaakov Dori (1899–1973), the first Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces, and President of the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, was born in Odesa, as was Israel Dostrovsky (1918–2010), Israeli physical chemist who was the fifth president of the Weizmann Institute of Science.
• Yuriy Bazhal (born 1950), Ukrainian scientist, professor, academic.Академія наук вищої школи України. 1992-2010. Довідник
• Janka Bryl (1917 – 2006), Belarusian writer, was born in Odesa.[https://www.svaboda.org/a/31391609.html Already today: Birthday of Janka Bryl (Ужо сёньня: Дзень нараджэньня Янкі Брыля)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210804101401/https://www.svaboda.org/a/31391609.html |date=4 August 2021 }}(in Belarusian)
• Vladimir de Pachmann (1848–1933) a pianist of Russian-German ethnicity noted for performing the works of Chopin, was from Odesa.{{Cite EB1911|wstitle= Pachmann, Vladimir de |volume= 20 | page = 433 |short= 1}} Emil Grigoryevich Gilels (1916–1985), widely regarded as one of the greatest pianists of all time, was born in Odesa.
• Stasys Pundzevičius (1893–1980), Chief of the Lithuanian Air Force in the interwar Lithuania, was born in Odesa.
• Dmitriy Starovoitov (born 1983), Ukrainian entrepreneur and businessman, was born in Odesa.
• Alexander Olshanetsky (1892 – 1946), an American composer, conductor, and violinist. He was a major figure within the Yiddish theatre scene in New York City, born in Odesa.{{cite web |url=https://www.museumoffamilyhistory.com/yt/lex/O/olshanetsky-alexander.htm |title=Lives in the Yiddish Theatre. Short biographies of those involved in the Yiddish Theatre. |access-date=2024-01-06 |website=Museum of Family History |archive-date=6 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240106173102/https://www.museumoffamilyhistory.com/yt/lex/O/olshanetsky-alexander.htm |url-status=live }}
• Yefrosyniya Zarnytska (1867–1936), actress

Odesa's economy largely stems from its traditional role as a port city. The nearly ice-free port lies near the mouths of the Dnieper, the Southern Bug, the Dniester and the Danube rivers, which provide good links to the hinterland.{{cite encyclopedia

|last= Kravtsiv

|first= Bohdan

|encyclopedia= Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine

|title= Odesa

|url= http://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/display.asp?linkpath=pages%5CO%5CD%5COdesa.htm

|access-date= 4 November 2014

|year= 2012

|publisher= Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies

|quote= Odesa is situated on a large, virtually ice-free bay on the Black Sea, near the mouths of the Danube River, the Dnister River, the Boh River, and the Dnieper River, which link it with the interior of the country.

|archive-date= 3 January 2015

|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20150103123651/http://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/display.asp?linkpath=pages%5CO%5CD%5COdesa.htm

|url-status= live

}}

During the Soviet period (until 1991) the city functioned as the USSR's largest trading port; it continues in a similar role as independent Ukraine's busiest international port. The port complex contains an oil and gas transfer and storage facility, a cargo-handling area and a large passenger port. In 2007 the Port of Odesa handled 31,368,000 tonnes of cargo.{{Cite web |url=http://www.ukrport.org.ua/members.htm |title=Ассоциация портов Украины "Укрпорт" объединяет 43 организаций |trans-title=Ukrainian Ports Association "Ukrport" unites 43 organizations |website=ukrport.org.ua |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120229103802/http://www.ukrport.org.ua/members.htm |archive-date=29 February 2012 }}{{Cite web|url=http://www.blackseatrans.com/article.php?articleID=747|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071109222022/http://www.blackseatrans.com/article.php?articleID=747|url-status=dead|title=Ports of Ukraine|archive-date=9 November 2007}}

The port of Odesa is one of the Ukrainian Navy's most important bases on the Black Sea. Rail transport is an important sector of the economy in Odesa – largely due to the role it plays in delivering goods and imports to and from the city's port. The Container Terminal Odesa (CTO) in the port is the largest container terminal in Ukraine. It has been operated by the Hamburg-based HHLA Group since 2001 and, in addition to containers, also handles bulk goods, general cargo and project cargo. This means that Odesa is networked with the ports of Hamburg, Muuga and Trieste via the logistics group HHLA.Terminalbetreiber in Estland gekauft. In: Schiff & Hafen, 7/2018, p 9; "Hamburger Hafenkonzern investiert groß in Triest" In: Die Presse, 29 September 2020.{{Cite web|url=https://www.welt.de/regionales/hamburg/article189642977/HHLA-sucht-Terminals-auch-jenseits-von-Hamburg.html|title=HHLA sucht Terminals auch jenseits von Hamburg|first=Olaf|last=Preuß|date=1 March 2019|via=www.welt.de|access-date=9 February 2021|archive-date=21 January 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220121062128/https://www.welt.de/regionales/hamburg/article189642977/HHLA-sucht-Terminals-auch-jenseits-von-Hamburg.html|url-status=live}}

File:Одеса, Вулиця Дерибасівська 29 2018 02.jpg

Industrial enterprises located in and around the city include those dedicated to fuel refinement, machine building, metallurgy, and other types of light industry such as food preparation, timber plants and chemical industry. Agriculture is a relatively important sector in the territories surrounding the city. The Seventh-Kilometer Market is a major commercial complex on the outskirts of the city where private traders now operate one of the largest market complexes in Eastern Europe.{{cite web |url=http://www.odessa-info.com.ua/about/ |title=Одесса | о городе |publisher=Odessa-info.com.ua |access-date=12 March 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130524221429/http://www.odessa-info.com.ua/about/ |archive-date=24 May 2013}} The market has roughly 6,000 traders and an estimated 150,000 customers per day.

Daily sales, according to the Ukrainian periodical Dzerkalo Tyzhnia, were believed to be as high as US$20 million in 2004. With a staff of 1,200 (mostly guards and janitors), the market is also the region's largest employer. It is owned by local land and agriculture tycoon Viktor A. Dobrianskyi and three partners of his. Tavria-V is the most popular retail chain in Odesa. Key areas of business include: retail, wholesale, catering, production, construction and development, private label. Consumer recognition is mainly attributed{{by whom|date=November 2014}} to the high level of service and the quality of services. Tavria-V is the biggest private company and the biggest tax payer.

File:Odessabeach2018.jpg

Deribasivska Street is one of the city's most important commercial streets, hosting many of the city's boutiques and higher-end shops. In addition to this there are a number of large commercial shopping centres in the city. The 19th-century shopping gallery Passage was, for a long time, the city's most upscale shopping district, and remains {{as of | 2014 | alt = to this day}} an important landmark of Odesa.

The tourism sector is of great importance to Odesa, which is currently{{when|date=November 2014}} the second most-visited Ukrainian city.{{cite web|url=http://www.mfa.gov.ua/data/upload/publication/eu/en/2889/002_profile_sez.pdf |title=Odessa Region Profile |website=mfa.gov.ua |publisher=Odesa Regional State Administration |access-date=29 April 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121023180441/http://www.mfa.gov.ua/data/upload/publication/eu/en/2889/002_profile_sez.pdf |archive-date=23 October 2012 }} In 2003 this sector recorded a total revenue of ₴189.2 million. Other sectors of the city's economy include the banking sector: the city hosts a branch of the National Bank of Ukraine. Imexbank, one of Ukraine's largest commercial banks, was based in the city, however on 27 May 2015, the Deposit Guarantee Fund of Ukraine made a decision to liquidate the bank.

Foreign business ventures have thrived in the area, as since 1 January 2000, much of the city and its surrounding area has been declared{{by whom|date=November 2014}} a free economic zone – this has aided the foundation of foreign companies' and corporations' Ukrainian divisions and allowed them to more easily invest in the Ukrainian manufacturing and service sectors. To date a number of Japanese and Chinese companies, as well as a host of European enterprises, have invested in the development of the free economic zone, to this end private investors in the city have invested a great deal of money into the provision of quality office real estate and modern manufacturing facilities such as warehouses and plant complexes.

Odesa also has a well-developed IT industry with large number of IT outsourcing companies and IT product startups. Among most famous startups is Looksery{{Cite web|title=Snap became a resident of UNIT.City|url=https://ain.ua/en/2018/11/20/snap-became-a-resident-of-unit-city/|date=20 November 2018|website=AIN.UA|language=en-US|access-date=29 May 2020|archive-date=7 August 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200807124123/https://ain.ua/en/2018/11/20/snap-became-a-resident-of-unit-city/|url-status=live}} and AI Factory both developed in Odesa and acquired by Snap inc.{{Cite web|title=Snap acquires Ukrainian startup AI Factory for $166M|url=https://ain.ua/en/2019/12/26/snap-acquires-ai-factory-for-166m/|date=26 December 2019|website=AIN.UA|language=en-US|access-date=29 May 2020|archive-date=15 July 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200715140525/https://ain.ua/en/2019/12/26/snap-acquires-ai-factory-for-166m/|url-status=live}}

File:Oděsa, přístav, loď.jpg|alt=Odesa's port is Ukraine's busiest. The harbour remains accessible all year round and serves as a vital import/export channel for the Ukrainian economy.|Odesa's port is Ukraine's busiest. The harbour remains accessible all year round and serves as a vital import/export channel for the Ukrainian economy.

File:Deribasovskaya-33-36.jpg|The Passage galleries, one of the city's landmarks

A number of scientists have lived and worked in Odesa. They include: Illya Mechnikov (Nobel Prize in Medicine 1908),{{cite journal |last=Schmalstieg |first=Frank C |author2=Goldman Armond S |date=May 2008 |title=Ilya Ilich Metchnikoff (1845–1915) and Paul Ehrlich (1854–1915): the centennial of the 1908 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine |journal=Journal of Medical Biography |volume=16 |issue=2 |pages=96–103 |location= England|pmid= 18463079 |doi= 10.1258/jmb.2008.008006 |s2cid=25063709 }} Igor Tamm (Nobel Prize in Physics 1958), Selman Waksman (Nobel Prize in Medicine 1952), Dmitri Mendeleev, Nikolay Pirogov, Ivan Sechenov, Vladimir Filatov, Nikolay Umov, Leonid Mandelstam, Aleksandr Lyapunov, Mark Krein, Alexander Smakula, Waldemar Haffkine, Valentin Glushko, Israel Dostrovsky, Catherine Chamié, and George Gamow.Gamow, George (1970) My time-line, Viking, New York

{{further|UkrFerry|Black Sea Shipping Company}}

File:Украина, Одесса - Морской вокзал 22.jpg port.]]

Odesa is a major maritime-transport hub that includes several ports including Port of Odesa, Port of Chornomorsk (ferry, freight), Pivdennyi (freight only). The Port of Odesa became a provisional headquarters for the Ukrainian Navy, following the Russian occupation of Crimea in 2014. Before the fall of the Soviet Union, the Port of Odesa harbored the major Soviet cruise line Black Sea Shipping Company.

Passenger ships and ferries connect Odesa with Istanbul, Haifa and Varna, whilst river cruises can occasionally be booked for travel up the Dnieper River to cities such as Kherson, Dnipro and Kyiv.

File:Odessa road.jpg

The first car in the Russian Empire, a Mercedes-Benz belonging to V. Navrotsky, came to Odesa from France in 1891.{{citation needed|date=May 2022}} He was a popular city publisher of the newspaper Odesskii listok ("Odesa leaf").

Odesa is linked to the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, by the M05 Highway, a high quality multi-lane road which is set to be re-designated, after further reconstructive works, as an 'Avtomagistral' (motorway) in the near future. Other routes of national significance, passing through Odesa, include the M16 Highway to Moldova, M15 to Izmail and Romania, and the M14 which runs from Odesa, through Mykolaiv and Kherson to Ukraine's eastern border with Russia. The M14 is of particular importance to Odesa's maritime and shipbuilding industries as it links the city with Ukraine's other large deep water port Mariupol which is located in the south east of the country.

Odesa also has a well-developed system of inter-urban municipal roads and minor beltways. However, the city is still lacking an extra-urban bypass for transit traffic which does not wish to proceed through the city centre.

Intercity bus services are available from Odesa to many cities in Russia (Moscow, Rostov-on-Don, Krasnodar, Pyatigorsk), Germany (Berlin, Hamburg and Munich), Greece (Thessaloniki and Athens), Bulgaria (Varna and Sofia) and several cities of Ukraine and Europe.

File:Будівля залізничного вокзалу 01.jpg

Odesa is served by a number of railway stations and halts, the largest of which is Odesa Holovna (Main Station). From this station services connect Odesa with Warsaw, Prague, Bratislava, Vienna, Berlin, Moscow, St. Petersburg, the cities of Ukraine and many other cities of the former USSR. The city's first railway station was opened in the 1880s. During the Second World War, the iconic building of the main station, which had long been considered to be one of the Russian Empire's premier stations, was destroyed through enemy action.

In 1952 the station was rebuilt to the designs of A Chuprina. The current station, which is characterised by its many socialist-realist architectural details and grand scale, was renovated by the state railway operator Ukrainian Railways in 2006.{{citation needed|date=April 2022}}

File:Tramways d'Odessa 1881.jpg

File:Oděsa, Sofijska, tramvaj.jpg on Sofievska Street]]

In 1881, Odesa became the first city in Imperial Russia to have steam tramway lines, an innovation that came only one year after the establishment of horse tramway services in 1880 operated by the "Tramways d'Odessa", a Belgian owned company.{{citation needed|date=April 2022}} The first metre-gauge steam tramway line ran from Railway Station to Great Fontaine and the second one to Hadzhi Bey Liman. These routes were both operated by the same Belgian company. Electric tramway started to operate on 22 August 1907. Trams were imported from Germany.{{citation needed|date=April 2022}}

The city's public transit system is currently made up of trams,{{cite web|url=http://www.dgmaestro.com/tram|title=Odessa Tram Themes|access-date=2 May 2006|archive-date=11 March 2005|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050311074800/http://www.dgmaestro.com/tram/|url-status=live}} trolleybuses, buses and fixed-route taxis (marshrutkas). Odesa also has a cable car to Vidrada Beach,{{Cite web |title=Cable car to beach "Otrada" - Odesa |url=http://wikimapia.org/6811754/Cable-car-to-beach-Otrada |access-date=21 February 2023 |website=wikimapia.org |language=en |archive-date=4 November 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161104141617/http://wikimapia.org/6811754/Cable-car-to-beach-Otrada |url-status=live }} and recreational ferry service. There are two routes of public transport which connect Odesa Airport with the city center: trolley-bus No.14 and marshrutka No.117.[https://leodessa.com/odessa-public-transport/ Odessa tour guide] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191003091810/https://leodessa.com/odessa-public-transport/ |date=3 October 2019 }}. leodessa.com

One additional mode of transport in Odesa is the Potemkin Stairs funicular railway, which runs between the city's Primorsky Bulvar and the sea terminal, has been in service since 1902. In 1998, after many years of neglect, the city decided to raise funds for a replacement track and cars. This project was delayed on multiple occasions but was finally completed eight years later in 2005.[http://www.odessaguide.net/sights_cablecar.en.html Odessa Sights] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161104141624/http://www.odessaguide.net/sights_cablecar.en.html |date=4 November 2016 }}. odessaguide.net The funicular has now become as much a part of historic Odesa as the staircase to which it runs parallel.

Odesa International Airport, which is located to the south-west of the city centre, is served by a number of airlines. The airport is also often used by citizens of neighbouring countries for whom Odesa is the nearest large city and who can travel visa-free to Ukraine.

Transit flights from the Americas, Africa, Asia, Europe and the Middle East to Odesa are offered by Ukraine International Airlines through their hub at Kyiv's Boryspil International Airport.

{{See also|Category:Sport in Odesa}}

File:Odessa Palace of Sports at Shevchenko Avenue (01).jpg

The most popular sport in Odesa is football. The main professional football club in the city is FC Chornomorets Odesa, who play in the Ukrainian Premier League. Chornomorets play their home games at the Chornomorets Stadium, an elite-class stadium which has a maximum capacity of 34,164. The second football team in Odesa is FC Odesa.File:Odesa Chornomorets Stadium 1.jpg]]Basketball is also a prominent sport in Odesa, with BC Odesa representing the city in the Ukrainian Basketball League, the highest tier basketball league in Ukraine. Odesa will become one of five Ukrainian cities to host the 39th European Basketball Championship in 2015.

The cyclist and aviator Sergei Utochkin was one of the most famous natives of Odesa in the years before the Russian Revolution. Chess player Efim Geller was born in the city. Gymnast Tatiana Gutsu (known as "The Painted Bird of Odesa") brought home Ukraine's first Olympic gold medal as an independent nation when she outscored the USA's Shannon Miller in the women's all-around event at 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain.

Figure skaters Oksana Grishuk and Evgeny Platov won the 1994 and 1998 Olympic gold medals as well as the 1994, 1995, 1996, and 1997 World Championships in ice dance. Both were born and raised in the city, though they skated at first for the Soviet Union, in the Unified Team, the Commonwealth of Independent States, and then Russia. Hennadiy Avdyeyenko won a 1988 Olympic gold medal in thehigh jump, setting an Olympic record at {{convert|2.38|m|ft|2|abbr=off}}.

Other notable athletes:

{{div col}}

• Mykola Avilov, Olympic champion in decathlon at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich
• Oksana Baiul, Olympic champion in figure skating in 1994
• Ihor Belanov, European Footballer of the Year in 1986
• Yuriy Bilonoh, European Athletics Championships in shot put at 2002 in Munich
• Leonid Buryak (born 1953), football coach and former Olympic bronze medal-winning player
• Maksim Chmerkovskiy, professional ballroom & Latin dancer on American Dancing With the Stars
• Valentin Chmerkovskiy, professional ballroom & Latin dancer on American Dancing With the Stars
• Charles Goldenberg (1911–1986), NFL All-Pro football player
• Viktor Kanevskyi (born 1936), football player and coach
• Svetlana Krachevskaya, Olympic silver medalist in shot put
• Viacheslav Kravtsov, NBA basketball player
• Lenny Krayzelburg (born 1975), Olympic champion swimmer
• Irina Krush (born 1983), US chess grandmaster
• Artur Kyshenko, K1 Muay Thai kickboxer
• Yevgeny Lapinsky, Olympic champion in volleyball at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico
• Roman Pelts, Soviet chess master
• Viktor Petrenko, Olympic champion in figure skating in 1992
• Vladimir Portnoi, Olympic silver and bronze medalist in gymnastics
• Vitaliy Pushkar, racing driver, No. 6 in 2012 International Rally Challenge Production cup standings{{Cite web|url=http://www.ircseries.com/drivers|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130411041839/http://www.ircseries.com/drivers?category=3&sort=3|url-status=dead|title=Drivers - IRC Intercontinental Rally Challenge - Eurosport|archive-date=11 April 2013|access-date=4 March 2013}}
• Theodore Rezvoy, ocean rower, Guinness records holder (twice)
• Ekaterina Rubleva, Russian ice dancing champion
• Yulia Ryabchinskaya, Olympic champion in the K-1 500 m Kayak Singles at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich
• Dmitry Salita (born 1982), boxer
• Michael Shmerkin (born 1970), Israeli competitive figure skater
• Elina Svitolina (born 1994), professional tennis player
• Olena Vitrychenko, world champion in rhythmic gymnastics
• Andriy Voronin (born 1979), football manager and player
• Yakov Zheleznyak, Olympic champion in 50 m Running Target at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich
• Dayana Yastremska (born 2000), professional tennis player

{{div col end}}

{{See also|List of twin towns and sister cities in Ukraine}}

Odesa is twinned with:{{cite web|title=Міста-побратими|url=https://omr.gov.ua/ua/international/goroda-pobratimi/|website=omr.gov.ua|publisher=Odesa|language=uk|access-date=29 March 2020|archive-date=1 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190401021102/https://omr.gov.ua/ua/international/goroda-pobratimi/|url-status=dead}}

{{div col|colwidth=20em}}

• {{flagicon|EGY}} Alexandria, Egypt (1968)
• {{flagicon|USA}} Baltimore, United States (1975)
• {{flagicon|GER}} Bremen, Germany (2023){{cite web|title=Dauerhafte und lebendige Partnerschaft mit Odessa aufbauen|url=https://www.senatspressestelle.bremen.de/pressemitteilungen/buergermeister-bovenschulte-dauerhafte-und-lebendige-partnerschaft-mit-odessa-aufbauen-425680?asl=bremen02.c.730.de|website=Senatspressestelle Bremen|publisher=|language=de|access-date=7 April 2024}}
• {{flagicon|MDA}} Chișinău, Moldova (1994)
• {{flagicon|ROU}} Constanța, Romania (1991)
• {{flagicon|ITA}} Genoa, Italy (1972)
• {{flagicon|ISR}} Haifa, Israel (1992)
• {{flagicon|TUR}} Istanbul, Turkey (1997)
• {{flagicon|IND}} Kolkata, India (1986)
• {{flagicon|GBR}} Liverpool, United Kingdom (1957)
• {{flagicon|POL}} Łódź, Poland (1993)
• {{flagicon|FRA}} Marseille, France (1973)
• {{flagicon|CYP}} Nicosia, Cyprus (1996)
• {{flagicon|FIN}} Oulu, Finland (1957)
• {{flagicon|GRC}} Piraeus, Greece (1993)
• {{flagicon|CHN}} Qingdao, China (1993)
• {{flagicon|GER}} Regensburg, Germany (1990)
• {{flagicon|CRO}} Split, Croatia (1964)
• {{flagicon|HUN}} Szeged, Hungary (1977)
• {{flagicon|CAN}} Vancouver, Canada (1944)
• {{flagicon|BUL}} Varna, Bulgaria (1958)
• {{flagicon|ARM}} Yerevan, Armenia (1995)
• {{flagicon|JPN}} Yokohama, Japan (1968)

{{div col end}}

Odesa cooperated with:{{cite web|title=Міста-партнери|url=https://omr.gov.ua/ua/international/goroda-partneri/|website=omr.gov.ua|publisher=Odesa|language=uk|access-date=29 March 2020|archive-date=1 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190401021100/https://omr.gov.ua/ua/international/goroda-partneri/|url-status=dead}}

{{div col|colwidth=20em}}

• {{flagicon|BLR}} Brest, Belarus (2004)
• {{flagicon|POL}} Gdańsk, Poland (1996)
• {{flagicon|LTU}} Klaipėda, Lithuania (2004)
• {{flagicon|CYP}} Larnaca, Cyprus (2004)
• {{flagicon|MAR}} Marrakesh, Morocco (2019)
• {{flagicon|BLR}} Minsk, Belarus (1996)
• {{flagicon|CHN}} Ningbo, China (2008)
• {{flagicon|EST}} Tallinn, Estonia (1997)
• {{flagicon|GEO}} Tbilisi, Georgia (1996)
• {{flagicon|CHL}} Valparaíso, Chile (2004)
• {{flagicon|AUT}} Vienna, Austria (2006)
• {{flagicon|POL}} Warsaw, Poland (2005)

{{div col end}}

• Kherson Governorate
• List of UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Ukraine
• The Municipal Guard

{{notelist}}

• {{cite book |ref=Richardson |last=Richardson |first=Tanya |year=2008 |title=Kaleidoscopic Odessa: History and Place in Contemporary Ukraine |publisher=University of Toronto Press |isbn=978-0-8020-9563-3 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BmXmyel_q6EC |access-date=7 November 2009}}
• {{cite book

|last= Imperial

|first=Odesa Society of History and Artifacts

|year= 1848

|title= Notes of the Imperial Odesa Society of History and Artifacts. Vol.2

|publisher=Odesa City Typography

|location=Odesa

|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=UdlPAAAAcAAJ

|access-date= 29 April 2019

}}

• {{cite book

|last= Yefimenko

|first=Aleksandra

|year= 2018

|title= History of Ukraine and its people (История Украйны и ее народа)

|publisher=Litres

|isbn= 9785457887299

|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=ASGYCgAAQBAJ

|access-date= 29 April 2019

}}

{{See also|Timeline of Odesa#Bibliography|l1=Bibliography of the history of Odesa}}

{{Refbegin|30em}}

• {{Cite book |last=Honcharuk |first=Taras |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HDoiAQAAIAAJ |title=Історія Хаджибея (Одеси) 1415-1795 рр. в документах |date=2000 |publisher=АстроПринт |isbn=978-966-549-450-8 |language=uk}}
• {{Cite book |last1=Гончарук Т.Г. |url=http://archive.org/details/khadzhybej1999 |title=Хаджибей-Одеса та українське козацтво (1415-1797 роки): до 210-ї річниці штурму Хаджибейського замку |last2=Гуцалюк С.Б. |last3=Сапожников І.В. |last4=Сапожникова Г.В. |date=1999}}
• {{cite book

|last= Dallin

|first= Alexander

|year= 1998

|title= Odessa, 1941–1944: A Case Study of Soviet Territory Under Foreign Rule

|publisher=Center for Romanian Studies

|location=Iaşi

|isbn= 973-98391-1-8

|url= http://odessitclub.org/en/archives/dallin/dallin.html

|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20120205004150/http://odessitclub.org/en/archives/dallin/dallin.html

|url-status= dead

|archive-date= 5 February 2012

|access-date= 7 November 2009

}} Complete book available online.

• {{cite book

|last= Friedberg

|first= Maurice

|year= 1991

|title= How Things Were Done in Odessa: Cultural and Intellectual Pursuits in a Soviet City

|publisher=Westview Press

|location= Boulder, CO

|isbn=0-8133-7987-3

}}

• {{cite book

|last= Ghervas

|first= Stella

|year= 2008

|chapter= Odessa et les confins de l'Europe: un éclairage historique

|publisher=Editions de la Maison des sciences de l'homme

|location= Paris

|isbn= 978-2-7351-1182-4

|title=Lieux d'Europe. Mythes et limites

|editor1-first= Stella

|editor1-last= Ghervas

|editor2-first= François

|editor2-last= Rosset

}}

• {{cite book

|last= Ghervas

|first= Stella

|year= 2008

|title= Réinventer la tradition. Alexandre Stourdza et l'Europe de la Sainte-Alliance

|publisher=Honoré Champion

|location= Paris

|isbn= 978-2-7453-1669-1

}}

• {{cite book

|last= Gubar

|first= Oleg

|year= 2004

|title= Odesa: New Monuments, Memorial Plaques, and Buildings

|publisher=Optimum

|location= Odesa

|isbn=966-8072-86-3

}}

• {{cite journal

|first=Patricia

|last=Herlihy

|author-link=Patricia Herlihy

|year=1979–1980

|title=Greek Merchants in Odessa in the Nineteenth Century

|journal=Harvard Ukrainian Studies

|volume=3

|issue=4

|pages=399–420

|url=http://www.huri.harvard.edu/pdf/hus_volumes/vIII-IV_1979-1980_part2.pdf

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080529124420/http://www.huri.harvard.edu/pdf/hus_volumes/vIII-IV_1979-1980_part2.pdf

|archive-date=29 May 2008

|url-status=dead

}}

• {{cite book

|last= Herlihy

|first= Patricia

|author-link=Patricia Herlihy

|year= 1987

|title= Odessa: A History, 1794–1914

|publisher=Harvard University Press

|location= Cambridge, MA

|isbn= 0-916458-15-6}} (hardcover), {{ISBN|0-916458-43-1}} (1991 paperback reprint)

• {{cite book

|last= Herlihy

|first= Patricia

|author-link=Patricia Herlihy

|year= 2002

|chapter= Commerce and Architecture in Odessa in Late Imperial Russia

|publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press

|location= Baltimore

|isbn= 0-8018-6750-9

|title=Commerce in Russian Urban Culture 1861–1914

}}

• {{cite journal

|last= Herlihy

|first= Patricia

|author-link=Patricia Herlihy

|year= 2003

|title= Port Jews of Odessa and Trieste: A Tale of Two Cities

|journal= Jahrbuch des Simon-Dubnow-Instituts

|volume= 2

|pages=182–198

|publisher=Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt

|location= München

|isbn= 3-421-05522-X

}}

• {{cite book

|first= Patricia

|last= Herlihy

|author-link=Patricia Herlihy

|author2=Gubar, Oleg

|chapter= The Persuasive Power of the Odessa Myth

|title=Cities after the Fall of Communism: Reshaping Cultural Landscapes and European Identity

|editor1-first= John

|editor1-last= Czaplicka

|editor2-first= Nida

|editor2-last= Gelazis

|editor3-first= Blair A.

|editor3-last= Ruble

|publisher= Woodrow Wilson Center Press and Johns Hopkins University Press

|isbn= 978-0-8018-9191-5

|year= 2008

}}

• {{cite book

|last= Kaufman

|first= Bel

|author2= Oleg Gubar

|author3=Alexander Rozenboim

|editor1=Nicholas V. Iljine

|editor2=Patricia Herlihy

|year= 2004

|title= Odessa Memories

|publisher= University of Washington Press

|location= Seattle

|isbn= 0-295-98345-0

|url= https://archive.org/details/odessamemoriessa00nico

}}

• {{cite book

|last= King

|first= Charles

|year= 2011

|title= Odessa: Genius and Death in a City of Dreams

|publisher=W. W. Norton & Company

|isbn= 978-0-393-07084-2

}}

• {{cite book

|last= Kononova

|first= G.

|year= 1984

|title=Odessa: A Guide

|publisher=Raduga Publishers

|location= Moscow

|oclc= 12344892

}}

• {{cite book

|last= Makolkin

|first= Anna

|year= 2004

|title= A History of Odessa, the Last Italian Black Sea Colony

|publisher=Edwin Mellen Press

|location= Lewiston, New York

|isbn=0-7734-6272-4

}}

• {{cite book

|last= Mazis

|first= John Athanasios

|year= 2004

|title= The Greeks of Odessa: Diaspora Leadership in Late Imperial Russia

|series= East European Monographs

|publisher=Columbia University Press

|location= New York

|isbn= 0-88033-545-9

}}

• {{cite book

|last= Orbach

|first= Alexander

|year= 1997

|title= New Voices of Russian Jewry: A Study of the Russian-Jewish Press of Odessa in the Era of the Great Reforms, 1860–1871

|series= Studies in Judaism in Modern Times, No. 4

|publisher=Brill Academic Publishers

|location= Leiden

|isbn=90-04-06175-4

}}

• {{cite journal

|first= Robert A.

|last= Rothstein

|year= 2001

|title= How It Was Sung in Odessa: At the Intersection of Russian and Yiddish Folk Culture

|jstor= 2697495

|journal=Slavic Review

|volume= 60

|issue= 4

|pages= 781–801

|doi= 10.2307/2697495

|s2cid= 163549178

}}

• {{cite book

|last= Skinner

|first= Frederick W.

|year= 1986

|chapter= Odessa and the Problem of Urban Modernization

|publisher= Indiana University Press

|location= Bloomington, Indiana

|isbn= 0-253-31370-8

|title= The City in Late Imperial Russia

|series= Indiana–Michigan Series in Russian and East European Studies

|chapter-url= https://archive.org/details/cityinlateimperi00ons1

}}

• {{cite journal

|first= Roshanna P.

|last= Sylvester

|year= 2001

|title= City of Thieves: Moldavanka, Criminality, and Respectability in Prerevolutionary Odessa

|journal=Journal of Urban History

|volume= 27

|issue= 2

|pages= 131–157

|doi= 10.1177/009614420102700201

|pmid= 18333319

|s2cid= 34219426

}}

• {{cite book

|last= Tanny

|first= Jarrod

|year= 2011

|title= City of Rogues and Schnorrers: Russia's Jews and the Myth of Old Odessa

|publisher= Indiana University Press

|location= Bloomington, IN

|isbn= 978-0-253-35646-8}} (hardcover); {{ISBN|978-0-253-22328-9}} (paperback)

• {{cite book

|last= Weinberg

|first= Robert

|year= 1992

|chapter= The Pogrom of 1905 in Odessa: A Case Study

|publisher= Cambridge University Press

|location= Cambridge

|title= Pogroms: Anti-Jewish Violence in Modern Russian History

|isbn= 0-521-40532-7

|chapter-url= https://archive.org/details/pogromsantijewis00john

}}

• {{cite book

|last= Weinberg

|first= Robert

|year=1993

|title= The Revolution of 1905 in Odessa: Blood on the Steps

|series= Indiana–Michigan Series in Russian and East European Studies

|publisher=Indiana University Press

|location= Bloomington, IN

|isbn= 0-253-36381-0

}}

• {{cite journal

|first= Patricia

|last= Herlihy

|year= 1994

|title= Review of The Revolution of 1905 in Odessa: Blood on the Steps by Robert Weinberg

|journal=Journal of Social History

|volume= 28

|issue= 2

|pages= 435–437

|jstor= 3788930

|doi=10.1353/jsh/28.2.435

}}

• {{cite book

|last= Zipperstein

|first= Steven J.

|orig-year= 1986|year= 1991

|title= The Jews of Odessa: A Cultural History, 1794–1881

|publisher=Stanford University Press

|location= Palo Alto

|isbn= 0-8047-1251-4}} (hardcover), {{ISBN|0-8047-1962-4}} (paperback reprint)

{{Refend}}

{{Sister project links|voy=Odesa|Odesa}}

• {{Cite EB1911|wstitle= Odessa |volume= 20 |last1= Kropotkin |first1= Peter Alexeivitch |author1-link=Peter Kropotkin|last2= Bealby |first2=John Thomas | pages = 3–4 }}
• [https://omr.gov.ua/ Official Odesa web page] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200513051739/https://omr.gov.ua/ |date=13 May 2020 }} {{In lang|uk|ru}}
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20100811014942/http://www.citymap.odessa.ua/map/?lang=1 Official Odesa Map Portal] {{In lang|en|uk|ru}}
• [https://www.eway.in.ua/en/cities/odesa Map of the current public transport routes in Odesa] {{In lang|en|uk|ru}}
• [http://www.yadvashem.org/untoldstories/database/index.asp?cid=292 The murder of the Jews of Odessa] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220129221902/http://www.yadvashem.org/untoldstories/database/index.asp?cid=292 |date=29 January 2022 }} during World War II, at Yad Vashem website.
• [https://dbs.anumuseum.org.il/skn/en/c6/e224090/Place/Odessa The Jewish Community of Odessa], The Museum of the Jewish People at Beit Hatfutsot
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20160722140647/http://prospekt.estate/odessa-vchera-odessa-segodnya Odesa yesterday. Odesa today. Images gallery. Prospekt Group]

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