Odessa Museum of Regional History

The entrance to the museum

The museum is located in the centre of the city, in the palatial mansion at 4 Gavannaya Street. The mansion was built in 1876 by Odessa architect, Felix Gonsiorovskiy, for one of the major representatives of the industrial and commercial elite, Alexander Yakovlevich Novikov. Novikov was the grandson of Odessa merchant, Ilya Novikov, owner of a cable factory that was founded in 1806. The architecture of the two-storey mansion, as in previous works of Felix Gonsiorovskiy, is based on the style of the late Renaissance, with a variation of patterns and motifs drawn from the architectural heritage of Italy.

Until 1899, the mansion was known in Odessa as the "House of Novikov," and in the early 20th century it was acquired by the city. In 1907, the house was leased to Odessa Assembly, a commercial operation. After October 1917, the house often changed owners; it was used as a club, a library, and a classroom. The basement and part of the ground floor rooms were used as housing.

The museum's collection includes about 120,000 exhibits and is considered one of the best in Ukraine. It includes: documents signed by Catherine II, Grigory Potemkin, Alexander Suvorov, Platon Zubov, Kutuzov, José de Ribas, Louis Alexandre Andrault de Langeron; architectural and engineering designs of buildings which are representative of Odessa; graphic and pictorial works of artists in Odessa; portraiture from 18th–early 20th centuries painted by A. Moklakovski, E. Bukovetsky, H. Kuznetsov, G. Chestahovski, D. Krainev; collection of icons, weapons and household items, numismatic and cartographic material.

Currently the museum houses a number of permanent exhibits: "Old Odessa", "Odessa and the end of World War II, 1941–1945", "Weapons of the museum's collection", "The Ukrainian Steppe" (located at ul. Lanzheronovskaya, 24a).

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  A plaque with the names of the Mayors of Odessa
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  Part of the demolished monument to the founders of the city in the courtyard of the museum: Catherine the Great
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  monument to the founders of the city in the courtyard of the museum: José de Ribas
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  monument to the founders of the city in the courtyard of the museum: Franz de Volán
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  monument to the founders of the city in the courtyard of the museum: Grigory Potemkin
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  monument to the founders of the city in the courtyard of the museum: Platon Zubov

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• Одеський історико-краєзнавчий музей
• The Odessa Regional History Museum