Odessa, Z to A, --- That is “Potemkin” with a “T”.

The Potemkin Steps are to Odessa what the Eiffel tower is to Paris. They became famous because of the horrific scene shot there that was part of the 1925 silent movie, The Battleship Potemkin. Of course, the bloodshed on the steps was actually some motion picture make-believe. The killings happened in different locations.

Actually, maybe I should start off with the correct name of this attraction. Last year my brother made a slideshow of our trip through Eastern Europe. He titled one of the slides “The Potemkin Stairs”. I corrected him and said it was actually the “Potemkin Steps”.  He followed with a link that supported his version of the name. At this point, I was confused but actually things got worse. I did a little research and found out that essentially we were both sort of right. Or wrong if you are a half empty sort of person.

Today they are officially known as the Primorsky Stairs but they were originally called the Boulevard Steps. The name was changed first in Soviet times and then changed again when Ukraine received her independence. Today most people in Odessa use the former Soviet name, the Petemkin Stairs but my Ukrainian guide book calls them the Potemkin Steps. I will not even bring up the Russian or Ukrainian spellings.

 Anyway the “Odessa Steps” originally had 200 steps but over time they were reduced by eight. Supposedly, if you count the steps and they do not add up to 192 then these are the number of sins that you have recently committed. I will not tell you how many steps that Helen counted but I think it would be a good time for her to go to confession. The steps/stairs have a couple of cool optical allusions. One of them is that looking down it is possible to only see the 10 landings and looking up from the bottom you might only see the steps. There is a cable railway to one side of the steps. This was originally built in 1906. It was replaced by an escalator in 1970 and then a funicular returned in 2004.

 At the top of the steps, you have a wonderful view of the port and the Odessa Hotel. At one time this was the principal port for the largest country in the world. It was possible to board a ship to any destination across the globe. Also here is a bronze statue of Duc de Richelieo. He was the person, who designed the city under Catherine the Great and served as the first governor, (1803-1814). He was a royalist that escaped from France during the French Revolution but who returned home in 1814. The statue was erected in 1828. If you think of a “T” with the stem going down the stairs then there are interesting items at both ends of the top line. On the left side you would walk along the bul (boulevard ) Prymorsky until you reach the City Hall which was built around 1830. (I believe in my guided walking tours I actually called this the Mayor’s house. Please don’t tell my brothers about my error!) There is also a monument to Alexander Pushkin here as well as a cannon that was captured from the French ship, “Tiger” during the Crimean War. (At this point you are just down a hill from a large fountain which is next to the Opera House but we will talk about that in the next post of this series.)

    Going in the other direction would bring you to the unrestored Vorontsov Palace which was built in 1826. There is also a foot bridge here known as the Mother in Law’s bridge. This was built in the 1950s by a communist official. It is said that it was built so it would be easier for his mother in law to visit by some people but the opposing view is that it was constructed so it was less likely she would have to spend the night. Naturally, this bridge is covered by love-locks that have swept Europe since the early part of this century. This custom is thought to have started in China. Couples attach locks and throw away the key to symbolize their never ending love. I have never seen this in America.

  To finish off my “T” let me talk about the statue of Catherine the Great. This is directly up the street (toward the city center) from the steps. There was a statue to honor the sailors of the battleship Potemkin here but it was replaced with the one of the Empress in 2007. Catherine brought this region of Ukraine into the Russian Empire so the Russians seem to like the current statue. However, the Ukrainians, the Tatars and Cossacks who were oppressed during her reign seem to favor the former one. It is said to be in storage so it may find a new home somewhere else in the city sometime in the future.

             Posted by John