Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
and only recovered by police two years later. Lately, the Western collection was kept out
of sight because of ongoing renovations, but its highlights have now been returned to the
exhibition halls. The Eastern Art section has displays of porcelain and other artwork,
mostly from Japan, China, Tibet and India.
History of Odesa Jews Museum
MUSEUM
OFFLINE MAP
( 728 9743; vul Nizhynska 66; admission 20uah; 11am-4.30pm Mon-Thu)
Less than 2% of
people call themselves Jewish in today's Odesa - against 44% in the early 1920s - but
the resilient and humorous Jewish spirit still permeates every aspect of local life. Hidden
inside a typical rundown courtyard with clothes drying on a rope and a rusty carcass of a
prehistoric car, this modest exposition consists of items donated by Odessite families.
Perhaps most touching is the photo of steamship
Ruslan
carrying the first Zionist settlers
to Palestine in 1919, along with their immense hopes and terrible fears, both of which
would soon materialise. English-language tours of the museum are available, but need to
be arranged in advance.
Pushkin Museum
MUSEUM
(vul Pushkinska 13; adult/child & student 20/10uah; 10am-5pm Mon-Fri)
This is where Alex-
ander Pushkin spent his first days in Odesa, after being exiled from Moscow by the tsar
in 1823 for mischievous epigrams. Governor Vorontsov subsequently humiliated the
writer with petty administrative jobs, and it took only 13 months, an affair with Voront-
sov's wife, a simultaneous affair with someone else's wife and more epigrams for
Pushkin to be thrown out of Odesa too. Somehow, he still found time while in town to
finish the poem 'The Bakhchysaray Fountain', write the first chapter of
Eugene Onegin,
and scribble the notes and moaning letters found in this humble museum.
Odessa Fine Arts Museum
MUSEUM
(
http://museum.odessa.net/fineartsmuseum
; vul Sofiyivska 5A; adult/student 50/25uah;
11am-6pm Wed-Mon)
Located in the former palace of one Count Pototsky, this museum has
an impressive collection of Russian and Ukrainian art, including a few seascapes by mas-
ter talent Ayvazovsky and some Soviet realist paintings.
Preobrazhensky Cathedral
CATHEDRAL
OFFLINE MAP
GOOGLE MAP
