Odessa Gallery

City Council

The historic building which houses the City Council, situated on the Primorsky Boulevard, nowadays is the place of the former old Stock Exchange in Odessa. Trading has always been the main source of Odessa budget income, so it is only natural that the Stock Exchange building occupied the foreground of the city and was further converted into the City Council and Mayor place.

This building was built from 1829 to 1834, designed by F.K.Boffo in Russian classic style. From 1871–1873 the architect F.O.Morandi redesigned it.

When the stock exchange was moved in 1899 to the location of today's philharmonic theater, the city authorities used this building.

Formerly the building had two wings at either end of the central part, forming an open courtyard. It was separated from the square by a double line of Corinthian columns. Later this courtyard was closed in by a wall to create a grand entrance hall, which can still be seen in the entrance. Later another wing facing the sea was added.

Every half-hour, the clock above the entrance chimes the melody «Odessa my town».

Above the railing on the roof are the two female sculptures «Day» and «Night» representing the passage of time. On the left side is the figure Ceres, a Roman Goddess of fertility and agriculture. On the right side is Roman God, Mercury, defender of Commerce, a reminder of the original purpose of this building.

• The Odessa Opera and Ballet Theater
• The Primorsky Boulevard
• Deribasovskaya Street
• The Potemkin Stairs
• City Council
• The Duke de Richelieu Monument
• The Odessa Archeological Museum
• Laocoon
• The Cannon
• The Odessa Sea Port
• The Leonid Utesov Monument
• «12 chairs» Monument
• Spaso-Preobrazhensky Cathedral
• The Pushkin Monument
• The Count Vorontsov Palace and the Colonnade