Odessa Gallery

Laocoon

An interesting sculptural ensemble of Laocoon is located in front of the Archeological Museum. This is a replica of the sculpture created by Agesander, Athenodorus, and Polydorus in 125 BC, unearthed in Rome in 1508 and now in the Vatican. It depicts old Laocoon and two of his sons being stifled by a huge snake. The sculpture illustrates a famous Greek legend.

«In Greek mythology, Laocoon is a priest of Apollo who warned the Trojans that the wooden horse left at the gates of the city by the Greeks was a rueful device to trick the Trojans. While he and his two sons were sacrificing to Poseidon at the seashore, two serpents came from the water and crushed them. The Trojans interpreted this event as a sign of the gods’ disapproval of Laocoon’s prophecy, and they brought the wooden horse into the city. Subsequent events vindicated Laocoon’s judgment, however, since the horse was filled with Greeks, who waited until night and then sacked Troy. This statue shows Laocoon and his sons in their death struggle. This Hellenistic sculpture had an important influence on the artists of the Renaissance.»

• 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