Bicentennial Palace

I’ll tell you honestly: for me, Odessa is a one big showplace. Even a person who spent in this city all his life, can sometimes be surprised, “Bah! Is it truly here? “. Starting with many places of recreation, clubs, cafes, TRK, and ending with carefully aided parks, monuments of history and just ancient beautiful places – everything in South Palmyra is beautiful. Vorontsov Palace is definitely one of the most valuable legacies of the history of Odessa, and WE ♥ UA team wants to introduce it to you right now.

Where is this miracle placed?

Have you already been at the monument de Richelieu in Odessa? Go to it again and then walk at the Primorsky boulevard on the left side of the Duke to the end. It will lead you directly to Bicentennial Palace, about which I am telling about. You can`t accidentally pass by – the creation of Italian architect Franz Karlovich Boffo draws attention by it’s unusual for urban landscapes design, which is a mixture of smooth walls and stately columns. The palace is surrounded with a terrace that faces to the sea. In front of the Palace, right on the edge of the cliff, there is a lonely colonnade which has history and importance that deserves a separate article. Entrance to the Palace was earlier guarded by stone lions on either side of the metal lattice, which, unfortunately, didn’t live up to our days.

What a beauty!

Initially, on the place of the present palace has been located Turkish fortress Hadji-Bey, captured under the leadership of the founder of the city Jose de Ribas. The palace served as one of the many residences of Count Vorontsov, Governor-General of Novorossiya. Ball, gala receptions, business and political dialogues – at one time the palace was very lively place.

The first floor contains the dining room, a lounge, a library, a billiard room, medal cabinet. The interiors were created by the Italian painter and sculptor Karl Scotti and could boast with it’s enviable luxury – gilt, amber handles, expensive mosaics. Fireplaces were decorated with images of birds and plants made of different gemstones. Second floor is a little simplier, and consists of bedrooms, bathrooms and two libraries.

A distressful residence

However, over two hundred years of its history the palace was subjected to repeatable cruel treatment. The first case was the bombing back in 1854 by the English-French forces who carried out the shelling of the Duke and the Palace in particular. Numerous cannonballs spared palace, and one of them still can be seen in the wall on the first floor. A curious story is connected with this attack – Count Vorontsov during the bombing of Odessa gave an order to save the library, which was later presented for the university as “Vorontsov Fund”. The palace got a second hit during the Great Patriotic War and was left without Orlovsky housing. The palace was restored three times – in the years 1935-1936 for the opening of the Palace of Pioneers, in 1947, after the Second World War, and in 1986-1988 after a fire in the main building.

What do we got now?

During the revolution of 1917-1920 headquarters of the Red Guard were located in the palace, after – there were many chess and checkers tournaments. Since 1936 there was the Pioneer Palace . But now, in the Vorontsov Palace is the City Palace of children and teen art.