12 July 2026
(Monument to Les Kurbas in Kyiv. Photo: social media)
In Odesa, there are plans to create a modern memorial space by 2027 in honor of director and theater reformer Les Kurbas —it will be located on Frantsuzsky Boulevard near the film studio where he once worked.
This was announced by the project’s initiator, Odessa City Council member Olga Kvasnytska, and writer Valery Puzik, according to Suspilne.
According to Kvasnytska, the idea did not come about by chance—it is part of the ongoing effort to remove Russian and Soviet symbols from Odesa. Previously, a monument to Vladimir Vysotsky had already been dismantled from this location near the film studio.
“This space speaks to us and our children every day. Filling Odesa with the names of Ukrainian leaders, writers, and filmmakers is extremely timely,” the councilwoman noted.
The creators of the project rejected the idea of a traditional static sculpture. Since Kurbas was an innovator, the form of commemoration should also be modern.
They plan to fill the space with:
These techniques will evoke the cinematic innovations that Kurbas himself introduced in his time.
The project aims to be funded exclusively by patrons, businesses, and concerned Odessa residents—without drawing on the city budget.
The idea has already been endorsed by the management of the Odessa Film Studio, the regional military administration, and the city’s Department of Culture. A team of architects and sculptors from Kyiv, Kharkiv, Lviv, and Odessa is currently being assembled.
Writer Valery Puzik, author of the series “Dreams of the Odessa Film Studio,” explained that the studio’s history is usually associated only with the names of Alexander Dovzhenko and Yuri Yanovsky, while dozens of other artists remain in the shadows.
“For decades, the Soviet system silenced Kurbas’s name—a strict ban was imposed on him,” the writer emphasized.
According to him, this gave rise to a pro-Russian myth about the inferiority of Ukrainian culture, even though in reality it was truly remarkable in terms of modernism.
Few people know that Kurbas worked in Odesa not only in the theater but also at what was then the Odesa Film Studio. It was he who influenced Dovzhenko’s first steps in cinema—in particular, during the filming of the comedy *The Berries of Love*.
Kurbas also advised director Georgy Tasin while working on the films *The Downpour* and *Jim and Higgins*.
In addition to film, Kurbas brought actors from his “Berezil” theater to Odesa three times. They rehearsed right on the seashore, and their performances became a real sensation for audiences of that time.
“We need this memorial space. We need Les Kurbas Streets in Odesa,” Puzik emphasized.
According to him, memoirs by actors who worked with the director are still published in very limited print runs—up to 100 copies, intended solely for libraries.
Les Kurbas received a European education in Vienna and Lviv and was fluent in several languages. He sought to create an intellectual theater that would make the audience think, rather than simply entertain them.
He founded the “Young Theater” in Kyiv and, later, the “Berezil” in Kharkiv—both of which became pinnacles of Ukrainian modernism. Kurbas was persecuted and died in Sandarmokh.
Ірина Глухова