Odesa announces competition for monument to Lesia Ukrainka: what is known about the project and location

A competition for the best design proposal for a monument to Lesya Ukrainka has been announced in Odesa. Lesia Ukrainka Avenue and Park were chosen as the site for its installation, a symbolic end to years of renaming and bureaucratic disputes.

This was reported by Olga Kvasnitskaya, a deputy of the Odesa City Council, on the air of Intent.Insight.

A competition for the best design proposal for the monument to Lesya Ukrainka has been officially announced in Odesa. This decision was the result of many years of discussions in the city council, bureaucratic obstacles, and the active position of deputies and the public. The competition is aimed at determining the sculptural embodiment of the figure of the prominent Ukrainian writer who visited the city more than 20 times, partially lived and worked in the city, and whose collection "The Silence of the Sea" made Odesa famous in Europe.

Lesia Ukrainka Avenue and the park of the same name (formerly Gagarin Avenue and Kosmonavtiv Park) were chosen as the site of the monument. It was the renaming of the avenue and the park that pushed the monument to its logical conclusion. Earlier, an alternative location was considered - Shevchenko Park on the site of the fountain.

City council member Olha Kvasnytska, who initiated the deputy request for the renaming and installation of the monument, explained that the city council did not initially support her proposal. The renaming was not due to the council's decision, but within the framework of the law on decolonization - the head of the Odesa Regional State Administration issued a decree to change the names. The mayor offered to contact him personally to support the project. According to Kvasnytska, it was a political, situational decision that did not arise out of love for Ukrainian literature.

The competition for the best sculpture has already been announced, and the competition committee has been formed. The final results will be announced only in February 2026. Funding for the monument is not currently included in the city budget.

At the same time, the official called on professional sculptors from all over Ukraine to participate in the competition. The prize fund is 350 thousand hryvnias: 140 thousand for the first place, 105 thousand for the second, and 70 thousand for the third.

According to the deputy, the monument to Lesya Ukrainka should become a symbolic end to the renaming and an important cultural accent in the city. Lesya Ukrainka visited Odesa more than 20 times, where she lived and worked for a while. Her work is connected to maritime themes and Odesa, which makes this location a logical and symbolic place for the monument.

According to MP Kvasnytska, the road to the monument's installation was long and difficult, and although the competition has already been announced, the final realization of the project will take time.

Back in April, Olha Kvasnytska, a member of the Odesa City Council, told Intent that the work on immortalizing Lesya Ukrainka has been going on for more than seven years and has been facing obstacles all along. According to her, the city authorities have consistently refused to consider proposals for key locations for the monument.

Анна Бальчінос