Odesa City Council Appeals to the Ministry of Culture over Threat to Historic Center

The Odesa City Council has supported an appeal to the Ministry of Culture of Ukraine to streamline the management of the UNESCO World Heritage Site, the historic city center. The idea is to create a separate body responsible for preserving and controlling the use of this territory.

The decision was made at an extraordinary session of the Odesa City Council.

The deputies approved a draft decision that provides for the initiative to create a special management body for the historic center in Odesa. It is also proposed to grant the city council the authority to develop scientific and project documentation that will determine the rules for using the territory of the UNESCO monument.

During the meeting, deputy Svitlana Osaulenko took the floor, but at that moment an air raid alarm sounded. Nevertheless, she continued her speech, emphasizing the problems of the participation of heritage buildings in government programs and the need to monitor the preservation of the UNESCO zone.

According to her, the deputies have repeatedly appealed to the Ministry of Culture to create a separate management body that should work in Odesa. She also noted that the city council is ready to prepare all the necessary documentation and proposed to create an appropriate structure on the basis of the municipality. After the discussion, Ihor Koval called on his colleagues to vote. The decision was supported by 34 votes.

Earlier, at a meeting of the city council commission, it was proposed to create a separate body to manage the UNESCO site "Historic Center of Odesa". It is also planned to apply to the relevant ministry and transfer the authority of the customer to the city council to prepare the necessary documentation.

The meeting also addressed other issues, including the protection of monuments on Frantsuzsky Boulevard, the status of urban planning documents, and changes to the transfer of apartments. They also discussed the nighttime destruction of the heritage site and the city's lack of real tools of influence.

Since 2024, the city has been appealing to the Ministry of Culture, but there has been no response. Therefore, the commission instructed to prepare an appeal to the government and parliament to create such a body in Odesa.

This is expected to help update urban planning documents, including the General Plan and zoning. First, we are talking about networks, transportation and communications, and only then about development. The commission emphasized that the process should be open and take into account the opinion of residents.

The executive committee of the Odesa City Council also adopted urgent decisions to preserve the monuments on Frantsuzsky Boulevard after a resonant discussion of the destruction of the monuments. In particular, it envisages urgent documentation, registration of the objects in the state register and strengthening of control over the owner.

In addition, last year the dismantling of the Pushkin monument was temporarily suspended in Odesa. According to the official version of the mayor's office, the reason for the suspension was the monument's location within the UNESCO World Heritage Site, the historic center of Odesa, which is also on the World Heritage List in Danger.

Анна Бальчінос