Odesa decides to hold a festival in honor of the city's 610th anniversary

The festival, titled Odesa 610, will last for five days: May 17 to 21 at the exhibition space of the National Union of Artists of Ukraine on Torgovaya Street.

Intent. Insight talked to the festival's curator Victoria Kravchenko and one of the lecturers and members of the organizing committee, People's Artist of Ukraine Anatoliy Kravchenko.

This is the second such event in Odesa. Last year, an exhibition of paintings by Odesa artists dedicated to the history of the city and paintings created to mark the 600th anniversary of the first written mention of Kochubiy, which later became Khadzhibey and was renamed Odesa by Catherine II, was held at the Odesa Literary Museum on May 18 and 19.

The fact is that May 19, 1415, is the day of the first written mention of the port of Kochubiyiv, which existed on the site of modern Odesa, by the Polish historian Jan Długosz. His 12-volume work in Latin, The History of Poland, was written in the mid-15th century and published in 1614. For more than two centuries, Russian propaganda has claimed that Odesa was founded by the Russian Empress Catherine II, but historians insist that this is not the case.

Every year on September 2, Odesa celebrates the City Day. This date is controversial, as is the age of the city itself. Officially, Odesa turned 228 years old in 2022, but there is an opinion that the date of the city's foundation should be measured from the first mention of the Khadzhibey fortress, where the city stands. Then Odesa would be over 600 years old, and the date of its foundation would have to be changed.

Every week, Intent.Insight looks at one issue that worries Ukrainians and raises topical questions and tries to solve specific problems. Thus, on May 6, we discussed the inevitability of rising water prices in Odesa with Serhiy Chaban, head of the Infoksvodokanal information center.

Кирило Бойко