04 February 2026
(PHOTO COLLAGE: Intent)
The jury has officially determined the winner of the competition for the monument to Larysa Petrivna Kosach, known in Ukrainian literature as <b> Lesya Ukrainka </b>in Odesa.
This was announced by Olha Kvasnytska, a member of the Odesa City Council.
The first place was awarded to the project created by the famous sculptor Mykola Bilyk and architects Andriy Kostruba, Maria Matushenko, and Oleksandr Vovk. Mykola Bilyk is a Ukrainian artist originally from Bukovyna.
PHOTO: Odesa City Hall
The second place was given to the project proposal by sculptors Viktor Lipovka and Oleksandra Ruban and architects Andrii Danylenko and Kateryna Lipovka.
PHOTO: Odesa City Hall
The third place was taken by the team of Anastasia Kozminska, also known as Nastya Manet , and architects Mykola Chepelev and Mykola Volkov.
PHOTO: Odesa City Hall
In August 2025, at a meeting of the Executive Committee of the Odesa City Council, a decision was made to hold a competition for the best design proposal for the monument to Lesia Ukrainka with the improvement of the surrounding area. The competition was held in one round until January 30, 2026. Professional architects, sculptors or designers, students of architectural and civil engineering higher education institutions, design organizations, teams of authors, and specialists in urban planning and architecture were invited to participate. Specialists from other fields with experience in creating monumental artworks could join the teams of authors.
Larysa Petrivna Kosach (Lesia Ukrainka) was born on February 25, 1871, in the town of Novohrad-Volynskyi (1795-2022), now Zvyagel, Zhytomyr region. Since childhood, her family called her Lesia. The poetess visited Odesa at least 18 times. She was treated here, stayed with the family of her friends the Komarovs, and wrote a cycle of poems "Journey to the Sea" and the story "Over the Sea." Her play "Blue Rose" was staged on the Odesa stage in 1903. In Odesa, there is a street named after Lesia Ukrainka in the Peresypskyi district, and in 2024, according to the order of the head of the Odesa Regional State Administration, Gagarin Avenue was renamed in her honor.
It is proposed to provide cash prizes to reward the authors of the best project proposals:
UAH 350 thousand is planned to be allocated in the 2026 budget for the competition. In July 2024, a park located at the intersection of Lesia Ukrainka Avenue and Fontanska Road was renamed after Lesia Ukrainka.
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