Restoration of the Philharmonic and three museums in Odesa is scheduled for next year

The Odesa City Council plans to approve a new program for the preservation of cultural heritage for 2025-2028, adapted to wartime conditions and taking into account funding. The program includes the restoration of six monuments, changing Russian imperial narratives, and attracting a grant from Italy.

This was discussed at a meeting of the Standing Committee on Territorial Development Planning, Urban Design, Architecture, and Cultural Heritage Protection.

The meeting of the Standing Committee considered the city target program for the preservation of the cultural heritage of Odesa for 2025-2028.

The program is to be considered at an extraordinary session of the Odesa City Council scheduled for Friday, August 22. The commission noted that it is now possible to make amendments to this program. The program was supposed to be adopted at the beginning of the year, six months have already passed, but as the head of the commission Svitlana Osaulenko emphasized, "better late than never." This is a three-year program, as required by law, she emphasized.

Fedir Stoyanov, Head of the Department for Work with UNESCO, spoke about what is planned to be done in terms of preserving cultural heritage.

SCREEN SHOT: Fedir Stoyanov/youtube of Odesa City Council

According to him, due to the fact that it is currently wartime, the old program was not suitable, given the funding and planning, and the program had to be adapted to the present. The program's co-implementers are the Capital Construction Department and the Department of Municipal Economy, which had to adjust their initial plans. Both last year and this year, work with Italian partners continued.

The official noted that one of the achievements was that on July 10, a grant agreement was signed in Rome, according to which Italy is ready to invest 32 million euros in the restoration and renovation of Odesa' s historical monuments. A special foreign currency account is planned to be created for this purpose.

As emphasized by Fedir Stoyanov, these works will not begin until 2026. There are six such monuments. Four of them are the objects proposed by the Odesa Regional State Administration. These are the Odesa Philharmonic, the Museum of Western and Eastern Art, the Odesa Art Museum, and the Odesa Literary Museum. From the city council, these are the building at 6 Prymorskyi Boulevard and the Wedding Palace.

The program also envisages changing the Russian imperial narratives, in particular on the plaques.

In November 2023, the Odesa National Art Museum was supposed to celebrate its 124th anniversary, but due to a Russian missile attack on the city, museum staff were repairing walls and assessing the damage. The Odesa Philharmonic was also preparing to completely dismantle the stained glass windows damaged during the Russian attack on January 31, 2025, and experts from Ukrainian and international organizations advised dismantling even those that were visually intact.

Анна Бальчінос