03 October 2026
(PHOTO: Intent)
The Odessa National Art Museum has opened a renovated exhibition space and an exhibition in the underground grotto. Visitors were taken on a journey through the building’s centuries-long history, from the late 18th century to the present day.
This was reportedby the press service of the Odesa City Council.
As part of the exhibition, surviving sections of the palace’s facade and interior decoration—which were damaged by a rocket strike in 2023—were put on display. They have been preserved for future full restoration.
Detailed 3D models of the building have been installed in the exhibition halls, illustrating its architectural transformations over more than a century. The museum also features interactive panels with archival documents, drawings, maps of Odesa, and English translations of the curatorial texts.
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A special site-specific installation by artists Dmytro Erlich and Illia Petrov has been installed directly in the tunnels and the grotto’s cave. It reimagines the underground space through sound.
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A site-specific installation is a work of art created specifically for a particular space or location, taking into account its history, architecture, and acoustics. Unlike standard exhibition pieces, such a work cannot be moved to another hall or museum without losing its original meaning, since the space itself is an integral part of the artistic concept.
The underground grotto of the Odessa National Art Museum is an artificial cave with tunnels beneath the Potocki-Naryshkin Palace. It was constructed in the first half of the 19th century. It is believed that the project was designed by the renowned architect Alexander Bernardazzi. He created the underground complex inspired by Dante’s *Divine Comedy* as a metaphorical journey through the underworld toward purification.
Юлія Калабайда