They want to disfigure the face of Odessa
Igor Plisyuk, journalist, Odessa
Young man, have you ever been to our Primorsky Boulevard? – If not, then hurry up, because he too may soon be mutilated beyond recognition!
You know, every city has its own heart - the main, most famous and recognizable street or square. Its symbol, the focus of spirit and history. Moscow has Red Square, St. Petersburg has Senate Square... And there is a face. That part of him that reflects his “non-general expression” and soul. A favorite place for leisurely promenades of townspeople and an indispensable object of admiration for tourists... Paris's Champs Elysees and St. Petersburg's Nevsky Prospekt, New York's Broadway and St. Mark's Square in Venice...
It just so happened that the heart of Odessa, Deribasovskaya, which suffered almost no damage during the Great Patriotic War, was fairly crippled during the years of independence by ugly and disproportionate new buildings and thoughtless demolitions of architectural monuments. And now it boasts a tall glass-concrete monster of the Europe shopping center, erected on the site of a summer cinema. And instead of the destroyed Spartak Hotel, there is a bewildering, absolutely rustic appearance of something like a market, hastily put together from pieces of wood... A sort of barracks complex where they sell fast food and souvenirs... Nearby, there are clumsily stylized antique remakes of the completely destroyed Greek Square.
Eh, I look at this and remember Yesenin, who dubbed New York, unusual for him with its huge skyscrapers, “Iron Mirgorod”. Here, every day, some kind of “Glass-concrete Berdichev” is advancing more and more, deprived of the power of its overseas prototypes and at the same time, claiming some similarity with old Odessa due to clumsy decorations. A kind of incompatible hybrid, an architectural chimera...
Literally throughout the city center and in its recreational zone, right on the seaside slopes and the territories of recent sanatoriums, multi-storey “elite residential complexes” are growing like concrete toadstools, literally crushing the low streets and killing the former harmony and proportionality. Let's keep quiet about the unbearable load on communications... The developer is greedy and narrow-minded. The main thing for him is to stake out the precious city land, building on it as many “golden” square meters as possible! And the fact that by doing this he disfigures the entire historical appearance of Odessa does not bother him. Just to hit the jackpot today. And tomorrow - all of it will be lost!
And only Primorsky Boulevard has survived to this day almost completely intact, preserving its former beauty and grandeur. It is beautiful both from the sea and when viewed closely. Right in the center are the “Semicircular Buildings” with the Duke monument in the center and the magnificent Potemkin Stairs. The brainchild of the brilliant architect Franz Boffo, who created almost the entire architectural complex of the boulevard - from the City Duma on one side to the Vorontsov Palace on the other...
And next to the Semicircular buildings is the Naryshkin Palace. A wonderful house, built by the same famous architect Boffo in 1830. It was the residence of both the Governor General and the commander of the military district. And from the 1920s until recent days - the Palace of Culture of Sailors.
Of course, the palace is listed in the register of architectural monuments as an object of national importance. That's the trouble! Why - yes, because the higher the status of the building - the further from Odessa those who have the right to control its fate! Idiotic centralization has more than once allowed those wishing to mutilate, or even completely demolish, one or another historical object of the city, to “resolve the issue” at the regional level, and if the local “guardians” turned out to be intractable, even in Kyiv. Money and connections decide everything in our disgustingly democratic, free and European civilized country!
It was in this way that, on the verge of the new century and millennium, a multi-storey monster of the Odessa Hotel was erected at the Seaport, which at once disfigured the most beautiful panorama - the view of Primorsky Boulevard from the sea and the view of the sea from it. Everything was decided in Kyiv, and the local authorities were simply presented with a fait accompli. And this skyscraper has stood empty for many years, slowly deteriorating. Like a finger pointing to the stupidity of bureaucrats and the greed of narrow-minded businessmen.
And now the turn has come to the boulevard itself. The Regional Advisory Council under the Department for the Protection of Cultural Heritage Objects by a majority vote approved... the death sentence for Naryshkina's palace. And one of the main lobbyists for this crime was the head of the regional security department, Fyodor Stoyanov. On the site of the courtyard outbuildings of the palace, they intend to build a 27-meter, seven-story hotel of the international Radisson chain.
All protests that this object would literally crush the view from the sea and from all near and far points with its carcass were not taken into account. As well as the fact that the outbuildings scheduled for demolition are integral parts of the palace-architectural monument complex... the fact that this carcass can actually disrupt not only the visual, but also the physical integrity of the surrounding buildings, leading to their deformation. And even to landslides on nearby slopes!
Enthusiasts are already collecting signatures online for a petition addressed to the mayor of the city, Gennady Trukhanov, to save both the building and the boulevard itself. But what's the point? After all, everyone understands: until fundamental changes are made at the country level to the ENTIRE legislative framework concerning the rights of cities and regions, giving us the real right to dispose of our heritage ourselves, without the dictates of the center, everything will continue in the same destructive spirit. And just don’t talk about “separatism”! After all, it is precisely this kind of relationship that is generated. Federalization is today the only way to save the country. But who will go for it from the current ruling elite, greedy and narrow-minded like those businessmen who are ready to destroy the eternal for the sake of momentary profit?!
...So, admire Primorsky Boulevard. It's not too late!
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Now the editors are aware.