"Smile! You are in Odessa," they say, and in a way it is true.

Odessa is known as the capital of humor where the «Yumorina» festival is held annually on April 1. In accordance with European standards, Odessa is a new city The birth of Odessa its dated back in1789 when the Turkish Fortress Yeni Dunia was seized By Ukrainian Cossacks and Russians troops led by The Spaniard Don Hose de Ribas. At his suggestions Catherine II founded there a port on the Black Sea and called it Odessa. The first Odessa governor was Duc de Richelieu, the Frenchman, who wishing fervently to make his city more beautiful than Paris.

Odessa today is the one of the most beautiful cities in Ukraine. Besides being the country’s biggest commercial port, Odessa is an international centre of humor and hosts some of the most beautiful gardens in the country The mild climate, wonderful sand beaches and historical monuments makes Odessa a natural resort city. It also has an unforgettable charm reflected in its courtyards and cultural establishments. A unique southern magic attracts tourists to Odessa all year long. And the city can pride itself on number of European-standard hotels. The city’s nightlife can complete with that in Kiev and Odessa’s restaurant scene is quite developed. WELCOME TO ODESSA!

Odessa city is the administrative center of the Odessa region. Odessa has over 1 mln. inhabitants and satellite cities of Illyichevsk and Yuzhny is an important industrial, trading and tourists city-resort in Ukraine.
The city is situated on the Black sea north-western seashore on the trading routes from the Central and Northern Europe to the Close East and Asia crossing.

Developed highways network, city location near Danube, Dnestr, Southern Bug, and Dnepr rivers, as well as large seaports of Odessa, Illyichevsk and Yuzhny with Odessa international airport and railway create the unique favorable conditions for loads accepting, processing, saving and transporting and the powerful passenger flows processing. The international transport route #9, which connects Finland, Russia, Lithuania, Byelorussia, Ukraine, Moldova, Romania, Bulgaria and Greece, passes through Odessa.

The ancient traditions of Odessa city as Ukraine’s south trading center have actively developed in this sphere. Modern Odessa is the largest seaport of Ukraine and hosts tree important ports: Odessa itself, Yuzhny (also an internationally important oil terminal ), situated in the city's suburbs. And the third important port, Illichivs'k (or Ilyichyovsk ), is located to the south-west of Odessa. Together they represent a major transportation junction integrated with railways. Odessa city port is the largest one in Ukraine: it has the power of 20 mln. Load tons a year. The port transport lines are connected with over 600 ports of 100 world countries. There are ferry crossings connecting Odessa port with Turkey and Greece. The railroad, automobile, aviation and pipe transport are developed in the city of Odessa as well. The city has an International Airports, which is one of the Ukraine’s largest ones, and its airlines are connected with many cities of Ukraine, CIS, and the countries
of the Western Europe, Asia and Africa as well.

So, Odessa is one of Ukraine’s economical centers which has a large sea port, developed industry, resort and recreation complex, transport, financial and social infrastructure. Odessa is the Ukraine’s only fully formed local territorial manufacture complex and an industrial center. Odessa economics is dominated by the establishments dealing with the sea business, the food industry, machine building and metal processing, oil industry, black metallurgy, building materials industry, chemical, oil-chemical, light and medicine industry establishments, and processing establishments of light industry.
Odessa has a lot of educational establishments, theaters, museums, libraries and other cultural and educational profile establishments.

But the city’s main treasure is its inhabitants. They have always been known for their business astuteness, initiative and tolerance. From their very childhood, the Odessites are being brought up in the atmosphere of hospitality, warm-heartiness and wicked humor, that’s why no feuds have ever happened and will ever happen here.
The writer Isaac Babel was born in the city, which has also produced several famous musicians, including the violinists Nathan Milstein , Mischa Elman and David Oistrakh , and the pianists Benno Moiseiwitsch , Sviatoslav Richter and Emil Gilels . The chess player Efim Geller was born in the city. (All listed, except for Richter, are representatives of the city's Jewish community.)
The most popular Russian show-business people from Odessa are Yakov Smirnoff (comedian), Mikhail Zhvanetsky (legendary humorist writer, who began his career as port engineer) and Roman Kartsev (comedian). Their success in 1970s contributed to Odessa's established status of a "capital of Soviet humour". Later several humour festivals were established in the city, including the celebration of the April Fool's Day .

Odessa... Warm sea, sand beaches, bright southern sun, temperate climate and European-standard hotels beautiful sanatoriums and recreation complexes, made Odessa as a favored resort destination for tourists especially in summer. Odessa is a popular tourist health resort, with many therapeutic resorts in and around the city. The Filatov Institute of Eye Diseases & Tissue Therapy is one of the leading institutes for eye care.

But it is also a cultural, art and historical centre. This beautiful city is a Mecca of parks, esplanades and imposing monuments. The cosmopolitan architecture of the city reflects its proud heritage and adds an artistic air to its temperate climate. Odesa's history as a thriving enterprise has left the city with some splendid architecture from the 18th and 19th centuries and a multifaceted, irrepressible spirit. Some buildings display a carious mixture of different styles, such as distinct French architecture with a distinct Russian flavor, and some are built in the Art Nouveau Style which was in vogue at the turn of the century. Odessa is a multinational city and its churches and cathedrals are the incarnation of different religions. The Opera House is one of the brightest diamonds of European architecture, in classic baroque lines. Famous Odessa catacombs - the only one of its kind - will lead you through the hand-made underground paths to secrets of the region history. Potemkin staircase Excavations of Tira and ancient Akkerman Castle - taciturn witnesses of the events having been happened 2500 years ago - astonish with their greatness till presence.

An ancient Greek colony had once occupied the site of the city. Numerous monuments of antiquity confirm links between this territory and the Eastern Mediterranean . In the Middle Ages these lands were a part of the Kievan Rus, Galich and Volyn Principality, the Golden Horde , the Great Lithuanian Principality , the Crimean Khanate and the Ottoman Empire . Crimean Tatars traded there in the 14th century . In the course of Russian – Turkish wars these lands were captured by Russia at the end of the 18th century.From 1819 – 1858 Odessa was a free port ( porto franco ). During the Soviet period it was the most important port of trade in the U.S.S.R. and a Soviet naval base . On January 1 , 2000 the Quarantine Pier of Odessa trade sea port was declared a free port and free economic zone for a term of 25 years.

In the 19th century it was the fourth city of Imperial Russia , after Moscow and St. Petersburg , and Warsaw . Its historical architecture has a flavor more Mediterranean than Russian, having been heavily influenced by French and Italian styles. Odessa has always possessed a spirit of freedom and ironic humor, probably by virtue of its location and its willingness to accept and tolerate people of many different backgrounds.

Strikingly ornate buildings of the late 19th and early 20th century are reminiscent of Right Bank Paris. One of the few planned cities in Ukraine, Odesa's central core is laid out in a grid. The first city plan designed by the engineer F. Devollan in the late 18th century was executed by the generations of Odesa architects that followed. As early as the first half of the 19th century, the numerous landowners who had moved to Odesa attracted by the profitable grain trade, started constructing their private residences. As a rule, they would build palace compounds: two-storied mansions with forecourts, wrought iron grilles and porticos indicating the entrance. Even today, the formal halls of these palaces are strikingly opulent. The mansions of wealthy merchants and factory-owners built to the designs of the best Odesa architects were concealed in the verdure of Frantsuzky Boulevard. The Tolstoy , Vorontsov , and Potocki families owned palaces in Odessa, which can still be visited.