Potemkin Stairs - one of the main symbols of Odessa

Perhaps every resident of Odessa knows that this skzozhnoe city is full of attractions. The brightest of the representatives of popular places in Odessa was and will remain for at least another 20 years the Potemkin Stairs. She is known as "Potemkin" thanks to the cinema. Previously, it was called: Port, Giant, Richelieu, Vorontsov, but at all times people did not cease to admire its beauty and grandeur.

It is difficult to imagine, but initially, Primorsky Boulevard ended with a steep slope, along which one had to go down to the sea. As Pushkin wrote, who arrived in Odessa in 1823: “I’ve been running away from a steep bank, I’m going to the sea ..” Then narrow wooden stairs began to appear, but all this, as they say, was not that.

The unique structure consists of 10 spans of 20 steps, but of the initial 200 steps, 8 were filled up during the expansion of Primorsky Boulevard, so now there are 192. The structure stands on 9 transverse arches and 3 longitudinal beams. The set of steps and spans gives an interesting visual effect when one spans are visible from above and one steps below, and the staircase looks longer; in general, the length of the stairs is 142 meters. Another effect is that the staircase was created taking into account the perspective, its base (22 m) is wider than the upper part (12.5 m) - and when viewed from above, it seems to be the same width.

And according to the results of research by European art historians and architects, the Potemkin Stairs entered the TOP 10 of the most beautiful staircases in Europe - along with the Spanish Steps of Rome and the Montmartre stairs of Paris.

In our opinion, this is the main symbol of Odessa, which is worth seeing if possible.