Odessa

Odessa ({{lang-ua|?????, Odesa}}; {{lang-ru|??????}}) is a city in the southwestern Ukraine, major port on the Black Sea and the administrative center of country's Odessa Oblast (province). Population 1,012,500 (2004).

Culture

Odessa is a popular tourist destination, with many therapeutic resorts in and around the city.

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The Tolstoy, Vorontsov, and Potocki families owned palaces in Odessa, which can still be visited.

Related Topics:
Tolstoy - Vorontsov - Potocki

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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.)

Related Topics:
Isaac Babel - Violinist - Nathan Milstein - Mischa Elman - David Oistrakh - Pianist - Benno Moiseiwitsch - Sviatoslav Richter - Emil Gilels - Chess - Efim Geller

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The most popular Russian show-businesspeople from Odessa are Mikhail Zhvanetskiy (legendary humorist writer, who began his career as port engineer) and Roman Kartzev (comic). Their success in 1970s contributed to Odessa's established status of a "capital of Soviet humour". Later a few humour festivals were established in the city.

Related Topics:
Mikhail Zhvanetskiy - Humorist - Roman Kartzev - 1970s - Festival

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Most of the city's 19th century houses were built of limestone mined nearby. Abandoned mines were later used and broadened by local smugglers. This created a complicated labyrinth of underground tunnels beneath Odessa, known as "catacombs". They are a now a great attraction for extreme tourists. Such tours, however, are not officially sanctioned and are dangerous because the layout of the catacombs has not been fully mapped and the tunnels themselves are unsafe.

Related Topics:
Limestone - Smuggler - Labyrinth - Catacombs

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