A worthy successor of glorious German traditions is the ‘Bavarian House, Odessa’
‘Bavarian House, Odessa’ Bayerisches Haus was founded on the 11th July 1993 as a German cultural centre upon the initiative of the Bavarian State Ministry of Labour, Social, Family, Women and Health Affairs with the support of Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Free State of Bavaria under the intergovernmental agreement between Ukraine and Bavaria (1990).
The initial aims of the ‘Bavarian House, Odessa’ include regeneration and development of culture and language of ethnic Germans in the Black Sea region of Ukraine, support of German families that moved to Ukraine from the CIS countries, strengthening of mutual understanding, cultural and business relations between Ukrainian and German people.
The major part of settlers used to live in container houses that had been brought from Germany. In the course of time beautiful stone houses were built for them. The settlers acquired everything needed for the full-on household. It was necessary to work, so small enterprises were founded and provided the settlers with the jobs that were so important for life.
‘Bavarian House, Odessa’ today:
Today the ‘Bavarian House, Odessa’ is a platform for promotion and expression of various forms of German culture, such as language, science, education, art, social affairs and economy (with the support of UBMT Ltd.). Thus, the German center in Odessa contributes to the development of civil society in Ukraine and builds cultural, linguistic and economic bridges between Ukraine and Germany, Ukraine and European Union.
Being the major German platform in the south of Ukraine, the ‘Bavarian House, Odessa’ unites several centres within one building:
- Cultural centre – enriches the cultural stage of a multinational city of Odessa with film festivals, exhibitions, concerts with the participation of German artists;
- Educational centre – language schools (German, English, Ukrainian, Russian);
- Economical centre – introduces Ukrainian market to German entrepreneurs and gives the possibility to use Odessa as a strategically important logistics center;
- Social affairs centre – since 2005 has been engaged in the struggle against HIV/AIDS in the Southern Ukraine, organizes large-scale projects.
The projects of the ‘Bavarian House, Odessa’ are of much interest not only to Ukrainians, but also to foreign partners. They offer support in establishing business contacts, translation support, learning Russian and Ukrainian as a foreign language, reception of foreign tourist and research groups, economic and political delegations.
