The project of the new museum in the Preobrazhensky Park, was presented at the Odessa City Hall to an audience of officials and activists.

The concept of creating a memorial complex on the territory of the former First City Cemetery, today’s Preobrazhensky Park, was presented by the architect Nata Golovchenko of the NG Architects Studio.

The Museum of the History of Odessa will appear on the site of the destroyed Cafe Kholodok, to the right of the entrance to the Park Preobrazhensky, and it will be an interactive museum.

We propose to divide the construction into two stages. At the first stage, a courtyard with a traditional Odessa well will appear, surrounded by an arcade, on which the carved names of famous Odessa citizens, who glorified our City. On the second, the museum building itself.

Nata Golovchenko

The building will be separated from the courtyard by a glass window hidden behind the second row of the arcade. This will create a gallery where tourist groups and visitors can relax before the tour, hide from rain or summer heat. The interior of the museum will be interactive and without a stationary exhibition.

So far, this is only a concept. The place, and the project itself, can change a lot after discussion with the public. The place chosen now needs repair. It is heavy, uncomfortable, dirty, almost a public toilet. This is shameful and unworthy.

Tatyana Markova, Director of the Municipal Department of Culture and Tourism

In turn, Odessa social activists who attended the presentation of the project insist that before the construction of the museum it is necessary to determine the boundaries of the Preobrazhensky Park, deal with the owners of all buildings on its territory and hold a wide public discussion, and maybe an international competition.

Recall, according to the park rehabilitation project approved in 2016, it was supposed to become a place of green recreation and at the same time an interactive memorial to famous Odessa residents. The families of Anatra, Deribas, Navrotsky, Pushkin, Tolstoy, Vera Kholodnaya - almost 30 names - were going to perpetuate in the sculptural compositions dispersed throughout the park. In addition, the museum was originally planned to be two-story: on the first floor there should have been a model of the First cemetery, and on the second, exhibition of artefacts related to people buried here.

Source: Dumskaya.net