ROMANOV FAMILY IN ODESSA
The City of Odessa, in southern Ukraine, located on the northwest shore of the Black Sea, was founded by a decree of the Empress Catherine the Great in 1794. From 1819 to 1858 Odessa was a free warm water port, a southern “window to the west”. During the 19th century it was the fourth largest city in imperial Russia, after Moscow, St Petersburg and Warsaw.
Odessa was initially introduced to the west via “Battleship Potemkin” – the 1924 silent film directed by Sergei Eisenstein – where the famous “Odessa Steps” were immortalized in the baby carriage scene.
In early June of 1914, a few weeks before the breakout of the First World War, the Romanov family visited Odessa. Read more ROMANOV FAMILY IN ODESSA
