Short Guide to the Potemkin Stairs in Odesa
Walk one of the longest and most beautiful stairs in Ukraine
Potemkin stairs (1837)CFC Big Ideas in association with the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy
The origin
These world-famous stairs in Odesa connect the city center with the harbor and marina. The construction began in 1837 at the order of Prince Vorontsov and was led by British military engineer John Upton. The stairs were designed by Italian architect Francesco Boffo.
The Battleship Potemkin
The Potemkin Stairs became world-famous thanks to Sergei Eisenstein’s 1925 film, "The Battleship Potemkin." In 1955, for the 50th anniversary of the battleship’s uprising, the stairs, that were called Richelieu before the Revolution and then Boulevard, were renamed Potemkin.
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The optical illusion
The stairs consist of 192 steps and ten spans. The stairs are 466 feet long, the top step is 12.5 meters (41 feet) wide, and the lowest step is 21.7 meters (70.8 feet) wide, so the stairs seem to be equal from the top. The spans are invisible, if one looks up at the stairs.
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The funicular
Along with stairs, there is an Odesa funicular that connects Primorska Street with Primorsky Boulevard. The Odesa funicular was the first funicular in Ukraine, originally built in 1902.
