Timeline of Odesa

The following is a timeline of the history of the city of Odesa, Ukraine.

• 1240 – Tatars begin settling herds in the region.
• 1415 – A settlement of Kachibei (Khadjibey, Hacıbey, Kotsiubiyiv) was first mentioned.¹²³
• 15th century – Khadjibey ceded to Lithuania.
• 1529 – Ottoman conquest.

• 1764 – Fortress Yeni Dünya built at Khadjibey by Turks.⁴⁵
• 1789 – Russian forces take fortress.⁵
• 1791 – Khadjibey annexed to Novorossiya.⁵
• 1794 – Odesa founded by decree of Catherine II of Russia.
• 1795
  • Population: 2,250.⁴
  • Cathedral of the Transfiguration founded.⁶

• 1802 – Population: 9,000.⁷
• 1803 – Duc de Richelieu in power.
• 1804 – Commercial school founded.⁷
• 1805
  • Odesa becomes administrative center of New Russia.⁷
  • Theatre opens.⁷
  • Russian Orthodox church built.⁸
• 1808 – Troitzkaya Church active.⁶
• 1809
  • Cathedral built.⁴
  • Opera house built.⁸
• 1812 – Plague.⁷
• 1814 – Population: 25,000.⁴
• 1816 – Louis Alexandre Andrault de Langeron in power.
• 1817 – Richelieu Lyceum established.⁸
• 1819 – Odesa becomes a free port.⁹
• 1821
  • Church of the Dormition built.
  • Pogrom against Jews.
• 1824 – Odesa becomes "seat of the governors-general of Novorossia and Bessarabia".⁴
• 1825 – Archeological Museum founded.
• 1826
  • Fyodor Palen in power.
  • Jewish school established.⁸
  • Richelieu Monument unveiled.
• 1828 – Imperial Rural Association for Southern Russia founded.¹⁰
• 1830
  • Public library established.¹¹
  • Vorontsov Palace built.
• 1838 – Plague.¹²
• 1841 – Giant Staircase constructed.
• 1846 - Londonska Hotel opens.
• 1847 – Novobazarnaya Church built.⁶
• 1850 – Population: 100,000.⁴
• 1853
  • Crimean War begins.
  • Roman Catholic Church rebuilt.⁶

• 1854 – Anglo-French fleet attacks Odesa.
• 1856 – Russian Steam Navigation and Trading Company established.
• 1857 – August 15: Free port status revoked.⁹
• 1859 – Pogrom against Jews.
• 1862
  • Odesa Military District established.
  • Vorontsov Lighthouse built.
• 1865 – Imperial Novorossiya University established.⁴
• 1866 – Odesa–Balta railway begins operating.⁴
• 1871
  • Pogrom against Jews.⁸
  • Russian Technical Society, Odesa branch, founded.
• 1873 – Population: 162,814.¹³
• 1874 – Theatre Velikanova built.
• 1875 – Tzar visits Odesa.⁶
• 1876 – Turkish forces attack Odesa.⁴
• 1880 – Horse tramway begins operating.
• 1881
  • Steam tramway begins operating.
  • Pogrom against Jews.
• 1882 – Population: 217,000.¹⁴
• 1887 – Theatre built.¹⁵
• 1894 – Odesa Committee of the Social Democratic Workers Party organized.¹⁶
• 1895 – St. Panteleimon church consecrated.

• 1897 – Lutheran Church built.⁶
• 1899
  • General Post Office built.⁶
  • Exchange built.⁶
  • Bristol Hotel opens.
• 1900 – Population: 449,673.⁴

• 1902 – Cadet School active.⁶
• 1905
  • June: Potemkin uprising.
  • Pogrom against Jews.¹⁶
• 1906
  • Uprising.⁴
  • Municipal Library built.⁶
• 1907 – Myrograph film studio in business.
• 1910
  • Electric Tram begins operating.¹⁷
  • Trade fair held.
• 1913
  • Conservatoire founded.⁶
  • Sergiyev Artillery School active.⁶
  • Population: 631,040.¹⁸
• 1917 – City occupied by Ukrainian Tsentral'na Rada, French Army, Red Army, and White Army following the Bolshevik Revolution.
• 1918
  • 13 March: Odesa occupied by Central Powers.¹⁹
  • Odesa becomes capital of Odesa Soviet Republic.
  • Polytechnic University established.
  • December: Odesa occupied by the French Army
  • Consulate of Poland opened.²⁰
• 1919 – Odesa Film Studio founded.
• 1920 – Red Army in power.
• 1921 – Odesa State Economics University established.
• 1922
  • Odesa State Medical Institute established.
  • Odesa Zoo opens.
• 1924 – Odesa Philharmonic Theater opens.
• 1926 – State Odesa Russian Drama Theatre established.
• 1928 – Spartak Stadium opens.
• 1933 – School of Stolyarsky established.
• 1935 – Kosior Memorial Stadium built.
• 1936
  • The Filatov Institute of Eye Diseases & Tissue Therapy founded.
  • Dynamo football club formed.
• 1937 – Mass murder of around 1,000 Poles during the Polish Operation of the NKVD.²¹
• 1941
  • August 8-October 16: Siege of Odesa.
  • October 17: Axis occupation begins.
  • October 22–24: 1941 Odesa massacre.
  • Odesa becomes capital of Romanian-administered Transnistria Governorate.
• 1944
  • April 10: Red Army takes city; Axis occupation ends.
  • ODO Odesa football team active.
  • Odesa State Maritime Academy founded.
• 1945 – Odesa designated a Hero City of the USSR.
• 1952 – Railway Station rebuilt.
• 1961
  • Odesa International Airport built.
  • Pushkin Museum opens.
• 1963 – Avangard rugby club formed.
• 1965 – Population: 735,000.²²
• 1973 – April 10: Humorina festival begins.²³
• 1979 – Population: 1,072,000.²⁴
• 1984 – Deribasivska Street pedestrianized.
• 1985 – Population: 1,126,000.²⁵
• 1989 – Outdoor market relocates to Odesa-Ovidiopol highway.
• 1992 – BIPA-Moda basketball club formed.
• 1994
  • Eduard Gurwits becomes mayor.
  • New music festival begins.²⁶
• 1998 – Rouslan Bodelan becomes mayor.
• 1999 – Odesa Numismatics Museum established.
• 2000 – Quarantine Pier designated free economic zone and port.

• 2001 – Al-Salam Mosque opens.
• 2003 – Rebuilt Odesa Cathedral consecrated.
• 2005 – Eduard Gurwits becomes mayor again.²⁷
• 2007 – Pryvoz Market rebuilt.
• 2010 – Odesa International Film Festival begins.
• 2011
  • Chornomorets Stadium built.
  • FC SKA Odesa formed.
  • Aleksey Kostusyev becomes mayor.²⁸
  • Population: 1,003,705.
• 2014 – 2014 Odesa clashes.²⁹
• 2014 – after Crimea annexation by Russia, Odesa become the main naval base of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.³⁰
• 2018 – Population: 993,831 (estimate).³¹
• 2022 – Odesa is being constantly shelled by Russian missiles and the Odesa port is blocked.
• 2025 – On 15 October 2025 on Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy decreed that Odesa had been placed under a city military administration headed by Serhiy Lysak.³² This happens after Mayor of Odesa Hennadii Trukhanov is removed from office due to him having a Russian passport.³²

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  Map of Odesa region, 1809
• 
  Odesa, 1830s
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  Odesa, 1850s
• 
  Port Practique, Odesa, c. 1890s
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  Unveiling of Catherine II monument, 1900
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  Odesa, 1917