Pages: 517-539

The article tells about the evolution and initial development of the set-up of Odessa. In VII-V cc. in place of Odessa there was a large Ancient town of Boristhenes, set up by the Greek colonizers in the Black Sea coast. In 1765 the Turks built a castle (fortress) here called Hadjibei, which later, during a Russian-Turkish war captured by the detachment led by J. De-Ribas in 1789. Having noticed the important geographic and strategic position of Hadjibei, the admiral De-Ribas and the military engineer France de-Wollant decided to build a town on this place, which would serve as a main port of the Russian Empire on the Black Sea.
The talented and well-educated architect and engineer de-Wollant, impressed by the Ancient culture, designed a set-up of a new town in complete correspondence with the Ancient models and recommendations of the Ancient Roman architect Vitruvius. Owing to the craft and professional mastery of de-Wollant, the placement and the set-up of the town of Odessa make it an ideal town and an ideal port.