Duke de Richelieu. Potemkin Steps. Don Josef de Ribas

Duke de Richelieu

(b. Sept. 25, 1766, Paris, Fr.--d. May 17, 1822, Paris), French nobleman, soldier, and statesman who, as premier of France (1815-18 and 1820-21), obtained the withdrawal of the Allied occupation army from France. Earlier, he had served Russia as governor of Odessa and was notable for his progressive administration there.

The son of Louis-Antoine-Armand du Plessis, duc de Fronsac, and grandson of Louis-François-Armand de Vignerot du Plessis, duc de Richelieu and marshal of France, Armand took over his grandfather's duties at court as first gentleman of the bedchamber (1785). On a visit to Germany and Austria in 1790 he joined the Russian army, fighting against the Turks at Izmail, and then visited Russia. Succeeding his father as duc de Richelieu (1791), he fought with the royalists under the Prince de Condé (1792) and with the Austrians (1793-94). In 1795 Richelieu was appointed lieutenant colonel visiting Russia, and later Tsar Alexander I appointed him governor of Odessa (1803) and governor general of New Russia, the area between the Dniester River and the Caucasus (1805). After severe fight against corrupt administration and winning this victory, Richelieu transformed the Black Sea village of Odessa into a modern city. He constructed port facilities, encouraged commerce  and agriculture.

Richelieu returned to France in 1814 and when Napoleon returned from Elba in 1815 Richelieu joined the Tsar's forces against Napoleon. His friendship with the Tsar helped him to mitigate the demands of the Allies on France, and at the Congress of Aix-la-Chapelle (1818) he obtained the withdrawal of the Allied occupying army and the inclusion of France into the Quadruple Alliance. He resigned in 1818, became prime minister again in 1820, but was forced by political opponents to resign again in 1821.

The Potemkin Steps

are a formal entrance into the city from the direction of the sea. Sure, each city has its own place of mostly pronounced originality. For Odessa, no doubt, it will be Potemkin Stairs. The stairs leading from Prymorskiy Boulevard down to the sea were constructed from 1837 through 1841 to the design of the architect F. Bofford. This imposing monument numbers 192 stairs arranged in ten flights and flanked by two-meters thick parapets. The difference in width between the highest (13.4 m) and the lowest (21.6 m) flights produces an optical illusion that enhances the grandeur of the structure. Originally, the stairs were faced with grey Trieste sandstone with time; however, the sandstone weathered and was replaced with granite. The famous Potemkin Steps serve as a symbol of the city. It has recently been complemented with ramp over bridges to extend as far as the Novy Pier, where a modern structure of the new seaport is located on a high platform. Memorial plagues state that it was on precisely this spot that the first Odessa buildings were founded in 1794.

Don Josef de Ribas

In the war of 1787-91, Don Josef de Ribas, a soldier of fortune born in Naples of Spanish and Irish stock and one of many adventures in Catherine's service, stormed the fortress of Yeny-Dunai at Khadzhibei. Catherine the Great  wanted to make the port of Ochakov, near the mouth of the Boh river, the capital of Novorossiya. But Ochakov lacked a good natural harbour. On the other hand, de Ribas and a close collaborator, a Dutch engineer named Franz de Volan, recommended Khadzhibei as the site of the region's principal port. Its harbour was deep and nearly ice-free. Breakwaters, on the model of those found at Naples, Livorno and Ancona, could be cheaply constructed and would render the harbour safe even for large fleets