About 15 cultural heritage sites were damaged as a result of a ballistic strike on the center of Odessa on the evening of January 31.

According to the city mayor Gennady Trukhanov, the Bristol Hotel building, one of the most expressive architectural structures in the central part of the city, suffered significant damage, the scale of which has not yet been fully determined.

The powerful blast wave damaged nearby historic buildings. The main damage was broken window panes and displaced carpentry. Among the damaged buildings were two national monuments:

– Philharmonic (New Exchange)

– Vucini House (Italianskaya St., 19)

And also two museums:

– Museum of Western and Eastern Art

– Branch of the Literary Museum (House of Sicard).

Significant damage was caused to stained glass windows and authentic carpentry filling of large windows with semicircular tops in the buildings of the Union of Architects of Ukraine and the Porto Franco Bank.

“The most valuable among the damaged buildings from an architectural and social point of view is the Philharmonic (New Exchange). The blast wave knocked out the authentic carpentry filling of the main entrance, damaged the stained glass windows and interior decoration of the premises. The impact of the attack on the condition of the main structures will be assessed by specialists after additional inspection,” the mayor specified.

He added that the Philharmonic building has been under enhanced protection by UNESCO since 2023. Meanwhile, the organization has already stated that it condemns the rocket attack on the historic center of Odessa, which caused serious damage to at least two cultural buildings protected by UNESCO Conventions.

“These repeated attacks must stop. International law must be respected. Our team is already working on operational documentation of the damage caused and, together with the Ukrainian authorities, determining the first response measures,” the statement said.

UNESCO will send a mission to our city in the near future.

Let us recall that the enemy attacked Odessa with three ballistic missiles, as a result of which seven people were injured . The building of the Bristol Hotel , which was built in 1898-1899 according to the design of the architect Alexander Bernardazzi, was severely damaged .

UPDATED at 21:30. As reported by Gennady Trukhanov, after the completion of the survey of buildings, the number of architectural monuments that were damaged reached 19.

Photo by Dmitry Skvortsov
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