Potemkin Stairs

The Potemkin Stairs or Potemkin Steps is a mammoth stairway in Odessa, Ukraine.

The stairs are viewed as a formal passage into the city from the course of the ocean and are the best-known image of Odessa.

Prior to the stairs were developed, winding ways and unrefined wooden stairs were the main access to the harbor.

The first 200 stairs were planned in 1825 by Italian engineer Francesco Boffo and St. Petersburg draftsmen Avraam I. Melnikov and Pots.

The staircase cost 800,000 rubles to construct.In 1837, the choice was made to fabricate a "tremendous staircase", which was developed in the vicinity of 1837 and 1841. An English architect named John Upton administered the development.