Violence and Urban Architecture: Events at the Ensemble of the Odessa Steps in 1904–1905

Abstract

Odessa, a port city on the Black Sea, has been known from its founding at the end of the eighteenth century as a cosmopolitan place, welcoming traders and settlers of many nationalities; but it has also been the site of bloody conflict at various times in its history, notably at the beginning of the twentieth century.¹ This chapter proposes to re-examine the revolution of 1905 by conceptualising it as a phenomenon of the built city. In particular, it looks at the relation between physical violence and Odessa’s planning and architecture. Since the three kinds of conflict that erupted in that year — demands for political change, economic class antagonism and religious enmity — are unfortunately still with us in the contemporary world, it is hoped that this historical example may prove illuminating for some of the themes addressed in this book.