Statement by Palazzo Chigi on restoration of the Orthodox Transfiguration Cathedral in Odesa

On the night of 23 July, Russian bombings severely damaged a building that is a symbol of Odesa’s and Ukraine’s cultural and religious history: the great Orthodox Transfiguration Cathedral, first built in 1794 and reconstructed in 2005 after being destroyed by the USSR in 1936.

To also mark the long and very rich history of exchanges between Odesa and Italian culture, which led to Italian architects designing the city’s plan and most iconic buildings at the end of the 18th century, the Italian Government has involved two of Italy’s most authoritative cultural institutions, the Milan Triennale and the MAXXI museum in Rome, in order to gather the best economic, technical and cultural resources able to contribute to the restoration of the Transfiguration Cathedral.

Italian restoration schools, meaning university departments, vocational institutes, studios and laboratories, are today making their traditional expertise available to a project to restore and enhance the walls and frescoes that were hit by the Russian bombs, thereby marking an age-old friendship between two peoples and an effective rebirth for the city.