The House of Scientists in

Odesa Odesa (also spelled Odessa) is the third most populous city and municipality in Ukraine and a major seaport and transport hub located in the south-west of the country, on the northwestern shore of the Black Sea. The city is also the administrative ...

is a public institution established in 1923 to unite scientists from various scientific institutions and higher schools in the Odesa area. It was one of a number of Houses of Scientists established across the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

and the first established in

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

. The building is housed in the former palace of the Counts Tolstoy. It was taken over by the House of Scientists in 1934. During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, the building was occupied by the

Romanian Army The Romanian Land Forces ( ro, Forțele Terestre Române) is the army of Romania, and the main component of the Romanian Armed Forces. In recent years, full professionalisation and a major equipment overhaul have transformed the nature of the Lan ...

. However the German military commander of the occupation discovered this and put a stop to the looting and stabling of horses which was going on. Instead he summoned all the scientists who had not fled the city to attend the House of Scientists, thus obliging them to give the impression they supported the

Axis An axis (plural ''axes'') is an imaginary line around which an object rotates or is symmetrical. Axis may also refer to: Mathematics * Axis of rotation: see rotation around a fixed axis *Axis (mathematics), a designator for a Cartesian-coordinate ...

occupation. On July 23rd, 2023 during the

Russian Invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014. The invasion has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides. It has caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. An ...

the building was impacted by a Russian missile as part of the Bombing of Odesa (2022–present), suffering near complete loss of glass decorating the facade, and damaging furniture and paintings inside. One person was killed and 19 injured in the same campaign.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Odesa House of Scientists Houses of Scientists Scientific organizations established in 1923 Scientific organizations based in Ukraine