Odessa State Literary Museum, founded in 1977 and opened to the public in 1984 - is one of the largest regional literary museums of the country. Its exposition has twenty halls. Each hall is artistic image of the decade to which it is dedicated.
The museum represents more than three hundred writer's names - from Ivan Kotlyarevsky, Alexander Pushkin, Adam Mickiewicz to Heinrich Böll, Konstantin Simonov, Boris Pasternak. The authors' visits to Odessa and the emergence of the Odessa literary school. of the Odessa literary school. Along with the great creators of literature. - Gogol, Tolstoy, Kotsyubinsky, Lesya Ukrainka, Sholom Aleichem, Chekhov, Bunin, Franko, Akhmatova, Babel, Ilf, Petrov, Kataev, M. Kulish, numerous authors of the so-called "second row", who played an important role in the formation of the domestic market. Many authors of the so-called "second row", who played an important role in the formation of national culture, are represented.
The Odessa Literary Museum is the largest research and cultural centre. cultural centre. In addition to the permanent exposition, the museum regularly holds exhibitions devoted to anniversaries. exhibitions dedicated to writers' anniversaries, as well as literary evenings, classical and jazz music concerts, book presentations, and conferences.
The building in which the museum is located was built in the mid-19th century. The palace belonged to a representative of the highest circles of the Russian aristocracy, one of the first citizens of Odessa, Prince Dmitry Ivanovich Gagarin, and his wife, Sophia Petrovna. In the second half of the century, the Gagarin family gave the palace to the city. The interiors of the palace impress with an unexpected combination of styles - classicism, baroque, Empire - characteristic of the South of the Russian Empire in the middle of the last century, and called "free southern ecology". called "free southern eclecticism."
An Italian-style courtyard adjoins the museum building. Since 1995, it has been home to the "Sculpture Garden". Sculpture Garden, which now includes ten humorous sculptures. sculptural compositions dedicated to literary heroes and iconic characters of urban folklore by contemporary sculptors. of urban folklore by contemporary sculptors ("The Hero of Odessa Anecdotes Rabinovich", "Antelope Gnu", "Monument to the Coming Genius", "Sashka the Musician", "Denim Duke", "Green Van", "Odessa Mama", "Odessa Misha", "Shalands, full of mullet", "Monument to an Unknown Reader").
