In Odessa, a monument to the quarries was opened at 7 Bunina Street. The ego was placed in front of the entrance to the "Catacomb of Kantakuzena" museum. This was reported by the press service of the Odessa City Council.
Thus, the City Hall decided to perpetuate the memory of the people whose labors built most of the city.
The sculpture is made of Odessa shell. It represents two quarrymen who sat down to rest on the stones lifted from the mine after grueling work. Next to them is a saw for cutting shells, a pickaxe and a flashlight.
"Odessa is known as a city standing on catacombs. In different years, thousands of stone quarries worked in Odessa quarries. Thanks to their efforts, the entire old center was rebuilt, including our famous Opera House. And also suburbs and even stone houses in nearby villages. Today we are paying historical justice and due memory to the people whose efforts were used to get the stone for the construction of Odessa," said Gennady Trukhanov.
The author of the composition is the sculptor Alexander Kovalenko, who initiated the project of the OO "Foundation for the Study and Preservation of the Heritage of Odessa "Memory".
According to local historians, quarries mined shells in Slobodka, Moldavanka, Bugaevka, Kuyalnika, Usatovo, Nerubaisk and in the seaside part of the city. In Odessa, after the cancellation of the Porto-Franco line, more than 10 thousand quarries were registered. There were even whole dynasties of this difficult profession in the region.
