The Museum of Odesa Modern Art, the main base of Odesa biennale

©Pavlo Fedykovych/Lonely Planet

Museum of Odesa Modern Art

Top choice in Odesa


The war in the east and regular political strife give Ukrainian artists a lot of here-and-now material to reflect on, and the result is often brilliant, to which the exhibitions in this great establishment attest. Located in a stately imperial doctor's manor house, the museum is the main base of Odesa biennale. The awkwardly constructed official name abbreviates as MOMA. Because, Odesa.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby Odesa attractions

1. Lanzheron Beach

0.49 MILES

Perhaps to copy Brighton Beach, New York – where half of Odesa seems to have emigrated – the authorities built a boardwalk at the beach closest to the…

2. Route of Health

0.51 MILES

The dystopian Soviet name has stuck to this 5.5km stretch of sandy, rocky and concrete beaches that form the city's recreational belt. Packed like a…

3. Panteleymonivska Church

0.68 MILES

Near the train station you can't help but spy the five silver onion domes of this Russian Orthodox church, built by Greek monks with stone from…

4. Pushkin Museum

0.86 MILES

This is where Russia's greatest poet, Alexander Pushkin, spent his first weeks in Odesa after being exiled from St Petersburg in 1823 by the tsar for…

5. Museum of Western & Eastern Art

0.92 MILES

This mid-19th-century palace houses a collection that's both rich and eclectic – apt for a cosmopolitan port city like Odesa. Classical Italian and Dutch…

6. José de Ribas Statue

0.92 MILES

José de Ribas, the half-Catalan, half-Irish illustrious gentleman who built Odesa's harbour, is honoured with a statue at the eastern end of vul…

7. Archaeology Museum

1.05 MILES

Occupying a purpose-built, neoclassical edifice in the historical heart of the city, this half-renovated museum contains a fairly rich collection of…

8. City Hall

1.08 MILES

Located at the eastern end of bul Prymorsky, the pink-and-white colonnaded City Hall originally served as the stock exchange. The cannon here is a war…