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The Roman Catholic church appeared in Odessa soon after its foundation. It was a small wooden house of prayer for Catholics. That is, in 1805 the duke de Richelieu, the first governor of the city, assigned a whole block for the building of the church on str.Yekaterinienskaya (a plot of 2925 sazhens). The first small kostel was built as part of a project by F.Frapoli in 1827. Soon, near the kostel work was started one an asylum, orphanage, nursing home, and catholic school. In 1848, supported by the governor Novorosiyskij krai, the count Vorontsov, the cathedral of the Dorminion Most Holy Mother of God was started to be built (it was blessed in 1853).
In 1935 the church was closed down and its premises were dedicated to the German-Bulgarian club, and then to a local history museum. During Romanian occupation the church started to work again, but after the war, in 1949, it closed down again. The church’s marble sanctuaries were broken, the shape of its gothic windows was changed, beautiful stone arches and even marble floor were destroyed. In the now-unrecognizable building, the exhibition of the achievement of the Odessa krai, came to be situated a sports complex.
Only on the 8 of August 1991 city authorities returned the keys of the building to the church and after many years Holy Mass is once again said in the church. Little by little the outward appearance of the church is being returned to its original condition, but much still needs to be done.
On August 2008 the Catholics of Odessa was presented with a wonderful gift: the façade of the kostel was decorated with the sculptures of Pope John Paul II and Pope St. Martin.