The heroic exploits of the defenders of Odessa are recalled in the Monument to the Unknown Sailor, which was erected in Central Park and the monumental 20-metre obelisk, built in honour of the soldiers and sailors who died in the defence and liberation of Odessa. Before retreating from Odessa the Nazis burnt the town, blew up its industrial enterprises and mined the buildings that had not been destroyed by fire. But after the war the city was quickly rebuilt. Today Odessa is the administrative centre of the Odessa Region. The city has a highly developed industry and the biggest mechanized port on the Black Sea.
Ships come here from all over the world.
Many famous scientists like Nikolai Pirogov, the surgeon, Ilya Mechnikov, the biologist, Dmitri Mendeleyev and Nikolai Zelinsky, the chemists, Otto Schmidt, the mathematician and Arctic explorer, and many others whose names are linked with the University of Odessa have lived and worked here. Our city is constant in its old traditions and customs in medicine too. The Filatov Institute of Eye Diseases and Tissue Therapy,which was founded in Odessa in 1936, is now world famous. There are Maritime Academy, Odessa State Polytechnic University, and Medicine University here. For many years Odessa has played a major role in the development of culture.