page_title: Potemkin Stairs
section_title: Duke de Richelieu Monument
hierarchical_section_title: Potemkin Stairs / Duke de Richelieu Monument
caption_attribution_description: Statue of Armand-Emmanuel du Plessis, Duc de Richelieu in Odessa (unveiled in 1828). Photo courtesy Petro Vlasenko (ua.vlasenko.net)
context_page_description: The Potemkin Stairs, or Potemkin Steps, is a giant stairway in Odessa, Ukraine. The stairs are considered a formal entrance into the city from the direction of the sea and are the best known symbol of Odessa.
  The stairs were originally known as the Boulevard steps, the Giant Staircase, or the Richelieu steps. The top step is 12.5 meters wide, and the lowest step is 21.7 meters wide. The staircase extends for 142 meters, but it gives the illusion of greater length. The stairs were so precisely constructed as to create an optical illusion. A person looking down the stairs sees only the treads, and the risers are invisible; whereas a person looking up sees only risers, and the treads are invisible.
context_section_description: At the top of the stairs is the Duke de Richelieu Monument, depicting Odessa's town governor.  The Roman-toga figure was designed by the Russian sculptor, Ivan Petrovich Martos (1754–1835). The statue was cast in bronze by Yefimov and unveiled in 1826. It is the first monument erected in the city.
caption: Statue of Duc de Richelieu
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