Polish team:

Eliza Czerniawska

Szymon Główka

Maciej Gożkowski

Piotr Kamiński

Alicja Krajewska

Maksymilian Kuciak

Łukasz Kujawa

Jędrzej Majewski

Alicja Mrozowska

Piotr Regulski

Aleksandra Waszak

Milena Wojciewska

eTwinning project Multicultural Odessa 2025

Stefan Dzhevetsky/Stefan Drzewiecki

Джевецький Стефан and submarines

     Stefan Karlovich Dzhevetsky entered  the history of Odesa and  the world as an outstanding scientist, engineer and inventor. He invented  a lot and in the most different spheres of life.  But  his main topic  was submarines. 

     Stefan was born in the middle of the 19th century in a village on the current territory of Vinnytsia region. He came from a noble family of Polish origin.

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  Stefan Karlovich was a sailor in the Black Sea Fleet, received the St. George Cross for bravery. After demobilization, he lived in Odesa and built  a bicycle submarine  at the Odesa plant in 1878. It was designed for one person, who used pedals to make it function.

    In 2004, during the International Congress of Submariners, a  monument was erected  to Stefan Dzhevetsky. It is often  considered a monument to submariners.

    Felix Gonsiorovsky/ Feliks Gąsiorowski

Фелікс Гонсіоровський (1815-1891) 

 Polish architect who worked in Odesa

Felix Gonsiorovsky was born in Lutsk on November 12, 1815. He studied in Warsaw, where he began his professional career and, in particular, took part in the construction of the English Hotel (1839).

The architecture of Odesa during the era of “stylization” and romanticism is best captured in the numerous buildings built according to Felix Gonsiorovsky`s designs. His best works in Odesa are: The Shah's Palace or the Brzhozovsky House, Roman Catholic Cathedral of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Odesa Archaeological Museum. Also we can add that he took part in the construction of the famous Odesa Opera House.

Mikola Kostyantinovich Tolvinsky / 

Mikołaj Tołwiński 

Polish architect. His great works are the library building of Ilya Mechnikov University that is built in the classical style. The building of the Physics and Chemistry Faculty. The buildings of the Medical Faculty, clinics form a majestic complex of separately located buildings, which are connected by park areas and are made in the Renaissance format. 

On the Pryvokzalna Square, Mikola Tolvinsky erected the building of the Judicial Institutions, nowadays it is known as  the Odesa Railway Administration.

   Tadeusz Hoppe was a Polish Salesian priest who served in Odesa for over 45 years. Since 1958, he was the pastor of St. Peter’s Church — the only Catholic church in the city that remained open. Thanks to his perseverance and wisdom, the church was never closed and became a spiritual refuge for many believers.

   He conducted services, performed baptisms, weddings, confessions, and helped the poor and the sick. He often traveled to nearby towns to serve those without access to a priest. He was deeply respected for both his faith and his humanity. He passed away in 2003 in Odesa, where he is buried.

Adam Mickiewicz/ Адам Міцкевич the greatest poet who was born on December 24, 1798 in the village of Zaosie (Minsk province). He was a student at Vilnius University. The main theme of his poetry was the national liberation struggle of Poland. As a student, Adam Mickiewicz was an active member of young fighters for the independence of Poland. On October 23, 1823, he was arrested. Six months later, the poet was expelled from Poland. He was sent to Odesa as a teacher. 

    It was assumed that Mickiewicz would teach Latin to students at the Richelieu Lyceum. He settled in the lyceum building for some time, but he didn`t get a job there. Today, a memorial plaque is installed on this building. 

   Not only Poles, but also people of all nationalities who lived in Odesa in the 1820s, highly appreciated Mickiewicz's inspired talent. His poetry was admired by Taras Shevchenko, and his legacy was appreciated by Ivan Franko. The poems of the great Pole were translated into Ukrainian by Maksym Rylsky, Pavlo Tychyna, Borys Ten, and Mykola Lukash.

Vitold Yosypovich Malyshevskiy/ 

Witold Maliszewski (1873-1939)

Polish composer, teacher and public figure, founder and rector of the Odesa Conservatory, professor of the Warsaw Conservatory.

Sigismund Olesevich/ 

Сигизмунд Олесевич (1891–1972) was an outstanding  graphic artist, a representative of the Odesa school of painting of the early 20th century. 1907 marks his debut as an artist - the cover and illustrations for the collection of young Polish writers of Odesa "Ofiary życia". Sigismund Olesevich is known for his paintings and illustrations, as well as a participant in the cultural life of Odesa. He is considered to be an influential act in Ukrainian avant-garde art, his paintings are kept in private collections now.

Jerzy Giedroyc/Jerzy Giedroyć/Єжи Ґедройць 

(1906-2000)  was a Polish publicist of Lithuanian origin. 

He was born in Minsk in Russian Impire in an aristocratic Polish-Lithuanian family. He had a title of knyaz, prince. He was schooled in Moscow, but returned to Minsk because of the October Revolution. He studied law, political science and Ukrainian history and literature at University of Warsaw. 

Before the WWII he worked as a journalist and civil servant in Warsaw. During this time Giedroyc maintained contacts  with Ukrainian leaders, supporting aspirations of minorities in Poland. He also urged Roman Catholic Church to improve relations with the Greek Catholic Church, to which many Ukrainians belonged. Giedroyc consistently insisted that Poland's success as a state depended on satisfying aspirations of many minorities living in Poland. 

After WWII Giedroyc lived in Paris and published in Polish literary-political magazine Kultura. 

He significantly influenced Polish emigration and anticommunist opposition in Poland. 

Giedroyc is considered as a founder of Poland's modern eastern policy supporting post-soviet countries' independence, espacially of Ukraine, Lithuania and Belarus. He claimed  that there is no free Poland without free Ukraine in the slogan: Free Poland - Free Ukraine. 

He received orders from many countries, among them the French National Order of the Legion of Honour, the Ukrainian Order of Merit, honorary citizenship of Lithuania. 

Jerzy Nowosielski / Єжи Новосєльський

(1923-2011)

was a Polish icon painter, illustrator and Eastern Orthodox theologian. His father was Lemko, which is considered as Rusyn or Ukrainian. His mother was a Pole with German roots. He is best known for his religious wall paintings, iconostases and polychromies in the Eastern Orhodox and Roman Catholic churches in Poland and the Greek Catholic Church in Lourdes, France. He also painted landscapes, still lifes and abstract pictures.  His works are in musems and private collections around the world. 

Lada Nakonechna

Лада Наконечна 

(born 1981)  is a sculptor, grapic artist, performer, photographer and researcher working in different countries.

Lada is from Dnipro in Ukraine and studied at National Academy of visual arts and architecture at university in Kyiv.

She was a laureate of Kazimir Malevich Artist Award in 2014, which is founded by the Polish Institute in Kyiv. 

She visited Poland multiple times, once residing at Ujazdowski Castle Centre for Contemporary Art in Warsaw. In 2020 exhibited Bodies in the Distance in Poznań.  

Tetiana Galitsyna

Tetiana Ołeksandriwna Halicyna

Тетяна Олександрівна Галіцина 

(born 1984) 

is an extraordinary artist who specialises in sand animation. She creates breathtaking pictures before the audience's eyes using light table and sand's grains put on the table in intricate patterns with grateful hand movements. The pictures are usually an illustrative part of a story or music that audience can hear during the performance. The pictures form a captivating story with seamlessly changing scenes.

Tetiana was invited to participate in the 6th Polish edition of Got Talent in 2013. Her final performance captivated millions of viewers and gave her victory. She gained national fame in Poland and decided to move to Poland with her family. She founded Galitsyna Art Group, an international collective of artists who specialise in live performance. They have been performing all over the world, from Japan to the USA, accompanying major cultural or social events or creating adverts. Tetiana is always much involved in collaborations with charitable organisations. Since the 2020 she has been very involved in supporting Ukraine and Ukrainian refugees living in Poland.

Adam Bodnar / Адам Боднар

(born 1977)  

is a Polish lawyer, academic teacher, human right activist and politician of Polish-Ukrainian origin.

He was Polish ombudsman in 2015-2021.

Since 2023 he has been Minister of Justice and Public Prosecuter General.

Andrii Deszycia / Andrii Deshchytsia 

Андрій Дещиця

(born 1965)

is a Ukrainian diplomat and politician. He studied in Lviv and Canada. 

 Deshchytsia worked in embassies of Ukraine to Poland, Finland and Iceland.

In 2014 he was Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine.

He was Ambassador of Ukraine to Poland in 2014-2022.