Key points:
- The research is being conducted opposite the upper pavilion of the funicular. Part of the territory has already been fenced off, and the work itself will last about two months.
- Archaeologists hope to confirm the 2025 hypothesis and pinpoint on the modern map of Odessa the exact location of the legendary Ottoman castle.
- The expedition is led by the Institute of Archaeology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine and the Ushinsky South Ukrainian National Pedagogical University.
Back to the past: what they are looking for on Primorsky Boulevard
At the excavation site work is already in full swing: specialists have carefully dismantled part of the granite pavement of the boulevard and removed the top layer of soil. Researchers work both manually – with shovels, brushes, and buckets – and use jackhammers to break through hard modern layers. Neat stacks of dismantled slabs have already grown nearby, and a container for construction waste has been installed.
The new excavation was laid about ten meters from last year's site. As one of the expedition leaders, Andriy Krasnozhon, explained, Primorsky Boulevard is a unique multi-layered archaeological monument.
"Over the past 30 years, cultural layers ranging from 2500 years old (from antiquity) to the first years of Odessa's existence have been discovered here," the historian noted.
The main incentive for scientists in the 2026 season is last year's finds. Then archaeologists managed to unearth the remains of a substantial structure from the Ottoman period. Scientists suggest that they stumbled upon a fragment of the coastal wall of the artillery battery of the Hadjibey fortress. The current excavations should finally confirm or refute these bold hypotheses.
That very angle, the manhole cover, and wartime realities
Odessa residents are already joking on social media: archaeologists decided to look under "that very manhole cover." This refers to the well-known observation platform (manhole cover) near the Duke, which has become part of the city's humor due to the specific optical angle on the monument.
True, it is still impossible to evaluate the famous angle now: since the beginning of the full-scale war, the monument to the Duke de Richelieu has been reliably protected from shelling by sandbags and special structures.
Nevertheless, the scientists reassured the citizens: as soon as all underground secrets are studied, archaeologists will return the granite slabs to their place and put the legendary manhole cover back.
Recall that the excavations began after georadar surveys in 2021 revealed an anomaly, confirmed in the spring of 2025, which, according to the scientist, indicates the remains of the stone fortress of Hadjibey.
