"Itcommands be the port and the city" - with these words of Empress Catherine II, spoken in 1794, as legend has it, started the 200-year history of Odessa. In appreciation in 1900 Odessa erected a monument to those who stood at the origins of birth: Chief of the army of Prince Grigory Potemkin Tauride, Superior Region Count Platon Zubov, head of the storming of Hadzhibeya and superior construction of the city and the port of Joseph de Ribas, the author and the first Artist Project future Odessa Franz de flounces and, of course, Catherine the Great. The monument was erected in 1900, in 1920 - dismantled and placed in a historical museum. In its place, in 1965 established the sailors monument-potemkintsam. In the autumn of 2007, almost ninety years, the monument was returned to its historic place. A decision on a comprehensive restoration of the Catherine area according to its historic appearance and to re-establish the lost monument to the founders of the city taken by the deputies of the Odessa City Council, according to opinion polls, supported by the majority Odessa. On the basis of archival documents have been restored in every detail preserved in the Odessa museum figures of four associates of Catherine. Figure of the empress, from which there was only a bust, was cast again. A column of red granite, which serves as a pedestal for Catherine, also made from scratch. October 27, 2007 was inaugurated a monument to the founders of Odessa, and the architectural ensemble - Catherine Square - returned to its original unique flavor ... Most of the fragments of the monument to Catherine - originals. In particular, figures de Ribas, Platon Zubov, Grigori Potemkin, who stand at the foot of a bronze Catherine. Re was made only the head of the empress. Since then, opponents of the restoration of the monument has repeatedly tried to prevent the intention of the authorities: they defiantly burnt effigy of the Empress, and several times came into collision with the police trying to break even a fence around the monument.