At the beginning of 2019, on the initiative of the director of the Odesa Fine Arts Museum Oleksandr Roytburd, Marazli Club appeared – a public organization whose activities are aimed at supporting and developing our institution. Since then, 78 members have joined the club. Thus, in one and a half years, due to membership fees in the museum, among other things, the lighting in 16 halls was changed, a large-scale exhibition dedicated to the work of Konstantin Somov was organized, and exhibition halls were renovated. Marazli Club provides the museum with a permanent fund for sustainable development, the implementation of the exhibition and educational projects, restoration work, renovation of museum equipment, and replenishment of the collection.

It is symbolic that the City Museum of Fine Arts (now the Odesa Fine Arts Museum) was opened in 1899 at the expense of patrons – thanks to the efforts of the Society of Fine Arts. The museum building was donated to the city by public figure Hryhoriy Marazli. Wealthy and well-known people in the city took care of the Society of Fine Arts and the Museum at various times, such as General of the Infantry Prince Semyon Vorontsov, architect and teacher Franz Morandi, professor of medicine Mykola Sklifosofsky, great homeowner Count Michael Tolstoy, Governor-General Pavel Zertsebu, merchant, politician Hryhoriy Marazli and many others. This is an important precedent in the history of Odesa, because the local elites, supporting the development of culture and arts, laid the foundation for the transformation of the city into a center of cultural life.

In the autumn of 1899, the Odesa Fine Arts Museum received its first visitors. 120 years later, people who care about the museum and its fate come together to help the museum preserve its unique collection and promote domestic art among citizens and internationally.

We dream of continuing this tradition and invite you to join the community of fans of change in the cultural life of Odesa!