A Gateway for Goods and Ideas: How Odesa Turned from a Dusty Village into «a Town of Pleasure and Luxury»

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Odesa is a city unlike any other. Its cobbled streets, grand architecture, and vibrant cultural legacy might evoke France or Italy. Street names like Langeron Beach, Richelieu Street, and the French Boulevard enhance its Mediterranean allure. Yet, this remarkable place is in Ukraine – and it offers lessons in freedom and self-governance that resonate far beyond its borders, setting an example for modern-era free cities.

The last time Odesa made global headlines, it was due to Russian airstrikes that severely damaged its Unesco-listed historic centre. Yet, even as Ukraine fights for its survival, Odesa’s resilience and creativity endure, rooted in the city’s early history. In the early 19th century, when authoritarian empires controlled vast stretches of Europe, Odesa was an oasis where merchants, thinkers, and workers came together, driven not by coercion, but by entrepreneurial spirit.

Cosmopolitan Charm

Two hundred years ago, Odesa was little more than a dusty frontier of the Russian Empire, sparsely populated and struggling even to supply fresh water. Yet within two decades, it had transformed into a bustling commercial hub and one of Europe’s fanciest resorts. Visitors were captivated by its European allure and cosmopolitan charm, a surprising discovery on the shores of the Black Sea. The legendary Mark Twain admired its “stirring, business-look.” A French traveller described Odesa as “a town of pleasure and luxury,” while Alexander Ribeaupierre, a diplomat, called it “a most extraordinary place,” as if “created by a magical wand.” What is that secret magical ingredient that so quickly turns a village into a metropolis?

«Visitors were captivated by its European allure and cosmopolitan charm.»

Building a city from the ground up requires more than just construction materials, a master plan, and financial backing; above all, it needs people. In Odesa’s early days, nearly a third of its population didn’t even hold Russian passports. This fact speaks volumes: many of its residents were either foreigners drawn to the city’s promise or outlaws seeking a fresh start. Notably, the city’s rulers were often foreigners themselves: José de Ribas, the founder, was Spanish; Franz de Volan, the first architect of Odesa, was Dutch; the first mayor, Duc de Richelieu, was French; and another prominent leader, Count de Langeron, was also French. These leaders brought with them a worldview that emphasised economic freedoms and open borders.

“A Nest of Conspirators”

Odesa was not only a haven for foreigners but also a refuge for outlaws and those marginalised within the Russian Empire. Many of its early residents were runaway serfs, seeking freedom from the grip of serfdom that still bound much of the country in the 19th century. Odesa’s leaders made a pragmatic choice: they needed hard-working people to build the city, and if someone was willing to contribute, their lack of official papers was overlooked.

Thanks to this pragmatism, Odesa became a sanctuary for those escaping oppression of all kinds – religious dissenters, Jewish traders, and creative minds. One English traveller observed that Odesa had “more political freedom than anywhere else in the empire,” a rare environment in Nicholas I’s Russia. The emperor, wary of this liberality, labelled Odesa “a nest of conspirators,” but with St. Petersburg far away, local rulers let the city flourish on its own terms.

Porto Franco Cities: Trade Without Borders

In addition to its open policies, Odesa was a porto franco – a free port. In essence, a porto franco is a place where goods can be imported, stored, and exported without the heavy hand of customs and tariffs. This concept gained prominence in the Mediterranean during the Middle Ages, with Italian cities like Genoa and Venice emerging as major trade hubs. These ports were not just conduits for commercial goods but also for ideas, arts, and literature, using their wealth from trade to fund iconic Renaissance artists like da Vinci and Michelangelo.

Other European cities offer similar examples. Trieste, granted porto franco status, became the largest and wealthiest port in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Livorno, another free port on Italy’s western coast, developed into a vibrant trading centre and a refuge for persecuted minorities, hosting one of Europe’s wealthiest Jewish communities. Hamburg, whose porto franco status dates back to the 12th century, played a central role in the Hanseatic League and at one point was the third-largest port in Europe. These free ports were gateways not only for goods but also for cultural exchange and creativity.

Odesa’s designation as a porto franco marked the beginning of a new chapter in its history. Customs fees were slashed by a factor of ten, and the result was extraordinary – Odesa quickly became one of the fastest-growing cities in Europe. It was described as an “instant city,” one that “rose like a mushroom after a heavy rain” and seemed to “have no infancy.” As one German engineer put it, such rapid growth was “unheard of in Europe.”

In modern terms, for the first half of the 19^th century Odesa functioned as a special economic zone. Today, these zones have many names: free ports, foreign trade zones, prosperity zones, economic cities, and others. At the Free Cities Foundation, we use the term “free city” to describe different kinds of self-governing territories that uphold individual rights and freedoms. Odesa was a free city of its time, competing successfully with Turkish and Greek ports along the Black Sea by following a clear formula: low tariffs, strong property rights, and minimal regulation.

«Odesa was a free city of its time, competing successfully with Turkish and Greek ports along the Black Sea by following a clear formula:
low tariffs, strong property rights, and minimal regulation.»

New Century, Same Recipe

The effectiveness of this model has been echoed in the 20th century by city-states like Hong Kong and Dubai, where economic freedom transformed modest settlements into some of the wealthiest cities in the world. Dubai, too, was once a small fishing village, and in just a few decades, it became a trading powerhouse and a global luxury destination. Like Odesa, Dubai relies on an international population: today, 85 percent of its residents are expatriates. Whether a 19th-century Greek merchant or a 21st-century digital nomad, people have always migrated to places where opportunities align with freedom.

Odesa’s success story echoes the words of Dubai’s late Sheikh Rashid, who famously said, “What’s good for the merchants is good for Dubai.” The same philosophy applied to Odesa. The wealth generated by the city’s merchants was reinvested back into its development. Private capital funded public goods like sewage systems and street lighting, supported the poor, and paved the streets. In Odesa, it was private enterprise, not government intervention, that built the roads and laid the foundations for a thriving metropolis.

«The wealth generated by the city’s merchants was reinvested back into its development.»

Gustavo de Molinari (1819-1912), one of the founding fathers of anarcho-capitalism, visited Odesa twice and was struck by its unique model of self-governance. He highlighted the stark contrast between the restrictive environment elsewhere in the country and the freedom he saw in Odesa. “Russia suffers from a plethora of administrative and regulatory rules,” he noted, adding that “all is forbidden except what the law permits.” But Odesa, he wrote, had carved out a different path: “Among major towns in the Russian Empire, Odessa had more successfully than others followed the model of decentralization.” Molinari saw Odesa as a remarkable example of a less bureaucratic, more open society.

A Model for Modern Free Cities

Odesa was not merely a trading hub; it was an enclave of freedom within one of the most repressive regimes of its era – the Russian Empire. In contrast to St. Petersburg, where even smoking in the streets, wearing flowers in one’s buttonhole, or leaving one’s uniform unbuttoned could be forbidden, Odesa embodied a rare spirit of liberty. In Odesa, cab drivers smoked freely, young people wore the latest European fashions, and locals sang opera arias in the streets. Such everyday freedoms were unthinkable anywhere else in the country.

In many respects, Odesa was the “Wild West” of its time and region. Here, runaway serfs – people who had escaped some of the harshest forms of unfreedom – could rise to become some of the city’s wealthiest merchants. The city offered a social lift that seemed unimaginable within the constraints of the empire.

Times like ours, marked by political turbulence and economic uncertainty, seem to be ill-suited for visionary projects like brand-new self-governing cities. But Odesa’s story suggests the opposite. Odesa thrived precisely because it was an exception to Russia’s rigid rules and controls.

Today, as global freedom is on decline, free cities offer more than economic opportunities; they offer sanctuaries. Odesa’s story reminds us that even in the darkest times, there is a chance to build places where people can breathe freely. The question is not whether the world is too turbulent for free cities, but whether we can build enough of them to meet the growing demand for freedom.

«Odesa’s story reminds us that even in the darkest times, there is a chance to build places where people can breathe freely.»

This essay is based on a speech held at the Liberty in our Lifetime conference in Prague in November.