The center of the Ekaterinenskaya Square is a Monument to Catherine the II and the founding of Odessa. Built in 1900, and then in 1920 it was dismantled. It was restored in 2007.
Catherine II, on her order in 1794 marked the beginning of construction of the city and harbor. As a thank you from Odessa in 1900, the city erected a monument to her founding of the city: de Ribas de Volan, Potemkin, and Zubov. The monument was installed in the eponymous square, which is triangular in shape. After the 1917 revolution, the monument was dismantled; the statue was moved to the museum. At the site of the monument was a bust of Karl Marx. However, for some reason, this monument was disliked in Odessa.
In 1965, Karl Marx instead put a monument to the sailor's battleship "Potemkin". In 2007, the monument to Catherine II and the founding of Odessa was returned to its original location. Most of the fragments of the monument to Catherine II are the originals. She was made the only head of the Empress.