The brainchild of Italian architect Francesco Boffo, St. Paul’s was originally constructed in 1824. By the 1890s, the congregation had outgrown the building, and an expansion project was commissioned. Reopened in 1897, the new church could accommodate up to 1200. Houses of worship were not immune to the radical changes that took place during Soviet rule, and St. Paul’s was transformed into a sports hall. Fire devastated the structure in 1976, and a pile of rubble marked the site until a recent movement to rebuild finally garnered necessary support. The new cathedral promises to be a much needed centre for Odesa’s Lutheran and German communities. A couple interesting historical notes: Teofil Richter, father of virtuoso Sviatoslav Richter, played organ here and Leon Trotsky, V. I. Lenin’s right hand man, attended St. Paul’s school. In his memoirs, Trotsky wrote: St. Paul’s Realschule “sowed in me, contrary to its direct purpose, the seeds of enmity for the existing order.”