Some of the slabs with which the floors are lined in the Vorontsov Palace were taken to the communist cemeteries of Odessa.

It was discovered by the restorers of the monument of architecture. Photo gravestones, which in Soviet times were used for repair as building materials, was published by Odessite Andrei Vagapov.

Here and below - photo by Andrey Vagapov.

Apparently, the plates found in the palace once designated places of burial in the Old Christian and First Jewish cemeteries, which were destroyed in the 1930s.

In the years 1935-1936 the Vorontsov Palace underwent a large-scale reconstruction. It was opened on December 31, 1936, already as the Palace of Pioneers.

Apparently, it was then that authentic granite and marble plates were replaced with stolen from historical cemeteries.

Earlier, we recall, restorers found on the north side of the Vorontsov colonnade a clutch of the previous construction - a two-story house of Kulikovsky. On the other hand, there were found the stuffed steps of the belvedere, which descended from the socle down.

Restorers believe that the steps performed the role of seats, and the colonnade towered above the amphitheater - it was a mini-copy of the ancient theater.