Potemkin Steps

One of Odessa's best known landmarks is the Potemkin Steps (as it was named during Soviet times and is still referred to by most, even though the official name was changed back to the pre-Soviet "Primorsky Steps" after independence in 1991). This collection of 192 steps and ten landings runs from Primorsky Boulevard (and a statue of Duc de Richelieu) down to Odessa's harbor on the Black Sea. The steps are famous for two interesting optical illusions. First, as you stand at the top look down you still only the landings (not the individual steps themselves), but if you stand at the bottom and look up you see only the stairs' risers and not the landings. Second, the bottom of the staircase is almost twice as wide as the top (71 feet versus 41 feet), creating an exaggerated sense of perspective that makes the steps appear much longer than they really are.