You can find this monument at the top of Potemkin Stairs. It is the first monument erected in Odessa. It is depicting the Duc de Richelieu, a French nobleman who became Odessa's first Russian governor. The Roman-toga figure was designed by the Russian sculptor, Ivan Petrovich Martos (1754-1835). The statue was cast in bronze by Yefimov and unveiled in 1826.

Local people called Duc "Our Duc" and considered him a founder of Odessa, even though the city has already been 8 years old.

Very often you can hear the phrase from locals: "Look at the Duc from the hatch (cover)." It rhymes in Russian and sounds funny. But if you look it looks funny as well ;)