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(CNN) - Known as the Pearl of the Black Sea, Odessa is one of the most captivating destinations in Ukraine.
But although its magnificent architecture and its beautiful beaches are relatively well known, the most fascinating destination here is really under the city.
Deep in the Moldavanka neighborhood, inside a modest garage located on a busy street, there is a special gateway to one of the largest urban labyrinths in the world: the Odessa Catacombs.
Upon entering, visitors receive a helmet and flashlight before descending about 25 meters (82 feet) into the darkness.
Buried city
With more than 2,000 kilometers (1,243 miles) of tunnels, this underground city is vast and complicated, with at least 1,000 known entrances. Therefore, tourists are advised not to enter without a qualified guide.
Its size seems particularly amazing compared to the catacombs of Rome and Paris, which cover 300 and 500 kilometers respectively.
But unlike those in the French and Italian cities, these underground passages were never used to bury the dead.
Today it is a chaotic system of disconnected caves and quarries or abandoned tunnels distributed on three levels. The story behind its existence begins around the time Odessa was founded at the end of the 18th century.
Coquina, a sedimentary rock, contributed greatly to the rapid growth of the city, because it was used to build most of the buildings in Odessa at that time.
The principle was simple: if you wanted to build a palace, the easiest way to find the material was to build a quarry and extract the amount of coquina you needed.
When the city experienced a great commercial boom between 1819 and 1859, many palaces were erected, which means that innumerable quarries were excavated underground.
This process was not regulated, a situation that explains why the area is so large and messy now.
The catacombs below the Moldavanka neighborhood are part of the Odessa Underground Secrets museum.
Air-raid shelter
With only a trace of weak light to follow, visitors encounter cold temperatures of around 13 Celsius (57 F) when venturing underground.
One of the first places to visit is a decomposing nuclear bunker from the Cold War, which uses the narrow paths of the catacombs as a base.
It is a rather bleak scene today. The air inside the shelter is stale, while the silence is deafening.
There are rusty pieces of cages and cables of Soviet-era equipment inside the unit, but the best is its mysterious engine room, which is almost completely submerged in the water.
Below is the so-called "wild" part of the catacombs, one of the many old quarries of coquina.
This section feels almost romantic compared to the bunker, with carbon paintings engraved on its walls, all with inscriptions below.
“There are hundreds of inscriptions, different symbols and paintings in the catacombs,” explains Andriy Dembitskyi, a guide from the local tourism agency Tudoy-Sudoy, passionate about Odessa.
While many of the subtitles indicate dates, addresses and even bad words, the meaning of those under these particular paintings is still unknown.
Underground stories
Exploring the Odessa catacombs can be a fascinating and sometimes spooky experience.
Dembitskyi recounts the moment when his colleague found a decomposing body, which was supposed to be a victim of World War II, in unexplored tunnels on the outskirts of Odessa.
He apparently put the remains in a bag before taking him to the police. According to Dembitskyi, the police refused to accept the body, arguing that it was located in the jurisdiction of one of the city's World War II museums. However, it seems that the museum also did not want to be responsible for the remains.
In the Kafka style, it is said that the guide drove through the city for several kilometers with the dead man in his trunk, before finishing at the prosecutor's office, who he said agreed to take him.
Another story involves a special unit of the NKVD, a Soviet secret police agency known for its role in the political repression and supervision of the jails and labor camps of the union.
Approximately 32 members were sent to the catacombs in 1941 to sabotage the Romanian allies of the German Nazis who occupied Odessa during World War II, when Ukraine was part of the Soviet Union.
The details of his destiny were sealed under the state archive for years, but the documents were finally opened to the public as part of the decommunication policy a few years ago, revealing that only one member of the group saw the light of day again.
The unit was composed of two groups of NKVD, one from Odessa and one from Moscow.
Tensions between competitive groups resulted in a chain of shootings and betrayals exacerbated by the atmosphere of the catacombs.
Many of the members were executed, while others died of various diseases.
By 1943, only the leaders of each group remained. But that same year, the head of the Odessa unit fatally shot his Moscow counterpart and spent more than nine months underground alone.
While he finally emerged from the ground, he was sent back in 1944 and died in a grenade explosion.
These horrifying tales are just two of the many dark stories connected to this maze of tunnels, which has also been linked to smugglers and outlaws.
Signs of life
As many sections remain unexplored to this day, we may never know all the secrets that are hidden in this underground labyrinth.
But there is more than just death and darkness to find here.
Dembitskyi points to the center of a compact underground lake, where there is a slight movement.
"Recently, we have started raising fish here as an experiment," he explains. "So far it works."
A dim light of life in a place where very little else has survived.
Further on, there is a sample of instruments used for the extraction of stone and various Soviet souvenirs, the reconstruction of a criminal stash dating from the Russian Empire and even an improvised underground restaurant.
When the tour comes to an end, Dembitsky explains that today's excursion has only covered about three kilometers of the catacombs, less than 1% of the total area.
Since the beginning of the 18th century, the Quarry Cantacuzene Museum (or Quarry Kantakuzin), which is separate from the Odessa Underground Secrets Museum, is also worth exploring.
As the oldest underground quarry in Odessa, it offers an interesting introduction to the world of catacombs, as well as the city's early history.
Back at ground level, the bustling Odessa feels totally different.
Now it is difficult to ignore the fact that there is another city below: a cold labyrinth of endless tunnels.
Fight for recognition
Leonid Ashtulenko, a guide who has spent more than 50 years of his life exploring the Odessa catacombs, is currently trying to publish a book about the inscriptions inside, his masterpiece.
Ashtulenko seeks private financing, because the city has shown little interest in the project.
He proudly displays the numerous photos he has taken, while enthusiastically reciting tales of the city below.
Both Dembitsky and Ashtulenko are part of a local movement to make the underground world more accessible to visitors.
The group has been fighting, with admirable enthusiasm, for the catacombs to be recognized as an attraction of Odessa in the same league as the National Academic Theater of Opera and Ballet and Philharmonic Theater of Odessa, as well as its Black Sea beaches.
And so far they are succeeding. Interest in the catacombs increases every year, as more and more people descend underground.
And you can't deny the charm of this mysterious underground area.
Mysterious and wild, the Odessa catacombs provide an unfiltered adventure to anyone who dares to enter.
labyrinthOdessaTunnelsUkraine