the romanians owned relatively small plots on which they built village style houses and cultivated vineyards and gardens. what was to become mikhailiv square was the center of this settlement and the site of its first orthodox church, the church of the dormition, built in 1821 close to the sea shore, as well as of a cemetery. nearby were the military barracks and the country houses (dacha) of the city's wealthy residents, including that of the duc de richelieu, appointed by czar alexander i as governor of odessa in 1803.