Kaluga
Encyclopedia
Kaluga Oblast
Kaluga Oblast is a federal subject of Russia . Its administrative center is the city of Kaluga.-Geography:Kaluga Oblast is located in the central part of the East European Plain. The Smolensk Highland lays in the western and north-western part of the oblast, while the Central Russian Highland -...
, Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
, located on the Oka River
Oka River
Oka is a river in central Russia, the largest right tributary of the Volga. It flows through the regions of Oryol, Tula, Kaluga, Moscow, Ryazan, Vladimir, and Nizhny Novgorod and is navigable over a large part of its total length, as far upstream as to the town of Kaluga. Its length exceeds...
150 kilometres (93.2 mi) southwest of Moscow. Population:
It is served by Grabtsevo Airport
Grabtsevo Airport
Grabtsevo Airport is an airport in Kaluga Oblast, Russia, located northeast of Kaluga. It accommodates small airliners. The airport is closed since 2009.Restricted area UU-R56 is located just southwest of the airfield over part of Kaluga town....
.
History
Kaluga was founded in the mid-14th century as a border fortress on the southwestern borders of the Muscovy. It was first mentioned by its present name in 1371. In the Middle Ages, Kaluga was a minor settlement owned by the Princes Vorotynsky. The ancestral homeVorotynsk
Vorotynsk was one of the Upper Oka towns and seat of the mediaeval Princes Vorotynsky. It was first mentioned in the Hypatian Codex under the year 1155. In 1480, Vorotynsk was the principal base of Russian operations against the Tatars during the Great standing on the Ugra river...
of these princes is located south-west from the modern city.
Kaluga is connected to Moscow by a railway line and the ancient roadway, the Kaluga road (now partly within Moscow (as Starokaluzhskoye Shosse), partly the A101 road
Russian route A101
The Russian route 101 is a Russian federal highway from Moscow to the border with Belarus, where in turns into the Belarusian route P43 to Bobruysk.Within Moscow Oblast it coincides with the old Kaluga road, until the village of Lvovo....
). This road was the favoured escape route from the Moscow trap for Napoleon in the fall of 1812. But General Kutuzov repelled Napoleon's advances in this direction and forced the retreating French army onto the old Smolensk road, previously devastated by the French during their invasion of Russia.
Kaluga was occupied by the Nazi
Nazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
armies in 1941.
In 1944 the Soviet Government used its local military buildings to intern hundreds of Polish POW - soldiers of the Polish Underground Home Army
Armia Krajowa
The Armia Krajowa , or Home Army, was the dominant Polish resistance movement in World War II German-occupied Poland. It was formed in February 1942 from the Związek Walki Zbrojnej . Over the next two years, it absorbed most other Polish underground forces...
, who were arrested by advancing Soviet front in the Vilno
Vilnius
Vilnius is the capital of Lithuania, and its largest city, with a population of 560,190 as of 2010. It is the seat of the Vilnius city municipality and of the Vilnius district municipality. It is also the capital of Vilnius County...
district.
Kaluga is known for its most famous resident, Konstantin Tsiolkovsky
Konstantin Tsiolkovsky
Konstantin Eduardovich Tsiolkovsky was an Imperial Russian and Soviet rocket scientist and pioneer of the astronautic theory. Along with his followers the German Hermann Oberth and the American Robert H. Goddard, he is considered to be one of the founding fathers of rocketry and astronautics...
, a rocket science pioneer who worked here as a school teacher. The Tsiolkovsky museum in Kaluga is dedicated to his theoretical achievements and their practical implementations for modern space research, hence the motto on the city's coat of arms
Coat of arms
A coat of arms is a unique heraldic design on a shield or escutcheon or on a surcoat or tabard used to cover and protect armour and to identify the wearer. Thus the term is often stated as "coat-armour", because it was anciently displayed on the front of a coat of cloth...
: "The Cradle of Space Exploration".
Administrative and municipal status
Administratively, along with seventy-two rural localities, it is incorporated as the CityCity of federal subject significance
City of federal subject significance is an umbrella term used to refer to a type of an administrative division of a federal subject of Russia which is equal in status to a district but is organized around a large city; occasionally with surrounding rural territories.According to the 1993...
of Kaluga—an administrative unit with a status equal to that of the districts
Administrative divisions of Kaluga Oblast
*Cities and towns under the oblast's jurisdiction:**Kaluga ***city okrugs:****Leninsky *****with 3 rural okrugs under the city okrug's jurisdiction.****Moskovsky...
.
Municipally, the territory of the City of Kaluga, along with one rural locality in Ferzikovsky District
Ferzikovsky District
Ferzikovsky District is an administrative district of Kaluga Oblast, Russia. The area of the district is . Its administrative center is the urban locality of Ferzikovo...
, is incorporated as Kaluga Urban Okrug.
Economy
In recent years Kaluga has become one of the centers of the Russian automotive industryAutomotive industry
The automotive industry designs, develops, manufactures, markets, and sells motor vehicles, and is one of the world's most important economic sectors by revenue....
, with a number of foreign companies opening assembly plants in the area.
On November 28, 2007, Volkswagen Group
Volkswagen Group
Volkswagen Group is a German multinational automobile manufacturing group. , Volkswagen was ranked as the world’s third largest motor vehicle manufacturer and Europe's largest....
opened a new assembly plant in Kaluga, with further expansion plans planned to be completed by, or during, 2009. The investment has reached more than 500 million Euro. The plant currently assembles the Volkswagen Passat
Volkswagen Passat
The Volkswagen Passat is a large family car marketed by Volkswagen Passenger Cars through six design generations since 1973. Between the Volkswagen Golf / Volkswagen Jetta and the Volkswagen Phaeton in the current Volkswagen line-up, the Passat and its derivatives have been badged variously as...
and Škoda Octavia
Škoda Octavia
The Škoda Octavia is a small family car produced by Czech automaker Škoda Auto since 1996, its name revived from a model originally produced between 1959 and 1971. The current Octavia is available in five-door liftback and station wagon....
. Planned annual capacity from 2009: up to 150,000 vehicles.
On October 15, 2007, the Volvo Group broke ground on a new truck assembly plant, scheduled to be finished in early 2009. Once completed the plant is expected to have yearly capacity of 10,000 Volvo and 5,000 Renault
Renault Trucks
Renault Trucks is a French truck manufacturer with its corporate headquarters at Saint-Priest near Lyon. Originally part of Renault, it has been owned by Volvo Group since 2001....
trucks.
On December 12, 2007, PSA Peugeot Citroën
PSA Peugeot Citroën
PSA Peugeot Citroën is a French manufacturer of automobiles and motorcycles sold under the Peugeot and Citroën marques. Headquartered in the 16th arrondissement of Paris, PSA is the second largest automaker based in Europe and the number eight in the world.-History:In December 1974 Peugeot S.A....
announced its decision to build a new assembly plant in Kaluga. By March 2010 the plant was operational, building Peugeot 308
Peugeot 308
The Peugeot 308 is a small family car produced by the French car manufacturer Peugeot. It was unveiled on June 5, 2007 and sales started from September 2007. Its development code was "Project T7", and is the first car of the X08 generation of Peugeot models. The 308 features a range of petrol and...
s for the Russian market and would also produce Citroen
Citroën
Citroën is a major French automobile manufacturer, part of the PSA Peugeot Citroën group.Founded in 1919 by French industrialist André-Gustave Citroën , Citroën was the first mass-production car company outside the USA and pioneered the modern concept of creating a sales and services network that...
and Mitsubishi
Mitsubishi Motors
is a multinational automaker headquartered in Minato, Tokyo. In 2009 it was the fifth-largest Japan-based automaker and the 17th-largest in the world measured by production...
models.
Transport
Public transportation is represented by the trolleybusTrolleybus
A trolleybus is an electric bus that draws its electricity from overhead wires using spring-loaded trolley poles. Two wires and poles are required to complete the electrical circuit...
es, bus
Bus
A bus is a road vehicle designed to carry passengers. Buses can have a capacity as high as 300 passengers. The most common type of bus is the single-decker bus, with larger loads carried by double-decker buses and articulated buses, and smaller loads carried by midibuses and minibuses; coaches are...
es, and marshrutka
Marshrutka
Marshrutka , from marshrutnoye taksi is a share taxi in the CIS countries, the Baltic states, and Bulgaria. Marshrutnoye taksi literally means routed taxicab...
s.
Notable people
- Alexander Amfiteatrov
- Yuri AverbakhYuri AverbakhYuri Lvovich Averbakh is a Soviet and Russian chess player and author. He is currently the oldest living chess grandmaster.-Life and career:...
- Mykola AzarovMykola AzarovMykola Yanovych Azarov ; born Nikolai Yanovich Pakhlo on 17 December 1947, is a Ukrainian politician who has been the Prime Minister of Ukraine since 11 March 2010. He was the First Vice Prime Minister and Finance Minister from 2002 to 2005 and again from 2006 to 2007, and he also served as acting...
- Pafnuty ChebyshevPafnuty ChebyshevPafnuty Lvovich Chebyshev was a Russian mathematician. His name can be alternatively transliterated as Chebychev, Chebysheff, Chebyshov, Tschebyshev, Tchebycheff, or Tschebyscheff .-Early years:One of nine children, Chebyshev was born in the village of Okatovo in the district of Borovsk,...
, mathematician - Alexander ChizhevskyAlexander ChizhevskyAlexander Chizhevsky was a Soviet-era interdisciplinary scientist, a biophysicist who founded “heliobiology” and “aero-ionization”...
- David EdelstadtDavid EdelstadtDavid Edelstadt was a Jewish-Russian-American anarchist poet of Yiddish language.- Biography :...
- Alexander GretchaninovAlexander GretchaninovAlexander Tikhonovich Gretchaninov was a Russian Romantic composer.-His life:Gretchaninov started his musical studies rather late because his father, a businessman, had expected the boy to take over the family firm...
, Russian-American composer - Jonah of ManchuriaJonah of ManchuriaJonah , Bishop of Hankou , was a diocesan bishop of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia who served in Northern China in the years immediately following the Bolshevik Revolution....
- Andrei KalaychevAndrei KalaychevAndrei Sergeyevich Kalaychev is a retired Soviet and Russian football player.-International career:Kalaychev played his only game for USSR on February 21, 1989 in a friendly against Bulgaria.-References:...
- Valery KobelevValery Kobelev-Nordic combined:Valery Kobelev began his professional career in Nordic combined and participated in the men's team and individual events at the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer. Kobelev was placed 48th in the individual 15 km competition, and reached 12th place together with his Russian...
, ski jumper - Mikhail LingeMikhail LingeMikhail Innokentyevich Linge was a gold medalist in the men's 4x400 m relay at the 1980 Summer Olympics for the Soviet Union....
- Pavel PopovichPavel Popovich- Biography :He was born in Uzyn, Kiev Oblast of Soviet Union . to Roman Porfirievich Popovich and Theodosia Kasyanovna Semyonov. He had two sisters and two brothers ....
, cosmonaut, the only person to receive two honorary citizenships of Kaluga (1962 and 1964) - Nikolai RakovNikolai RakovNikolai Petrovich Rakov was a Soviet composer.-Life:...
- Imam ShamilImam ShamilImam Shamil also spelled Shamyl, Schamil, Schamyl or Shameel was an Avar political and religious leader of the Muslim tribes of the Northern Caucasus...
- Nikolay SkvortsovNikolay Skvortsov (swimmer)Nikolay Valeryevich Skvortsov is a butterfly swimmer from Russia, who won a silver and a bronze medal at the 2004 European Championships in Madrid, Spain. He swam for Russia at the 2004 Summer Olympics, where he finished in seventh place in the 200 fly....
, swimmer - Yuliya TabakovaYuliya TabakovaYuliya Gennadiyevna Tabakova , is a Russian track and field sprint athlete, competing internationally for Russia.She won the silver medal in the 4x100m relay at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Greece.-External links:...
- Konstantin TsiolkovskyKonstantin TsiolkovskyKonstantin Eduardovich Tsiolkovsky was an Imperial Russian and Soviet rocket scientist and pioneer of the astronautic theory. Along with his followers the German Hermann Oberth and the American Robert H. Goddard, he is considered to be one of the founding fathers of rocketry and astronautics...
- Georgy ZhukovGeorgy ZhukovMarshal of the Soviet Union Georgy Konstantinovich Zhukov , was a Russian career officer in the Red Army who, in the course of World War II, played a pivotal role in leading the Red Army through much of Eastern Europe to liberate the Soviet Union and other nations from the Axis Powers' occupation...
- Olesya ZykinaOlesya ZykinaOlesya Nikolaevna Zykina is a Russian athlete who mainly competes in the 400 metres. In addition to winning medals in individual contests, she has been a very successful relay runner, winning the silver medal at the 2004 Olympics.-Achievements:...
Twin towns/sister cities
Kaluga is twinnedTown twinning
Twin towns and sister cities are two of many terms used to describe the cooperative agreements between towns, cities, and even counties in geographically and politically distinct areas to promote cultural and commercial ties.- Terminology :...
with: Lahti
Lahti
Lahti is a city and municipality in Finland.Lahti is the capital of the Päijänne Tavastia region. It is situated on a bay at the southern end of lake Vesijärvi about north-east of the capital Helsinki...
, Finland
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
Suhl
Suhl
- Geography :Suhl sits on the south edge of the Suhler Scholle, an upthrust granite complex that is streaked by numerous dikes. This is part of the Ruhla-Schleusingen Horst that defines the southwest side of the Thuringian Forest...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
Binningen