Tarusa
Encyclopedia
Tarussky District
Tarussky District is an administrative district , one of the 24 in Kaluga Oblast, Russia....
of Kaluga Oblast
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 left bank of 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...
, 36 kilometres (22.4 mi) south of Serpukhov
Serpukhov
Serpukhov is a city in Moscow Oblast, Russia, which is situated at the confluence of the Oka and the Nara Rivers. It is located south from Moscow on the Moscow—Simferopol highway. The Moscow—Tula railway passes through the town. Population: -History:...
, 76 kilometres (47.2 mi) northeast of Kaluga
Kaluga
Kaluga is a city and the administrative center of Kaluga Oblast, Russia, located on the Oka River southwest of Moscow. Population: It is served by Grabtsevo Airport.-History:...
, and about 140 kilometres (87 mi) south of Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
. Population:
The town of Tarusa is known to have existed since 1246, when it was the capital of one of the Upper Principalities. Later, the local rulers moved their seats to Meshchovsk
Meshchovsk
Meshchovsk is a town in Kaluga Oblast, Russia, located on the Tureya River southwest of Kaluga. Population: It was first mentioned in Russian chronicles in connection with the Mongol invasion of Rus in 1238...
and Boryatino, and Tarusa was subjugated by Muscovy in the late 14th century. Tarusa has been used as a stronghold at the southern approaches to Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
in the 15th-17th centuries. The Soviet authority in Tarusa was established on December 27, 1917. The town was occupied by the Germans
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...
between October 24 and December 19, 1941.
The name is from that of the Tarusa River, a tributary of the Oka; Tar- is a hydronym base characteristic of regions of ancient Baltic settlement. According to a popular belief, the name derives from Tarusa's geohistorical position as a border town to the adjoining realm of Lithuania situated on the bank of the Oka. Questions about travelers' whereabouts from the other bank were answered with the answer To - Rus!, meaning "This is Russia," eventually becoming the name of the town.
Remnants of the town's fortifications and the town wall can still be seen today in the community park near the city church.
A number of famous Russian people attracted by inspirational beauty of the place used to live and create in Tarusa, such as painter
Painting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...
Viktor Borisov-Musatov, poet
Poet
A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...
and writer
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
Marina Tsvetaeva
Marina Tsvetaeva
Marina Ivanovna Tsvetaeva was a Russian and Soviet poet. Her work is considered among some of the greatest in twentieth century Russian literature. She lived through and wrote of the Russian Revolution of 1917 and the Moscow famine that followed it. In an attempt to save her daughter Irina from...
, crystallographer
Crystallography
Crystallography is the experimental science of the arrangement of atoms in solids. The word "crystallography" derives from the Greek words crystallon = cold drop / frozen drop, with its meaning extending to all solids with some degree of transparency, and grapho = write.Before the development of...
Georgi Wolf, Nobel Prize-nominated writer Konstantin Paustovsky
Konstantin Paustovsky
Konstantin Georgiyevich Paustovsky was a Russian Soviet writer nominated for the Nobel Prize for literature in 1965.-Early life:Konstantin Paustovsky was born in Moscow. His father, descendant of the Zaporizhia Cossacks, was a railroad statistician, and was “an incurable romantic and Protestant”....
, Austrian photographer Veniamin Kostitsin-Teterin, sculptor
Sculpture
Sculpture is three-dimensional artwork created by shaping or combining hard materials—typically stone such as marble—or metal, glass, or wood. Softer materials can also be used, such as clay, textiles, plastics, polymers and softer metals...
Vasili Vatagin, painters Nikolai Krymov
Nikolai Krymov
Nikolay Petrovich Krymov was a Russian painter and art theoritican.Krymov was born into an artistic family. He studied with his father and at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture at the faculty of Architecture under Abram Arkhipov, Nikolai Kasatkin, Leonid Pasternak, and at...
, Veniamin Kostitsin
Veniamin Kostitsin
Veniamin Vladimirovich Kostitsin , is a Russian-born artist based in Austria. His oeuvre primarily incorporates painting, graphics and mixed media.-Childhood:...
, Vasili Baksheyev, Eduard Steinberg
Eduard Steinberg
Eduard Arkadevich Steinberg , born in Moscow 3 March 1937, is a Russian painter, philosopher and dissident.-Personal life:Steinberg is the son of poet and author Arkady Steinberg....
, Platon Obukhov
Platon Obukhov
-Writer, journalist, translator and painter:Platon Obukhov has authored twenty fiction books, including science fiction.* He has worked for Russian newspapers Izvestia , Soviet Sport, and others....
and others. Vasily Polenov
Vasily Polenov
Vasily Dmitrievich Polenov was a Russian landscape painter associated with the Peredvizhniki movement of realist artists.-Biography:...
's museum is located not far from Tarusa.
Famous people
- Joerg Duss
- Konstantin PaustovskyKonstantin PaustovskyKonstantin Georgiyevich Paustovsky was a Russian Soviet writer nominated for the Nobel Prize for literature in 1965.-Early life:Konstantin Paustovsky was born in Moscow. His father, descendant of the Zaporizhia Cossacks, was a railroad statistician, and was “an incurable romantic and Protestant”....
- Marina TsvetaevaMarina TsvetaevaMarina Ivanovna Tsvetaeva was a Russian and Soviet poet. Her work is considered among some of the greatest in twentieth century Russian literature. She lived through and wrote of the Russian Revolution of 1917 and the Moscow famine that followed it. In an attempt to save her daughter Irina from...
- Vasily PolenovVasily PolenovVasily Dmitrievich Polenov was a Russian landscape painter associated with the Peredvizhniki movement of realist artists.-Biography:...
- Viktor Borisov-Musatov
External links