city
A city is a human settlement of a substantial size. The term "city" has different meanings around the world and in some places the settlement can be very small. Even where the term is limited to larger settlements, there is no universally agree ...
and the
administrative center
An administrative centre is a seat of regional administration or local government, or a county town, or the place where the central administration of a commune, is located.
In countries with French as the administrative language, such as Belgiu ...
of
Kaluga Oblast
Kaluga Oblast () is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject of Russia (an oblast). Its administrative center is the types of inhabited localities in Russia, city of Kaluga. The Russian Census (2021), 2021 Russian Census found a population o ...
, Russia. It stands on the
Oka River
The 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, ...
southwest of
Moscow
Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...
. Its population was 337,058 at the 2021 census.
Kaluga's most famous resident, the space travel pioneer
Konstantin Tsiolkovsky
Konstantin Eduardovich Tsiolkovsky (; rus, Константин Эдуардович Циолковский, p=kənstɐnʲˈtʲin ɪdʊˈardəvʲɪtɕ tsɨɐlˈkofskʲɪj, a=Ru-Konstantin Tsiolkovsky.oga; – 19 September 1935) was a Russi ...
, worked there as a school teacher from 1892 to 1935. The
Tsiolkovsky State Museum of the History of Cosmonautics
The Konstantin E. Tsiolkovsky State Museum of the History of Cosmonautics () is the first museum in the world dedicated to the history of space exploration.coat of arms
A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the last two being outer garments), originating in Europe. The coat of arms on an escutcheon f ...
: , ''Kolybélʹ kosmonávtiki'' ("''The Cradle of Space-Exploration''").
History
Kaluga, founded in the mid-14th century as a border fortress on the southwestern borders of the
Grand Duchy of Moscow
The Grand Principality of Moscow, or Muscovy, known as the Principality of Moscow until 1389, was a late medieval Russian monarchy. Its capital was the city of Moscow. Originally established as a minor principality in the 13th century, the gra ...
, first appears in the historical record in chronicles in the 14th century as ''Koluga''; the name comes from Old Russian ''kaluga'' is "bog, quagmire". During the period of Tartar raids it was the western end of the Oka bank defense line. The Great stand on the Ugra River was fought just to the west. In the Middle Ages Kaluga was a minor settlement owned by the Princes
Vorotynsky
The Vorotynsky family was a Russian noble family which was involved in the politics of the Grand Duchy of Moscow and the Tsardom of Russia. Their lands lay principally in the Upper Oka region and comprised the towns of Peremyshl and Vorotyns ...
. The
ancestral home
An ancestral home is the place of origin of one's extended family, particularly the home owned and preserved by the same family for several generations. The term can refer to an individual house or estate, or to a broader geographic area such as a ...
of these princes lies southwest of the modern city.
On 19 January 1777, the Kaluga drama theatre opened its first theatrical season, established with the direct participation of the Governor-General
Mikhail Krechetnikov
Michael N. Krechetnikov (, 1729, Moscow
Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population e ...
.
Kaluga is connected to Moscow by a railway line and by the ancient roadway, the Kaluga Road (now partly within Moscow (as the Old Kaluga Highway), partly the A101 road). This road offered
Napoleon
Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led Military career ...
his favored escape route from the Moscow trap in the fall of 1812. But General
Kutuzov
Prince Mikhail Illarionovich Golenishchev-Kutuzov-Smolensky (; – ) was a List of Russian field marshals, Field Marshal of the Russian Empire. He served as a military officer and a diplomat under the reign of three House of Romanov, Romanov ...
repelled Napoleon's advances in this direction and forced the retreating French army onto the
Old Smolensk Road Old Smolensk Road () is a historical road () in the Smolensk Oblast and Moscow Oblast, connecting the Moscow Kremlin and the Smolensk Fortress. On the Smolensk - Kardymovo - Dorogobuzh - Vyazma section it coincides with the P134 road, after Vyazma t ...
, previously devastated by the French during their invasion of Russia.
On several occasions during the Russian Empire Kaluga was the residence of political exiles and prisoners such as the last Crimean khan
Şahin Giray
Şahin Giray Crimean Tatar, Ottoman Turkish and (1745–1787) was the last khan of Crimea on two occasions (1777–1782, 1782–1783).
Life
He was born in 1745 in Edirne. He was the son of Ahmed Giray. He had a brother named Katti Giray.
...
(1786), the Kyrgyz sultan Arigazi-Abdul-Aziz (1828), the Georgian princess
Thecla
Thecla (, ) was a saint of the early Christian Church, and a reported follower of Paul the Apostle. The earliest record of her life comes from the ancient apocryphal '' Acts of Paul and Thecla''.
Church tradition
The ''Acts of Paul and Thecla ...
(1834–1835), and the Avar leader
Imam Shamil
Imam Shamil (; ; ; ; ; 26 June 1797 – 4 February 1871) was the political, military, and spiritual leader of North Caucasian resistance to Imperial Russia in the 1800s, the third Imam of the Caucasian Imamate (1840–1859), and a Sunni Muslim ...
(1859–1868).
The
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany, the country of the Germans and German things
**Germania (Roman era)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...
army
An army, ground force or land force is an armed force that fights primarily on land. In the broadest sense, it is the land-based military branch, service branch or armed service of a nation or country. It may also include aviation assets by ...
briefly occupied Kaluga during the climactic
Battle of Moscow
The Battle of Moscow was a military campaign that consisted of two periods of strategically significant fighting on a sector of the Eastern Front during World War II, between October 1941 and January 1942. The Soviet defensive effort frustrated H ...
, as part of
Operation Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa was the invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany and several of its European Axis allies starting on Sunday, 22 June 1941, during World War II. More than 3.8 million Axis troops invaded the western Soviet Union along ...
. The city was under full or partial German occupation from October 12 to December 30, 1941. In 1944, the Soviet Government used its local military buildings to intern hundreds of Polish prisoners of war — soldiers of the Polish underground
Home Army
The Home Army (, ; abbreviated AK) was the dominant resistance movement in German-occupied Poland during World War II. The Home Army was formed in February 1942 from the earlier Związek Walki Zbrojnej (Armed Resistance) established in the ...
— whom the advancing Soviet front had arrested in the area around
Vilnius
Vilnius ( , ) is the capital of and List of cities in Lithuania#Cities, largest city in Lithuania and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, most-populous city in the Baltic states. The city's estimated January 2025 population w ...
.
Demographics
As of the 2021 Census, the ethnic composition of Kaluga was:
Administrative and municipal status
Kaluga is the
administrative center
An administrative centre is a seat of regional administration or local government, or a county town, or the place where the central administration of a commune, is located.
In countries with French as the administrative language, such as Belgiu ...
of the
oblast
An oblast ( or ) is a type of administrative division in Bulgaria and several post-Soviet states, including Belarus, Russia and Ukraine. Historically, it was used in the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union. The term ''oblast'' is often translated i ...
City
A city is a human settlement of a substantial size. The term "city" has different meanings around the world and in some places the settlement can be very small. Even where the term is limited to larger settlements, there is no universally agree ...
of Kaluga—an administrative unit with the status equal to that of the
districts
A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions ...
. As a municipal division, the City of Kaluga, together with one rural locality in
Ferzikovsky District
Ferzikovsky District () is an administrativeCharter of Kaluga Oblast and municipalLaw #7-OZ district (raion), one of the twenty-four in Kaluga Oblast, Russia. It is located in the east of the oblast. The area of the district is . Its administrati ...
(the '' selo'' of Novozhdamirovo), is incorporated as Kaluga Urban Okrug.Law #7-OZ
Economy
The
Kaluga Turbine Plant
Kaluga Turbine Plant () is a company based in Kaluga
Kaluga (, ) is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and the administrative center of Kaluga Oblast, Russia. It stands on the Oka River southwest of Moscow. Its population was 337 ...
is located here as is Kaluga Machine Works, which manufactures track machines for railways. In recent years, Kaluga has become one center of the Russian
automotive industry
The automotive industry comprises a wide range of company, companies and organizations involved in the design, Business development, development, manufacturing, marketing, selling, Maintenance, repairing, and Custom car, modification of motor ve ...
, with a number of foreign companies opening assembly plants in the area:
On 28 November 2007,
Volkswagen Group
Volkswagen AG (), known internationally as the Volkswagen Group, is a German public multinational conglomerate manufacturer of passenger and commercial vehicles, motorcycles, engines and turbomachinery. Headquartered in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxon ...
opened a new assembly plant in Kaluga, which further expanded by 2009. The investment has reached more than 500 million Euro. the plant assembled the
Volkswagen Passat
The Volkswagen Passat is a nameplate of D-segment, large family cars (D-segment) manufactured and marketed by the German automobile manufacturer Volkswagen since 1973 and also marketed variously as the Dasher, Santana, Quantum, Magotan, Corsar ...
,
Škoda Fabia
The Škoda Fabia is a series of passenger cars produced by Czech manufacturer Škoda Auto since 1999. It is the successor of the Škoda Felicia, which was discontinued in 2001. The Fabia was available in hatchback, estate (named Fabia Combi) ...
and
Škoda Rapid Škoda Rapid is a name used by the Czech automotive company Škoda Auto, on several different models of car:
* Škoda Rapid (1935–47), saloon car made between 1935 and 1947
* Škoda Garde/Rapid, two-door coupé based on the Škoda 120/130/135, ma ...
.
On 15 October 2007, the
Volvo Group
The Volvo Group (; legally Aktiebolaget Volvo, shortened to AB Volvo, stylized as VOLVO) is a Swedish multinational manufacturing corporation headquartered in Gothenburg. While its core activity is the production, distribution and sale of truck ...
broke ground on a new truck assembly plant, that was inaugurated on 19 January 2009, with a yearly capacity of 10,000 Volvo and 5,000
Renault trucks
Renault Trucks was a French commercial truck manufacturer with corporate headquarters at Saint-Priest near Lyon. Originally part of Renault, it was a subsidiary of Volvo since 2001.
In July 2024, John Cockerill (company) completed the takeover ...
.
On 12 December 2007,
PSA Peugeot Citroën
Peugeot S.A., trading as Groupe PSA () (formerly PSA Peugeot Citroën from 1991 to 2016) was a French multinational automotive manufacturing company which produced automobiles and motorcycles under the Peugeot, Citroën, DS, Opel and Vauxhal ...
announced its decision to build a new assembly plant in Kaluga.
Transportation
The city is served by the Grabtsevo Airport. Since 1899, there has been a railway connection between Kaluga and Moscow.
Public transportation is represented by the
trolleybus
A trolleybus (also known as trolley bus, trolley coach, trackless trolley, trackless tramin the 1910s and 1920sJoyce, J.; King, J. S.; and Newman, A. G. (1986). ''British Trolleybus Systems'', pp. 9, 12. London: Ian Allan Publishing. .or troll ...
es,
bus
A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a motor vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van, but fewer than the average rail transport. It is most commonly used ...
Köppen climate classification
The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...
: ''Dfb''), with warm and humid summers; and long, cold and snowy winters. Winter extreme records can be as low as , while summer heat may reach up , but normal variation is between and during winter and between and during summer in Kaluga.
Notable people
Kaluga's most famous resident was rocket science pioneer
Konstantin Tsiolkovsky
Konstantin Eduardovich Tsiolkovsky (; rus, Константин Эдуардович Циолковский, p=kənstɐnʲˈtʲin ɪdʊˈardəvʲɪtɕ tsɨɐlˈkofskʲɪj, a=Ru-Konstantin Tsiolkovsky.oga; – 19 September 1935) was a Russi ...
.
Other notable people include:
* Sergei Avagimyan, former professional footballer. Born in Russia, he played for the
Armenian national football team
The Armenia national football team () represents Armenia in men's international football, and is controlled by the Football Federation of Armenia, the governing body for football in Armenia.
After gaining independence from the Soviet Union, ...
.
*
Alexander Amfiteatrov
Alexander Valentinovich Amfiteatrov (); (26 December 1862 – 26 February 1938) was a Russian writer, novelist, and historian.
Biography
Born a priest's son in Kaluga, Russian Empire, he was trained as a lawyer but became a journalist and pop ...
*
Yuri Averbakh
Yuri Lvovich Averbakh (; 8 February 1922 – 7 May 2022) was a Russian chess grandmaster and author. He was chairman of the USSR Chess Federation from 1973 to 1978. Averbakh was the first centenarian FIDE Grandmaster. Despite his eyesight and ...
Mykola Azarov
Mykola Yanovych Azarov (; ; née, né Pakhlo, Cyrillic: Пахло; born 17 December 1947) is a Ukraine, Ukrainian politician who was the Prime Minister of Ukraine from 11 March 2010 to 27 January 2014. He was the First Vice Prime Minister an ...
*
Pafnuty Chebyshev
Pafnuty Lvovich Chebyshev ( rus, Пафну́тий Льво́вич Чебышёв, p=pɐfˈnutʲɪj ˈlʲvovʲɪtɕ tɕɪbɨˈʂof) ( – ) was a Russian mathematician and considered to be the founding father of Russian mathematics.
Chebysh ...
, mathematician
*
Alexander Chizhevsky
Alexander Leonidovich Chizhevsky ( rus, Алекса́ндр Леони́дович Чиже́вский, p=tɕɪˈʐɛfskʲɪj; 7 February 1897 – 20 December 1964) was a Soviet Union, Soviet-era interdisciplinary scientist, a biophysics, biophy ...
*
David Edelstadt
David Edelstadt (Yiddish: דוד עדעלשטאַט; May 9, 1866, Kaluga, Russia – 17 October 1892, Denver, Colorado) was a Jewish, Russian- American anarchist poet in the Yiddish language. Edelstadt immigrated to Cincinnati and worked as a b ...
*
Alexander Gretchaninov
Alexander Tikhonovich GretchaninovAlso commonly transliterated as ''Aleksandr/Alexandre'' ''Grechaninov/Gretchaninoff/Gretschaninow'' ( rus, Алекса́ндр Ти́хонович Гречани́нов, p=ɐlʲɪˈksandr ɡrʲɪtɕɐˈnʲin ...
Andrei Kalaychev
Andrei Sergeyevich Kalaychev (; born 26 October 1963) is a retired Soviet Union, Soviet and Russian football player.
Honours
* Soviet Top League bronze: 1991.
International career
Kalaychev played his only game for USSR national football team, ...
*
Valery Kobelev
Valery Vladimirovich Kobelev (; born 4 March 1973) is a Russian ski jumper.
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 Li ...
, ski jumper
*
Mikhail Linge
Mikhail Innokentyevich Linge (; November 26, 1958 in Kaluga – February 4, 1994) was a gold medalist in the men's 4 × 400 metres relay at the Olympics, 4 × 400 m relay at the 1980 Summer Olympics for the Soviet Union.
After the Olympics ...
*
Pavel Popovich
Pavel Romanovich Popovich (; ; 5 October 1930 – 29 September 2009) was a Soviet Union, Soviet cosmonaut.
Popovich was the fourth cosmonaut in space, the sixth person in orbit, the eighth person and first Ukrainians, Ukrainian in space.
Bio ...
, cosmonaut, the only person to receive two honorary citizenships of Kaluga (1962 and 1964)
* Larisa Popugayeva
*
Nikolai Rakov
Nikolai Petrovich Rakov (, ''Nikolaj Petrovič Rakov''; , – 3 November 1990), was a Soviet violinist, composer, conductor, and academic at the Moscow Conservatory where he had studied. He composed mostly instrumental works, for orchestra, chambe ...
*
Imam Shamil
Imam Shamil (; ; ; ; ; 26 June 1797 – 4 February 1871) was the political, military, and spiritual leader of North Caucasian resistance to Imperial Russia in the 1800s, the third Imam of the Caucasian Imamate (1840–1859), and a Sunni Muslim ...
Georgy Zhukov
Georgy Konstantinovich Zhukov ( 189618 June 1974) was a Soviet military leader who served as a top commander during World War II and achieved the rank of Marshal of the Soviet Union. During World War II, Zhukov served as deputy commander-in-ch ...
*
Olesya Zykina
Olesya Nikolaevna Zykina (, born October 7, 1980, in Kaluga) 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 ...
, 400m athlete
*
Bulat Okudzhava
Bulat Shalvovich Okudzhava (; ka, ბულატ ოკუჯავა; ; May 9, 1924 – June 12, 1997) was a Soviet and Russian poet, writer, musician, novelist, and singer-songwriter of Georgian-Armenian ancestry. He was one of the founders o ...
Suhl
Suhl () is a city in Thuringia, Germany, located SW of Erfurt, NE of Würzburg and N of Nuremberg. With its 37,000 inhabitants, it is the smallest of the six urban districts within Thuringia. Together with its northern neighbour-town Zella ...
, Germany (1969)
*
Tiraspol
Tiraspol (, ; also /; , ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Transnistria, a breakaway state of Moldova, where it is the third-largest city. The city is located on the eastern bank of the Dniester River. Tiraspol is a regional hub of cul ...
, Moldova (2005)
*
Panorama
A panorama (formed from Greek language, Greek πᾶν "all" + ὅραμα "view") is any Obtuse angle, wide-angle view or representation of a physical space, whether in painting, drawing, photography (panoramic photography), film, seismic image ...
, Greece (2011)
*
Minsk
Minsk (, ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Belarus, located on the Svislach (Berezina), Svislach and the now subterranean Nyamiha, Niamiha rivers. As the capital, Minsk has a special administrative status in Belarus and is the administra ...
, Belarus (2015)
*
Binzhou
Binzhou (, ), formerly Putai, is a prefecture-level city in northern Shandong Province in the People's Republic of China. The city proper sits on the northern bank of the Yellow River, while its administrative area straddles both sides of its ...
, China (2015)
*
Yalta
Yalta (: ) is a resort town, resort city on the south coast of the Crimean Peninsula surrounded by the Black Sea. It serves as the administrative center of Yalta Municipality, one of the regions within Crimea. Yalta, along with the rest of Crime ...
, Ukraine (2016)
*
Niš
Niš (; sr-Cyrl, Ниш, ; names of European cities in different languages (M–P)#N, names in other languages), less often spelled in English as Nish, is the list of cities in Serbia, third largest city in Serbia and the administrative cente ...
, Serbia (2017)
Partner cities
In addition to twin towns, Kaluga cooperates with:
* Clearwater, United States (1992)
*
Xianyang
Xianyang ( zh, s=咸阳 , p=Xiányáng) is a prefecture-level city in central Shaanxi province, situated on the Wei River a few kilometers upstream (west) from the provincial capital of Xi'an. Once the capital of the Qin dynasty, it is now int ...
Oryol
Oryol ( rus, Орёл, , ɐˈrʲɵl, a=ru-Орёл.ogg, links=y, ), also transliterated as Orel or Oriol, is a Classification of inhabited localities in Russia, city and the administrative center of Oryol Oblast, Russia, situated on the Oka Rive ...
, Russia (2003)
*
Smolensk
Smolensk is a city and the administrative center of Smolensk Oblast, Russia, located on the Dnieper River, west-southwest of Moscow.
First mentioned in 863, it is one of the oldest cities in Russia. It has been a regional capital for most of ...
, Russia (2003)
*
Makhachkala
Makhachkala, previously known as Petrovskoye (1844–1857) and Port-Petrovsk (1857–1921), or by the local Kumyk language, Kumyk name of Anji, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Dagestan, Russia. ...
Ryazan
Ryazan (, ; also Riazan) is the largest types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and administrative center of Ryazan Oblast, Russia. The city is located on the banks of the Oka River in Central Russia, southeast of Moscow. As of the 2010 C ...
, Russia (2017)
*
Tambov
Tambov ( , ; rus, Тамбов, p=tɐmˈbof) is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and the administrative center of Tambov Oblast, Central Federal District, central Russia, at the confluence of the Tsna River (Moksha basin), Tsna ...
, Russia (2017)
Gallery
File:Kaluga 2012 MainSquare 03 1TM.jpg, Kaluga. Main Square
File:Kaluga 2013 Lenina 70 03 1TM.jpg, Kaluga. Polman House
File:Калуга. Театр драмы..JPG, Kaluga Region Drama Theatre building
File:Kaluga01 0812 168g.jpg, Kaluga. Eastern archway at the Administration Building
File:Mgtu-kaluga.jpg, Kaluga. Moscow State Technical University (local branch)
File:Kaluga, Kirova Street and Plekhanova Street (16).jpg, Streetside stores in Kaluga
File:Kaluga01 0812 170g.jpg, Kaluga. Region administration
File:Kaluga 2013 trolleybus 34.jpg, Trolleybus in Kaluga
File:Space_museum_(Kaluga).jpg, Astronautics Museum