Tarusa () is a

town A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city. The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ...

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 ...

Tarussky District Tarussky District () is an administrativeCharter of Kaluga Oblast and municipalLaw #369-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 administrative ...

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 Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

, located on the left bank of 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, ...

, northeast of

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 337,058 at the 2021 census. Kaluga's most famous residen ...

, the administrative center 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 ...

. Population:

Etymology

The name is from that of the

Tarusa River Tarusa () is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, town and the administrative center of Tarussky District in Kaluga Oblast, Russia, located on the left bank of the Oka River, northeast of Kaluga, the administrative center of the oblast. ...

, a

tributary A tributary, or an ''affluent'', is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream (''main stem'' or ''"parent"''), river, or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries, and the main stem river into which they ...

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 "that is Russia," eventually becoming the name of the town.

History

Tarusa is known to have existed since 1246, when it was the capital of one of the

Upper Oka Principalities In Russian historiography the term Upper Oka Principalities () traditionally applies to about a dozen tiny and ephemeral polities situated along the upper course of the Oka River at the turn of the 14th and 15th centuries. They were reigned b ...

—the

Principality of Tarusa The Principality of Tarusa () was a minor Russian principality in the 13th to 15th centuries. It was one of the Upper Oka principalities, with its center at Tarusa. It split into several appanages, which were later incorporated into the Grand Pr ...

. The first ruler of this principality was Grand Duke Yury Mikhailovich, the son of Grand Duke Mikhail Vsevolodovich of Chernigov. Later, the local rulers moved their seats to

Meshchovsk Meshchovsk () is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, town and the administrative center of Meshchovsky District in Kaluga Oblast, Russia, located on the Tureya River southwest of Kaluga, the administrative center of the oblast. Population: ...

and Boryatino, and Tarusa was subjugated by 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 ...

in the late 14th century. In the mid-15th century, Tarusa passed to

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

, and later on it fell back to the Grand Duchy of Moscow. In the 16th century, it was fortified with ramparts and trenches in defense against the

Crimean Tatars Crimean Tatars (), or simply Crimeans (), are an Eastern European Turkic peoples, Turkic ethnic group and nation indigenous to Crimea. Their ethnogenesis lasted thousands of years in Crimea and the northern regions along the coast of the Blac ...

and

Nogai Horde The Nogai Horde was a confederation founded by the Nogais that occupied the Pontic–Caspian steppe from about 1500 until they were pushed west by the Kalmyks and south by the Russians in the 17th century. The Mongol tribe called the Manghuds con ...

. In 1876, there were 40 craftsmen and 7 small factories in Tarusa. Soviet authority in Tarusa was established on December 27, 1917. In the following years, the town's churches were closed and a monument to

Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Dzhugashvili; 5 March 1953) was a Soviet politician and revolutionary who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until Death and state funeral of Joseph Stalin, his death in 1953. He held power as General Secret ...

was erected on the central square. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, German troops approached Tarusa and took it on their way to Moscow. The town was occupied by the Germans between October 24 and December 19, 1941. After that, the town was retaken by the Red Army which crossed the Oka River in winter under the frantic German fire and successfully attacked the German strongholds on the higher bank of Oka. Remnants of the town's fortifications and the town wall can still be seen today in the community park near the Peter and Paul Cathedral. Tarusaleninstreet

During the Soviet period, Tarusa became the place where many dissidents and people repressed by the Soviet authorities used to settle. Tarusa became the home place for such famous dissident figures as

Anatoly Marchenko Anatoly Tikhonovich Marchenko (, 23 January 1938 – 8 December 1986) was a Soviet dissident, author, and human rights campaigner, who became one of the first two recipients (along with Nelson Mandela) of the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thou ...

Larisa Bogoraz Larisa Iosifovna Bogoraz (, full name: Larisa Iosifovna Bogoraz-Brukhman, Bogoraz was her father's last name, Brukhman her mother's, August 8, 1929 – April 6, 2004) was a Soviet dissidents, dissident in the Soviet Union. Biography Born in ...

Gleb Yakunin Gleb Pavlovich Yakunin (; 4 March 1936 – 25 December 2014) was a Russian priest and dissident, who fought for the principle of freedom of conscience in the Soviet Union. He was a member of the Moscow Helsinki Group, and was elected member of ...

Pavel Litvinov Pavel Mikhailovich Litvinov (; born 6 July 1940) is a Russian-born U.S. physicist, writer, teacher, Human rights movement in the Soviet Union, human rights activist and former Soviet dissidents, Soviet-era dissident. Biography The grandson of Iv ...

Alexander Ginzburg Alexander "Alik" Ilyich Ginzburg ( rus, Алекса́ндр Ильи́ч Ги́нзбург, p=ɐlʲɪkˈsandr ɨˈlʲjidʑ ˈɡʲinzbʊrk, a=Alyeksandr Il'yich Ginzburg.ru.vorb.oga; 21 November 1936 – 19 July 2002), was a Russian journalist ...

, Andrey Amalrik,

Sergei Kovalev Sergei Adamovich Kovalyov (also spelled Sergey Kovalev; ; 2 March 1930 – 9 August 2021) was a Russian human rights activist and politician. During the Soviet period he was a dissident and, after 1975, a political prisoner. Early career and ...

, Zoya Krakhmalnikova,

Lev Kopelev Lev Zalmanovich (Zinovyevich) Kopelev (, German: Lew Sinowjewitsch Kopelew, 9 April 1912 – 18 June 1997) was a Soviet author and dissident. Early life Kopelev was born in Kyiv, then Russian Empire, to a middle-class Jewish family. In 1926, ...

, and Frida Vigdorova. The book ''Tarusa - the 101st kilometer'' by Tatyana Melnikova is devoted to the lives and fates of the dissidents who lived in Tarusa. In 1961,

Konstantin Paustovsky Konstantin Georgiyevich Paustovsky (, ; – 14 July 1968) was a Soviet writer nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1965, 1966, 1967, and 1968. Early life Konstantin Paustovsky was born in Moscow. His father was a railroad statist ...

fought to publish his famous '' Tarusa Pages'', which became the only book in the Soviet Union which escaped Moscow-based central party censorship and offered its pages for various free-thinking and dissident writers. After the book was published, it was declared ideologically harmful and removed from all bookstores and libraries. The director of the Kaluga publishing house was reprimanded, the editor-in-chief was fired, and other repressions were to follow. It was only Paustovsky's personal appeal to

Nikita Khrushchev Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev (– 11 September 1971) was the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964 and the Premier of the Soviet Union, Chai ...

that stopped the wave of planned repressions. Nevertheless, the ''Tarusa Pages'' became a significant and meaningful event in the Soviet literature. The book introduced to the public such authors as

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 ...

, Vladimir Maksimov, Frida Vigdorova,

Nadezhda Mandelstam Nadezhda Yakovlevna Mandelstam ( rus, Надежда Яковлевна Мандельштам, p=nɐˈdʲeʐdə ˈjakəvlʲɪvnə mənʲdʲɪlʲˈʂtam; []; 29 December 1980) was a Russian-Jewish writer, translator, educator, linguist, and memoi ...

, and Naum Korzhavin, who enjoyed immense popularity in the later years.

Administrative and municipal status

Within the framework of administrative divisions, Tarusa serves as the

, to which it is directly subordinated. As a municipal division, the

of Tarusa is incorporated within Tarussky Municipal District as Tarusa Urban Settlement.Law #369-OZ

Culture

The town has a number of popular museums—the Tarusa Regional Museum of Local Lore and the Tsvetayevs Family Museum. It is also home to the Tarusa Town Picture Gallery, which is a branch of Kaluga Regional Museum of Art, boasting a rich collection of such Russian artists as

Boris Kustodiev Boris Mikhaylovich Kustodiev (; – 28 May 1927) was a Russian and later Soviet painter and stage designer. Early life Boris Kustodiev was born in Astrakhan into the family of a professor of philosophy, history of literature, and logic at t ...

, Nikolay Krymov,

Ivan Aivazovsky Ivan Konstantinovich Aivazovsky (; ) was a Russian Romantic painter who is considered one of the greatest masters of marine art. Baptized as Hovhannes Aivazian, he was born into an Armenian family in the Black Sea port of Feodosia in Crime ...

Lev Lagorio Lev Feliksovich Lagorio (Russian: Лев Феликсович Лагорио; 9 December 1826 - 17 November 1905) was a Russian painter and watercolorist, known primarily for his seascapes and maritime scenes. He was associated with the "Cimmeri ...

, and

Vasily Polenov Vasily Dmitrievich Polenov (; 1 June 1844 – 18 July 1927) was a Russian landscape painter associated with the Peredvizhniki movement of realist artists. His contemporaries would call him the “Knight of Beauty” as he embodied both European a ...

. The

Open Russian Festival of Animated Film The Open Russian Festival of Animated Films (), also known as "Suzdalfest" (} , is an annual animation film festival held in Suzdal, Russia. It is devoted to professional appraisal of domestic Russian animation. The festival takes place in late win ...

was held in Tarusa until 2002, after which it was moved to

Suzdal Suzdal (, ) is a Types of inhabited localities in Russia, town that serves as the administrative center of Suzdalsky District in Vladimir Oblast, Russia, which is located along the Kamenka tributary of the Nerl (Klyazma), Nerl River, north o ...

Economy

Tarusa has an Art Ceramics factory, a design studio of the Space Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, manufacturing, and a milk factory.

Cemeteries

Tarusa has two cemeteries: the Old Cemetery and the New Cemetery. Writer Konstantin Paustovsky, sculptor

Vasily Vatagin Vasily Alekseyevich Vatagin (20 December 1883 – 31 May 1969) was a scientific illustrator and wildlife artist who worked on a variety of media producing paintings, sculpture, reliefs and illustrations. His works have been used in books and ar ...

, Marina Tsvetaeva's daughter

Ariadna Èfron Ariadna Sergeyevna Efron (; 26 July 1975) was a Russian poet, memoirist, artist, art critic, and translator of prose and poetry. Her original poems, except for those written in childhood, were not printed during her lifetime. She was a daughte ...

, builder Sergey Krutilin, and writer Nadezhda Krandievskaya are buried in the Old Cemetery.

References

Notes

Sources

* {{Authority control Cities and towns in Kaluga Oblast Tarussky Uyezd