Kaluga

Infobox Russian city
EnglishName=Kaluga
RussianName=Калуга
Skyline
SkylineLegend
LatDeg=54
LatMin=33
LatSec
LonDeg=36
LonMin=17
LonSec
LocatorMap
LocatorMapLegend




CityDay=Second Saturday of September
FederalSubject=Kaluga Oblast
MunStatus=Urban okrug
InJurisdictionOf=Kaluga Oblast
AdmCtrOf=Kaluga Oblast
LeaderType=City Head
LeaderName=Nikolay Lyubimov
Legislature=City Duma
Charter=Charter of Kaluga
Area
AreaRank
Population=334751
PopulationRank=53rd
FoundationDate=1371
PostalCode=248xxx
DialingCode=4842
Website=http://www.kaluga-gov.ru/

Kaluga ( _ru. Калу́га) is a city in western Russia, located on the Oka River 188 km southwest of Moscow. It is the administrative center of Kaluga Oblast [ [http://www.kaluga-gov.ru/index.php?idpage=3 О Калуге] , Официальный сайт Городской Управы г. Калуга ru icon] . Population: ru-census2002|334751|; su-census1989|311319|. It is served by Kaluga Grabtsevo Airport.

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 home of these princes is located south-west from the modern city.

Kaluga is connected to Moscow by a railway line and the ancient roadway (E105 International highway) which is known as the "Kaluga road". 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 armies in 1941.

Kaluga is known for its most famous resident, Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, a rocket science pioneer who worked here as a school teacher. There is a museum in Kaluga dedicated to his theoretical achievements and their practical implementations for modern space research, hence the motto on the city's coat of arms: "The Cradle of Space Exploration".

Economy

In recent years Kaluga has become one of the centers of the Russian automotive industry, with a number of foreign companies opening assembly plants in the area.

In May 2007, Volkswagen announced a new assembly plant in Kaluga, to be finished by 2009. It is expected that the investment will surpass 370 million Euro. The plant will begin assembly of the Skoda Octavia in 2008, and by 2009 production will begin with the models Passat, Touareg and Polo. At its peak, the VW Kaluga plant is planned to produce 115,000 vehicles per year.

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 trucks. [ [http://www.volvo.com/group/global/en-gb/newsmedia/corpnews/NewsItemPage.htm?channelId=1389&ItemID=30465&sl=en-gb New Volvo Group assembly plant in Kaluga] , Volvo Group corporate news, October 15, 2007]

On December 12, 2007, PSA Peugeot Citroën announced its decision to build a new assembly plant in Kaluga, scheduled to be finished in 2010. The plant is slated to produce midsize passenger vehicles. [ [http://www.psa-peugeot-citroen.com/en/psa_espace/press_releases_details_d1.php?id=751 PSA Peugeot Citroën to Build Plant in Kaluga, Russia] , PSA Peugeot Citroën press release, December 12, 2007]

On December 28, 2007, Mitsubishi Motors announced its intent to build an assembly plan in Kaluga with the initial annual production capacity of 50,000 cars. [ [http://en.rian.ru/russia/20071228/94581048.html Mitsubishi signs contract to build plant in Kalug] , RIA Novosti, December 28, 2007]

Notable people

*Aleksandr Amfiteatrov
*Yuri Averbakh
*Mykola Azarov
*Alexander Chizhevsky
*David Edelstadt
*Jonah of Manchuria
*Andrei Kalaychev
*Vadim Kosmatschof (born in 1938 in Kaluga), sculptor and painter
*Mikhail Linge
*Nikolai Rakov
*Imam Shamil
*Nikolay Skvortsov, swimmer
*Yuliya Tabakova
*Konstantin Tsiolkovsky
*Georgy Zhukov
*Olesya Zykina

ee also

*Tsiolkovsky State Museum of the History of Cosmonautics

External links

* [http://www.finanznachrichten.de/nachrichten-2006-05/artikel-6488362.asp Article in German about Kaluga plant]
* [http://www.kaluga.ru/ Regional Information]
* [http://www.informatics.org/museum/ Konstantin E. Tsiolkovsky State Museum of the History of Cosmonautics] , official website
* [http://forum.kaluga.ru Forum Kaluga]

References