Kaluga

(kəlo͞o`gə), city (1989 pop. 311,000), capital of Kaluga region, central European Russia, on the Oka River. It is a river port, railway junction, and an industrial center producing railroad and electrical equipment and turbines. In 1941 it was captured by German forces.

Kaluga

a city and center of Kaluga Oblast, RSFSR. Situated on the left, elevated bank of the Oka River. It has a landing and a railroad station on the Moscow-Kiev line, 188 km southwest of Moscow. Population, 224, 000 (1972; compared with 89, 000 in 1939).

Kaluga is first mentioned in 1371 in the charter of the Lithuanian prince Olgerd. It originated as a frontier fortress on the southwestern borders of the Muscovite state. In the 15th century Kaluga became part of the principality of Moscow. (During the period 1505–18 it was an independent appanage principality.) In 1607, Kaluga was the center of a peasant uprising led by I. I. Bolotnikov. Kaluga became a part of Moscow Province in 1708; in 1777 it was made the center of the Kaluga namestnichestvo (vicegerency); and in 1796 it became the capital of Kaluga Province. From the 17th through the 19th century it played an important role as a trade center. Soviet power was established on Nov. 28 (Dec. 11), 1917. K. E. Tsiolkovskii lived in Kaluga for most of his life and is buried there. In October 1941, Kaluga was occupied by the fascist German aggressors but was liberated on Dec. 30, 1941. During the postwar years the city and its industry were restored and rebuilt. Kaluga was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor in 1971.

Kaluga is a major industrial center; it produces about two-fifths of the oblast’s industrial output. The most important industries are machine building, instrument making, chemicals, wood products, food industry, light industry, and the production of building materials. Among Kaluga’s machine-building and instrument-making enterprises are transportation-machine-building, machine-building, electrical-machinery, and electrical-engineering plants; plants manufacturing turbines, telegraph equipment, radio tubes, and electrical equipment for motor vehicles; and the Kalugopribor Plant. Wood-products enterprises include the Gigant Match and Furniture Combine, a plywood plant, and the Akkord Industrial Association, which manufactures pianos and accordions. Enterprises of the food industry and light industry are represented by a synthetic perfume agents combine, a flour milling combine, a meat-packing plant, a dairy, the Kaluzhanka Garment Industrial Association, and a footwear factory. The principal building-materials plants produce glass, silicate bricks, and precast reinforced concrete.

Among the architectural landmarks are the Korobovs’ stone house (1697, built according to a standard design for wooden mansions consisting of two frames) and a number of stone houses from the 18th century with tripartite plans. Churches include the Pokrov Church on the Moat (1687), the Georgii za Verkhom Church (1700–01), the Spas Preobrazheniia Church (1709–17), and the Znamenie Church (1720–31). Another architectural landmark is the stone bridge (1777–78, architect P. R. Nikitin). Based on general plans of 1778 and 1785, buildings in the classical style were erected in Kaluga, including offices (1780–85, architect P. R. Nikitin), Troitskii Cathedral (1786–1819, architect I. D. Iasnygin), the Gostinyi Dvor (1785–88, enlarged in 1811–21 by I. D. Iasnygin), the Zolotarevs’ and Kologrivova’s house (now a museum of local lore, 1805–08), the house of the Meshkovs (now the State Bank, early 19th century), and the Assembly of the Nobility (1848–50, architect P. I. Gusev). A unique quality is imparted to the city by single-story, wooden, three-window houses with projecting cornices and carved window and door lintels and posts in the Empire style. In accordance with the plan of 1949–55, the city’s territory was extended to the north. The ensemble of the Teatral’nyi Square was created (1958), and various buildings were erected, including the K. E. Tsiolkovskii Museum of the History of Cosmonautics (1967, architects B. G. Barkhin and others), the Kaluga Hotel (1969), and the Philharmonic Society Concert Hall (1971). Monuments were erected to V. I. Lenin (marble and bronze, 1925, sculptor V. V. Kozlov) and K. E. Tsiolkovskii (bronze, granite, and steel, 1958, sculptor A. P. Faidysh, architects M. O. Barshch and A. N. Kolchin).

Kaluga has a pedagogical institute, a branch of theN. E. Bauman Moscow Higher Technical School, and 12 secondary specialized educational institutions. The city also has a drama theater (founded in the 18th century), a museum of local lore, an art museum, and the K. E. Tsiolkovskii Museum of the History of Cosmonautics with its branch, the Museum Home of K. E. Tsiolkovskii.

REFERENCES

Migunov, A. I. Kaluga: Istoriko-geograficheskii ocherk. Kaluga, 1957.
Nikolaev, E. S. Po kaluzhskoi zemle, 2nd ed. Moscow, 1970.
Kaluga: Putevoditel. Tula, 1971.
Fekhner, M. V. Kaluga. Moscow, 1971.

A. A. SUDARIKOVA and K. V. PASHKANG

Kaluga

(Huso dauricus), a fish of the genus Huso of the family Acipenseridae. It measures up to 5.6 m long and weighs up to 1 ton; it has a large, crescent-shaped mouth. The kaluga is distributed in the Amur River basin. It reaches sexual maturity in its 17th-20th year. Spawning occurs from the end of May through June. The young feed on bottom invertebrates; the adults are carnivorous (specifically, they eat chum and pink salmon). The fish winters in the bed of the Amur River. The kaluga is a valuable commercial fish.

Kaluga

a city in central Russia, on the Oka River. Pop.: 340 000 (2005 est.)

Kaluga

Ka·lu·ga

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Ka•lu•ga

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Kaluga

REFERENCES

Kaluga

Kaluga

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Words related to Kaluga

noun a city of central Russia to the south of Moscow

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