Ruza

a city and administrative center of Ruza Raion, Moscow Oblast, RSFSR. Ruza is located on the Ruza River, a tributary of the Moskva River, 22 km northwest of the Tuchkovo railroad station on the Moscow-Viaz’ma line and 100 km west of Moscow. It has a medical school and a museum of local lore.

Ruza is first mentioned in 1339 as part of the Zvenigorod Principality. From the early 16th century it was part of the Muscovite state; a fortress-city, it protected the route to Moscow from the west. In 1782 it became a district capital in Moscow Province. Earthen embankments on the site of an ancient fortified town have been partly preserved at Ruza; an architectural monument is the Dmitrovskaia Church (1792). There are sanatoriums and houses of rest in the vicinity of Ruza.

a river in Moscow Oblast, RSFSR, a left tributary of the Moskva River. The Ruza is 145 km long and drains an area of 1,990 sq km. It flows within the Moscow Upland and is fed primarily by snow. High water occurs in April and May. The mean flow rate 16 km from the mouth, at the city of Ruza, is 13.1 cu m per sec. The Ruza usually freezes in November, and the ice breaks up in April. There are sanatoriums and houses of rest along the river. There are reservoirs on the Ruza and its tributary the Ozerna. The Vazuza system for feeding water into the Ruza for the city of Moscow’s water supply is under construction (1975).