Borovsk

a city, the center of Borovsk Raion, Kaluga Oblast, RSFSR. Situated on the Protva River (tributary of the Oka), 13 km west of the Balabanovo railroad station (on the Moscow-Briansk line), 80 km southwest of Moscow. Population, 12,000 (1969). The city has factories producing cloth, knitted goods, clothing, and children’s toys. The All-Union Scientific Research Institute on the Physiology and Biochemistry of Farm Animals and two amateur theaters are located here. Borovsk was founded in the 13th century. It belonged to Riazan’ princes and was incorporated into the Grand Duchy of Muscovy in the 14th century. In 1444 the Borovsk Pafnut’ev Monastery was founded nearby. In the second half of the 17th century the archpriest Avvakum and the boyarina Morozova were incarcerated in the city. K. E. Tsiolkovskii lived and taught in Borovsk from 1880 to 1891. His apartment is now a museum.