Kaluga

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Kaluga (Russian: 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^[1]. Population: 334,751 (2002 Census); 311,399 (1989 Census). It is served by Kaluga Grabtsevo Airport.

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".

[edit] Automotive Industry

In recent years Kaluga has become one of the centers of the Russian automotive industry, with a number of foreign companies opening assembly plans 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.^[2]

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.^[3]

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.^[4]

[edit] Notable people

• Vadim Kosmatschof (born in 1938 in Kaluga), sculptor and painter
• Konstantin Tsiolkovsky
• Imam Shamil

[edit] External links

• Article in German about Kaluga plant
• Regional Information
• Konstantin E. Tsiolkovsky State Museum of the History of Cosmonautics, official website
• Forum Kaluga

[edit] References

cs:Kaluga de:Kaluga et:Kaluga es:Kaluga eo:Kaluga fr:Kalouga ko:칼루가 id:Kaluga os:Калугæ it:Kaluga he:קלוגה nl:Kaloega ja:カルーガ pl:Kaługa (miasto) ro:Kaluga ru:Калуга fi:Kaluga sv:Kaluga uk:Калуга zh:卡盧加