Kaluga

: For the fish named Kaluga see Kaluga (fish).

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Kaluga (??????? in Russian) is a city in central Russia on the Oka River 188 km southwest of Moscow, administrative center of Kaluga Oblast. Geographical coordinates: Population: 335,100 (2002 All-Russia Population Census).

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Kaluga is connected to Moscow by a railway line and the ancient roadway (E-105 International highway) which is known as the Kaluzhskaya doroga (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.

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Kaluga is known for its most famous resident, Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, a rocket science pioneer who worked here as a school teacher. There is a Tsiolkovskiy Museum in Kaluga dedicated to his theoretical achievements and their practical implementations for modern space research.

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Russian: Russian can mean:...

Russia: The Russian Federation (, transliteration: Rossiyskaya Federatsiya or Rossijskaja Federacija), or Russia (Russian: ???????, transliteration: Rossiya or Rossija), is a country that stretches over a vast expanse of Europe and Asia. With an area of 17,075,400 km? (6,595,600 mi?), it is the largest coun...

Oka River: Oka (Russian: ????) is a great river in Russia, right confluent of Volga. It flows through the Oblasts of Oryol, Tula, Kaluga, Moscow, Ryazan, Vladimir and Nizhny Novgorod....