Kaluga

Kaluga is a city and the administrative center of Kaluga Oblast, Russia, located on the Oka River 150 km southwest of Moscow. Population: 324,698 (2010).

History

Kaluga was founded in the mid-14th century as a border fortress on the southwestern borders of the Grand Duchy of Moscow. It was first mentioned in chronicles in the 14th century as Koluga; the name is from Old Russian kaluga 'bog, quagmire.' In the Middle Ages, Kaluga was a minor settlement owned by the Princes Vorotynsky. The ancestral home of these princes is located southwest from the modern city.

Kaluga is connected to Moscow by a railway line and the ancient roadway, the Kaluga Road (now partly within Moscow (as Starokaluzhskoye Shosse), partly the A101 road). This road was the favored 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.

On several occasions during the Russian Empire Kaluga was the residence of political exiles and prisoners such as the last Crimean khan Şahin Giray (1786), the Kyrgyz sultan Arigazi-Abdul-Aziz (1828), the Georgian princess Thecla (1834–1835), and the Avar leader Imam Shamil (1859–1868).

Kaluga was briefly occupied by the German army in Operation Barbarossa during the climactic Battle of Moscow. It was occupied from October 12, 1941 to January 4, 1942.

In 1944, the Soviet Government used its local military buildings to intern hundreds of Polish POWs—soldiers of the Polish Underground Home Army—who were arrested by advancing Soviet front in the Vilno area.

Economy

In Kaluga, Kaluga Turbine Plant is located, is part of the company Power Machines ;Kaluga Machine Works (manufactures track machines for railways), plant a foreign company MACO Door & Window.

In recent years Kaluga has become one of the centers of the Russian automotive industry, with a number of foreign companies opening assembly plants in the area.

On November 28, 2007, Volkswagen Group opened a new assembly plant in Kaluga, with further expansion plans planned to be completed by, or during, 2009. The investment has reached more than 500 million Euro. The plant currently assembles the Volkswagen Passat and Škoda Octavia. Planned annual capacity from 2009: up to 150,000 vehicles.

On October 15, 2007, the Volvo Group broke ground on a new truck assembly plant, that was inaugurated on January 19, 2009. The plant has a yearly capacity of 10,000 Volvo and 5,000 Renault trucks.

On December 12, 2007, PSA Peugeot Citroën announced its decision to build a new assembly plant in Kaluga. By March 2010 the plant was operational, building Peugeot 308s for the Russian market and would also produce Citroën and Mitsubishi models.

To ensure the production cars were built factories companies Continental AG, Magna International, Benteler International, Visteon.

Transportation

The city is served by the Grabtsevo Airport. Since 1899, there is a railway connection between Kaluga and Moscow.

Public transportation is represented by the trolleybuses, buses, and marshrutkas (routed taxis).

• trolleybus Belkommunmash AKSM-321