Kaluga, founded in the mid-14th century as a border fortress on the southwestern borders of the Grand Duchy of Moscow, first appears in the historical record in chronicles in the 14th century as Koluga; the name comes from Old Russian kaluga - "bog, quagmire". During the period of Tartar raids it was the western end of the Oka bank defense line. The Great stand on the Ugra River was fought just to the west. In the Middle Ages Kaluga was a minor settlement owned by the Princes Vorotynsky. The ancestral home of these princes lies southwest of the modern city. On 19 January 1777 the Kaluga drama theatre opened its first theatrical season, established with the direct participation of the Governor-General M. N. Krechetnikov. Kaluga is connected to Moscow by a railway line and by the ancient roadway, the Kaluga Road. This road offered Napoleon his favored escape route from the Moscow trap 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, the Kyrgyz sultan Arigazi-Abdul-Aziz, the Georgian princess Thecla, and the Avar leader Imam Shamil. The German army briefly occupied Kaluga during the climactic Battle of Moscow, as part of Operation Barbarossa. The city was under full or partial German occupation from October 12th to December 30, 1941. In 1944, the Soviet Government used its local military buildings to intern hundreds of Polish prisoners of war — soldiers of the Polish underground Home Army — whom the advancing Soviet front had arrested in the area around Vilnius.
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 center 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, which has been further expanded by 2009. The investment has reached more than 500 million Euro. The plant currently assembles the Volkswagen Passat, Škoda Fabia and Škoda Rapid. 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.
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.
Climate
Kaluga has a humid temperate continental, with warm and humid summers; and long, cold and snowy winters. Winter extreme records can be as low as, while summer heat may reach up, but usually it's about between and during winter and between and during summer in Kaluga.
Notable people
Kaluga's most famous resident was rocket science pioneer Konstantin Tsiolkovsky. Other notable people include:
