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Kaluga is the administrative centre of Kaluga Oblast in Russia, on the Oka River 150 km southwest of Moscow, famous as the home of the space pioneer Konstantin Tsiolkovsky and called the Cradle of Cosmonautics. Its top sights are the Tsiolkovsky Museum of Cosmonautics, the Stone Bridge, the Gostiny Dvor and the Trinity Cathedral.
Kaluga was first mentioned in 1371 as a border town contested by Moscow and Lithuania, and in 1610 it was the main residence of False Dmitry II. It became the capital of the new Kaluga Viceroyalty in 1776, and Tsiolkovsky lived and worked here from the 1890s until his death in 1935. German troops held the city from 12 October to 30 December 1941.
Kaluga had 337,058 people in the 2021 census. Buses and trolleybuses run in the city, Kaluga I railway station lies in the centre, and Kaluga International Airport has had regular flights since June 2015.
Tsiolkovsky Museum of Cosmonautics in Kaluga, Russia, is the world's first and Russia's largest space museum, created with the help of Sergei Korolev and Yuri Gagarin. Gagarin laid its first stone on 13 June 1961, it opened on 3 October 1967, and a real backup Vostok rocket is shown in its grounds.
Tsiolkovsky House-Museum is the home in Kaluga, Russia, where the space pioneer Konstantin Tsiolkovsky lived from 1904 to 1933, adding a second floor with his study and a veranda workshop in 1908. Opened as a museum on 19 September 1936, it keeps his recreated study and family belongings.
Kaluga Bor is an old-growth pine forest on the western side of Kaluga, Russia, protected as a natural monument of federal importance and kept within its borders since the 17th century. It covers 1,044 ha, most of its pines are 180 to 200 years old, and some trees grow over 40 m tall.
Kaluga Stone Bridge is a 160 m stone viaduct across the Berezuysky ravine in Kaluga, Russia, linking Bazhenova and Pushkina streets, and the oldest stone viaduct in Russia. Designed by the architect Pyotr Nikitin in the style of Russian classicism, it stands about 20 m high on 15 large stone arches.
Korobov Chambers is a 17th-century stone house in Kaluga, Russia, built in the second half of the century for the merchant Kirill Korobov, who traded in salt, grain and hemp, and protected as a monument of federal importance. The first Kaluga history museum opened here in 1897.
Kaluga Gostiny Dvor is a merchant arcade in the centre of Kaluga, Russia, built in the Russian Gothic style from 1784 into the early 19th century, probably to a plan by the architect Pyotr Nikitin. Its blocks were raised at the merchants' expense under governor Mikhail Krechetnikov.
Zolotarev Estate is a merchant mansion in Kaluga, Russia, built in 1805 to 1808 and visited by members of the imperial family, among them Alexander I in 1816. Home of the regional history museum since it reopened here on 7 November 1922, it keeps 19th-century painted and moulded interiors.
Kaluga Museum of Fine Arts is the art museum of Kaluga, Russia, founded on the private collection of the local doctor Nikanor Vasiliev and opened on 12 June 1918 in his house. Since 1969 its main building has been the Bilibin-Chistokletov town estate, a protected monument of federal importance.
Kaluga Trinity Cathedral is the cathedral of the Kaluga diocese in the Central Park of Kaluga, Russia, built in 1786 to 1819 to a design by the governorate architect Ivan Yasnygin. Its dome, about 17 m across, was wider than the 14.5 m dome then planned for Kazan Cathedral in St Petersburg.
Kaluga St George Cathedral, known as St George beyond the Ravine, is an Orthodox church in Kaluga, Russia, built in stone in 1700 to 1701 at the expense of the Korobov merchants. It holds the chief relic of the Kaluga diocese, the miracle-working Kaluga icon of the Mother of God.
Kaluga Intercession Church on the Moat is one of the oldest surviving churches in Kaluga, Russia, built in 1685 to 1687 in the Russian patterned style on the site of a wooden church. Closed in 1930, it served as an incubator from 1935 to 1989 and was returned to the Kaluga diocese in 1994.
Kaluga Drama Theatre is the regional drama theatre of Kaluga, Russia, and one of the oldest working drama theatres in the country, founded on 19 January 1777 with the backing of governor-general Mikhail Krechetnikov. Its first stage was a merchant's barn, and some actors came from St Petersburg.
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