Kaluga is a fairly large city, and moreover it has a significant significance for the economy of the whole region. There are a lot of different research institutes, museums and monuments, and the surrounding Kaluga forests are amazingly beautiful, especially where people are rare.
Kaluga is located on the site of an ancient volcano, because of which the city often has weather anomalies. In particular, a tectonic rift allows residents of Kaluga to periodically observe the “crimson fog”, which generated a lot of gossip and mystical legends.
The Kaluga five-story building, running at number 100 on Lenin Street, is considered a local haunted house. It was built on the site of the demolished church, and the building material was the stones of the destroyed church. They say that when equipping the boiler room in the former church cellar, they found burials of priests, whose further fate is unknown. During the years of occupation, there was allegedly a military tribunal in the five-story building.
In Kaluga, with the participation of Korolev and Gagarin, the world’s first museum of astronautics was opened.
The reason and date of the foundation of Kaluga are still a reason for discussions in academic circles, therefore the first written mention is officially considered the year of the settlement’s appearance – this was done in 1371.
During its history, Kaluga burned up to five times almost to the ground, with two fires taking place only a few years apart.
In 1941, Kaluga was occupied by German troops. A few months later the city was liberated by the Red Army, but the retreating invaders managed to blow up the theater and almost 200 apartment buildings.
On the City Day in Kaluga, which is celebrated on the last Saturday of August, traditionally arrange a parade of baby carriages.
One of the significant sights of Kaluga is a 160-meter-long viaduct, spilled across a ravine, called the Great Stone Bridge.
A copy of the Vostok rocket is installed in Kaluga – if there were any problems with the Gagarin rocket, this particular device would be delivered to space.
In the summer of 2017, the first Russian monument to the front surgeon appeared in Kaluga.
Honorable citizens of Kaluga are Yuri Gagarin, Konstantin Tsiolkovsky and Vladislav Volkov.
Since 1995, Kaluga has been patronizing the small missile ship Mirage, which is part of the Black Sea Fleet.
In Kaluga, for many years now, the international festival “Guitar World” has been held, to which eminent musicians from all over the world gather – its guests were Vicente Amigo, Francis Goya and other celebrities.
The oldest fountain of Kaluga, located in the city park of rest, has been more than 200 years.
Kaluga was included in the number of cities of the Golden Ring of Russia.
Kaluga is imprinted on the memorable ten-ruble coin issued by the Central Bank in 2009.
The unique in Kaluga monument of architecture with an attic is the unique Museum of Crafts, dedicated to the revival of the ancient art of making toys made of clay.
