Kaluga

Kaluga, the chief town of the above government, situated on the left bank of the Oka, 117 m. S.W. of Moscow by rail, in 54° 31′ N. and 36° 6′ E. Pop. (1870), 36,880; (1897) 49,728. It is the see of a Greek Orthodox bishop. The public buildings include the cathedral of the Trinity (rebuilt in the 19th century in place of an older edifice dating from 1687), two monastic establishments, an ecclesiastical seminary, and a lunatic asylum. The principal articles of industrial production are leather, oil, bast mats, wax candles, starch and Kaluga cakes. The first historical mention of Kaluga occurs in 1389; its incorporation with the principality of Moscow took place in 1518. In 1607 it was held by the second false Demetrius and vainly besieged for four months by the forces of Shuisky, who had ascended the Russian throne as Basil IV. on the death of the first false Demetrius. In 1619 Kaluga fell into the hands of the hetman or chief of the Zaporozhian Cossacks. Later two-thirds of its inhabitants were carried off by a plague; and in 1622 the whole place was laid waste by a conflagration. It recovered, however, in spite of several other conflagrations (especially in 1742 and 1754). On several occasions Kaluga was the residence of political prisoners; among others Shamyl, the Lesghian chief, spent his exile there (1859-1870).