Kaluga

Kaluga is a town in central Russia not far from Moscow, with which it is connected by railway line and the ancient roadway which is known as the Kaluzhskaya doroga (Kaluga road). This road was the favoured 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.

Kaluga is known for its most famous resident, Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, a rocket science pioneer who worked here as a school teacher. There is a Tsiolkovskiy Museum in Kaluga dedicated to his theoretical achievements and their practical implementations for modern space research.