Kaluga area

Geographical location
Kaluga area is situated in the centre of the East-European plain. The region borders on Oreol region in the south, on Bryansk region in the south-west, on Smolensk region in the west, on Moscow area in the north, on Tula region in the east. Smolensk highland is located in the west and north-west, Middle Russian highland - in the east. Main rivers are the Oka, the Zhizdra. The climate is temperate continental.

Administrative division
In the region there are 24 districts, 4 towns of the regional submission, 13 towns of district submission, 14 town settlements, 336 villages.
Centre of the region is the town of Kaluga. It was founded in 1371.

Culture
Many outstanding people were from Kaluga region. In 1892 a researcher, scientist in aviation and astronautics K. E. Tsiolkovsky lived in Kaluga. That is why Kaluga is called "the cradle of astronautics". From Kaluga region there were a well-known mathematician P. L. Chebyshev, the first woman-president of Russian Academy of Sciences E. R. Dashkova, admiral D. N. Senyavin, architect V. I. Bazhenov, seafarer S. I. Cheluskin, pilot-cosmonaut A. S. Eliseev.
Kaluga region is famous for a big network of scientific establishments. More than 1000 Masters and Doctors of Sciences work there. In Kaluga there are a lot of research and planning Institutes, laboratories, construction offices. Obninsk is called the town of science. Here there is the first atomic electric station, physics-power engineering Institute, where problems of peaceful exploitation of atomic energy are being researched.
The region is rich in museums, monuments of architecture, history and art.