Meshchovsk (russian: Мещо́вск) is a

town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an ori ...

and the

administrative center An administrative center is a seat of regional administration or local government, or a county town, or the place where the central administration of a commune is located. In countries with French as administrative language (such as Belgium, Lu ...

Meshchovsky District Meshchovsky District (russian: Мещо́вский райо́н) is an administrativeCharter of Kaluga Oblast, Article 4 and municipalLaw #354-OZ district (raion), one of the twenty-four in Kaluga Oblast, Russia. It is located in the center ...

Kaluga Oblast Kaluga Oblast (russian: Калу́жская о́бласть, translit=Kaluzhskaya oblast) is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast). Its administrative center is the city of Kaluga. The 2021 Russian Census found a population of 1,069,904. G ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

, located on the Tureya River southwest of Kaluga, the administrative center of the

oblast An oblast (; ; Cyrillic (in most languages, including Russian and Ukrainian): , Bulgarian: ) is a type of administrative division of Belarus, Bulgaria, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, and Ukraine, as well as the Soviet Union and the Kingdo ...

. Population:

History

It was first mentioned in Russian chronicles in connection with the

Mongol invasion of Rus' The Mongol Empire invaded and conquered Kievan Rus' in the 13th century, destroying numerous southern cities, including the largest cities, Kiev (50,000 inhabitants) and Chernihiv (30,000 inhabitants), with the only major cities escaping de ...

in 1238. During the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

it was the patrimony of Princes Mezetsky. Catherine the Great granted it town rights in 1776. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, Meshchovsk was occupied by the German Army from October 7, 1941 to January 7, 1942.

Administrative and municipal status

Within the framework of administrative divisions, Meshchovsk serves as the

, to which it is directly subordinated. As a municipal division, the

of Meshchovsk, together with forty-eight rural localities, is incorporated within Meshchovsky Municipal District as Meshchovsk Urban Settlement.Law #354-OZ

Architecture

Notable buildings include the old (1678–1696) and new (1829–1854) Orthodox cathedrals, both dedicated to the feast of the Annunciation.

Notable people

It was the birthplace in 1846 of

Vyacheslav von Plehve Vyacheslav Konstantinovich von Plehve ( rus, Вячесла́в (Wenzel (Славик)) из Плевны Константи́нович фон Пле́ве, p=vʲɪtɕɪˈslaf fɐn ˈplʲevʲɪ; – ) served as a director of Imperial Russ ...

, the

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

-descended director of the Imperial Russian Police and later

Minister of the Interior An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and identification, emergency ...

References

Notes

Sources

* {{Authority control Cities and towns in Kaluga Oblast Meshchovsky Uyezd