:''Obolensk is also the name of a modern settlement (established 1975 as a base for the Soviet Biopreparat biological weapons program, and named for the historical city) in Serpukhovsky District, Moscow Oblast.'' Obolensk () was a city in Russia, and in the medieval period one of the

Upper Oka Principalities In Russian historiography the term Upper Oka Principalities () traditionally applies to about a dozen tiny and ephemeral polities situated along the upper course of the Oka River at the turn of the 14th and 15th centuries. They were reigned b ...

, situated at the

Protva River The Protva () is a river in the Moscow and Kaluga oblasts in Russia. It is a left tributary A tributary, or an ''affluent'', is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream (''main stem'' or ''"parent"''), river, or a lake. A tributary d ...

(some 80 km south-to-southwest of

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

, or some 20 km downstream (east) of

Obninsk Obninsk () is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city in Kaluga Oblast, Russia, located on the bank of the Protva River southwest of Moscow and northeast of Kaluga. Its population is 125,376 at the 2021 census. History The history of ...

History

It was established in c. 1270 by Yury, the fifth son of Mikhail of Chernigov. Ruled by the sovereign House of Obolensk in the 14th and 15th centuries, the principality was incorporated into the

Grand Duchy of Moscow The Grand Principality of Moscow, or Muscovy, known as the Principality of Moscow until 1389, was a late medieval Russian monarchy. Its capital was the city of Moscow. Originally established as a minor principality in the 13th century, the gra ...

in 1494. The Obolensky family remained in power as governors. In the 1678 census of the

Tsardom of Russia The Tsardom of Russia, also known as the Tsardom of Moscow, was the centralized Russian state from the assumption of the title of tsar by Ivan the Terrible, Ivan IV in 1547 until the foundation of the Russian Empire by Peter the Great in 1721. ...

, the Obolensk district incorporated 146 villages with a total of 6,501 inhabitants. Obolensk was stripped of its status as a city under

Catherine II of Russia Catherine II. (born Princess Sophie of Anhalt-Zerbst; 2 May 172917 November 1796), most commonly known as Catherine the Great, was the reigning empress of Russia from 1762 to 1796. She came to power after overthrowing her husband, Peter I ...

. The site of the old town is now the village of in

Zhukovsky District, Kaluga Oblast Zhukovsky District () is an administrativeCharter of Kaluga Oblast and municipalLaw #7-OZ district (raion), one of the twenty-four in Kaluga Oblast, Russia. It is located in the northeast of the oblast. The area of the district is . Its administ ...

References

{{Authority control Geography of Kaluga Oblast Populated places established in the 13th century