Bogorodskoye

Bogorodskoye lies in the upper Oka country, among the wooded fields and river valleys south of Oryol. The region formed part of the exposed southern approaches to Moscow. In the sixteenth century forts including Oryol and Bolkhov strengthened the frontier against raids from the steppe. Their garrisons and the surrounding villages belonged to a landscape where the river valleys opened routes northward toward the older towns of the Oka.