Meshchovsk

Meshchovsk lies on the Tureya River southwest of Kaluga. Russian chronicles mention it in connection with the Mongol invasion in 1238, and in the Middle Ages it was the patrimony of the Mezetsky princes. The district later passed from Lithuanian to Muscovite rule at the beginning of the sixteenth century.

The older Cathedral of the Annunciation was built between 1678 and 1696. In 1776 Catherine the Great granted Meshchovsk town rights; work on a newer cathedral began in 1829. These institutions mark the town's place within the changing administration and religious life of central Russia.