The Ugra National Park was founded in 1997 to preserve the ecosystems of the Ugra, Zhizdra and Oka rivers in the Kaluga Region. The Park stretches in a narrow strip along the rivers and occupies an area of 100 thousand hectares. There are many villages on the territory of the national park, as well as historical and natural attractions.
The most interesting place of the Ugra National Park, both for a short excursion and for a long trip, is the Nikola-Lenivets Art Park. It is located 70 km north of Kaluga and 220 km southwest of Moscow. Here you will see beautiful natural landscapes on the banks of the Ugra River, as well as more than a hundred interesting art objects. They are installed by Russian and foreign architects at the annual Arkhstanding festivals.
The main protected areas of the National Park are located along the Ugra riverbed in the Kaluga region. The source of the river is located in the Smolensk region, and it flows into the Oka River. The length of the Ugra is 399 km. The Ugra River flows among small hills, and a deciduous forest grows on its bank. There are many water and hiking trails in the park. The administration requires you to register and pay for long hikes in the park. If you are going with a short excursion, for example, to the Nikola-Lenivets Art Park, then you don`t have to do it.
There are several well-known routes to natural attractions in the Ugra National Park. Near the Nikola-Lenivets Park is the village of Galkino. There you can walk along the trail to the Galkino swamp. There is a 6 km route to the Devil`s Hillfort in the village of Sosenskiy (near Kozelsk). Another well-known route is called "Otrada - Lake Borovoe". Its length is 7 km. It starts near the Kaluga Zaseki Museum. The closest village is called Berezichsky Glass Factory (Kozelsky district).
Attractions in Ugra Park
On the territory of the Ugra National Park there are not only natural attractions and hiking routes. Here, outdoor recreation can be combined with a visit to historical attractions. There are also two monasteries on the territory of the Ugra Park: Optina Deserts and St. Tikhon`s Deserts. Pilgrims come to these monasteries from all over Russia.
The main historical attraction of the Ugra National Park is a field near three fords on the Ugra River near the village of Dvortsy, 20 km northwest of Kaluga. In 1480, one of the most important events in the history of Russia took place here: Standing on the Ugra River. Throughout October 1480, the troops of Prince Ivan III of Moscow and Khan Akhmat of the Horde stood on different banks of the Ugra River. The khan did not dare to attack the army of Ivan III and, with the onset of cold weather, went back to the Golden Horde. Thus ended the 250-year period, which in Russian history is called the "Mongol-Tatar yoke".
Three kilometers from the place where there was a Stand on the Ugra River, there is the monastery of St. Tikhon`s Deserts. It was founded in the middle of the 15th century by Saint Tikhon of Kaluga. He blessed the army of Prince Ivan III for the battle with Khan Akhmat, as a century earlier, in 1380, Sergius of Radonezh blessed the army of Dmitry Donskoy for the Kulikovo battle with Khan Mamai.
In the Holy Tikhon`s Desert, you can see beautiful temples built in the Byzantine style. The Vladimir Skete was built directly on the site of the Standing on the Ugra River in 2007. In 2012, the Museum-diorama "The Great Standing on the Ugra River" was created there. Many tourists visit these places during excursions in the Ugra National Park.
Not far from these places is the Linen Factory Estate, where you can visit the Alexander Pushkin Museum. In the 19th century it belonged to the Goncharov family. Natalia Goncharova, the wife of the great Russian poet, spent her childhood here. A beautiful English landscape park has been preserved there, and the Buzeon Paper Museum has been created in one of the workshops of the Goncharov paper mill.
In the area of the city of Kozelsk, on the banks of the Zhizdra River, there is a monastery of Optina Deserts. It is located on the territory of the Ugra National Park. In its importance for the Russian Orthodox Church, it can be compared with the Trinity-Sergius Lavra or the Diveevsky Monastery of Seraphim of Sarov. During the 19th century, there was a tradition of elderhood in the Optina Desert, which attracted thousands of pilgrims from all over Russia. For more than a hundred years, there were more than ten elders in the monastery who received and instructed people who came to them.
