The mysterious Russian soul and Russian character have long ago become "the talk of the town" among those who have ever encountered Russia and the Russians. Therefore, if you really want to get to know better and to understand what the Russian people are like, then be sure to continue your amazing journey through space and time together with "Master Rallye" through ancient Russian towns. Almost all of them have given Russia outstanding scientists and artists, true sons of their motherland. Who knows, may be you will be lucky enough to solve the riddle of the surprising Russian character after visiting ancient Russian towns - the reflections of the Russian soul.

Every town on the way of "Master Rallye" is proud of its sons. Town Gjatsk is the motherland of Yuri Gagarin, the first man to fly to space. Gjatsk was founded by order of Peter the Great to open the bread wharf of Gjatsk. In Kaluga Konstantin Tsiolkovsky - the founder of the modern theory of cosmonautics and aeronautics - was born and spent most of his life.

Almost every place here is closely connected with the War of 1812, when this region witnessed many bloody battles between the Russians and the French. Up to now, adventurers from all over the world are still searching for Napoleon's army treasure sunk in the lake of the Semlevo village. Not far from Gjatsk the great Russian commander Michael Kutuzov took command over the Russian army in 1812.

There are a lot of well-preserved ancient cloisters and churches in this area. However, the most famous and beautiful of them is the one founded in the 15th century by St.Tikhon Kalujsky in the place of his abode. Tikhon was a hermit and lived in the hollow of a gigantic oak, ate wild grass and fruits, drank water from the well dug by himself.

You will be surprised to know that in 25 kilometers from Kaluga the front-line aerodrome was located during the Second World War. The fighter pilots of the legendary French squadron Normandia-Neman under the command of General P.Pouyade made their first operational flight from this airfield in April 1943.

This region is also famous because Tula - one of Russia’s oldest industrial centres - is situated here. For a long time iron-ore had been extracted from the land of Tula and in 1637 first iron factories in Russia were founded here. In 18^th century, a small arms factory was founded in Tula by order of Peter the Great. Based on its collection of arms samples the Arms museum of Tula was created: it contains the richest collection of arms from Europe, East, and Russia. Some of the Russian arms represented Russia in Paris at the 1900 World exhibition and won the Big Gold medal.

20 more kilometers to the South, and you find yourself in Yasnaya Polyana - the patrimony of the great Russian writer Lion Tolstoy. Here he created "War and peace", "Anna Karenina", and other great works of Russian classical literature. Tolstoy's memorial house is located in Yasnaya Polyana, and his descendants from all over the world arrive here for annual gatherings thus keeping up an old family tradition.

Then our course goes through the Central-Chernozyomny (black earth) region of Russia. It was called "Dikoye Pole" (wild field) because the steppe inhabitants used these lands as a springboard for attacks on Russian territory. This region was populated gradually under the cover of the fortresses, that later turned into towns. That is how Tambov city was founded in 1636 as a fortified post of the "Dikoye Pole" in order to defend the Moscow State against nomads. Under the threat of the nomadic tribes invasion the residents of the boundary area between the woods and the steppes - people of northern origin who called themselves "Cossacks" - had to combine the art of war with agriculture.

Eventually the fortresses began to loose their defense importance as industry developed and industrial centres emerged, such as Lipetsk which possessed large deposits of iron-ore. At the time of Peter I over 500 men worked at Lipetsk iron foundries producing metal, cannons, bombs, pistols, muskets and anchors.

Slightly to the south of Lipetsk there is a tiny town of Zadonsk that is otherwise called "Russian Jerusalem" for great number and miraculous beauty of its temples and cloisters.

General town construction in Russia flourished in the 15^th century when multiple outposts of the Russian State aimed at the conquest of Povoljie area appeared on the banks of Volga. Thus, the towns of Saratov and Tsaritsyn (present-day Volgograd) appeared instead of the river-crossings used by the Tatars. Saratov first existed as a strong point for protection of merchants and tsars’ ships. For a long time the town served as a frontier fortification and had become a centre of numerous Cossack revolts.
 

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