MOSCOW, September 25 (RIA Novosti) – Kaluga is getting ready to welcome visitors. The region’s administration announced its plans to create a fascinating theme park near Tarusa, a town 130 km south of Moscow. The park will be divided into three recreational villages for travellers with an interest in ethnography, and eco and agro-tourism.

The eco village will provide all the delights of rural life: visitors will learn to fire a traditional stove, chop wood, draw water from a well and try carrying two buckets with a yoke fitted round the shoulders. The ethnographic village will be an outdoor museum presenting a wide variety of rural households from the 10th to the 20th centuries. People who enjoy an active lifestyle will get an insight into traditional Russian methods of land cultivation and cattle breeding, and learn the basics of beekeeping and fishing in the agricultural area.

The park will have all the facilities for a comfortable stay: a three-star hotel, a golf club, stables, a restaurant, a bar and a shopping center. There are also plans to build a housing development with villas and apartments, as well as artificial lakes, canals, parks, a quay on the bank of the Oka River, and a fitness center with a swimming pool and a tennis court.

Another ambitious project is to set up a cultural center with a gallery, a concert hall and a hotel, which will be a venue for musical festivals and concerts.

Tarusa is one of Russia’s oldest towns, dating back to 1246. It is located on a steep bank of the Oka River, a tributary of the Volga. Back in the 19th century many artists, musicians and writers were inspired by the beauty of the area. Famous Russian artist Vasily Polenov (1844-1927), whose estate-museum is situated near Tarusa, compared the town to Barbizon, a French village that gave its name to the famous French school of painting, and called it the Russian Barbizon. Today, artists working in various genres and styles from all across Russia get together at an open-air festival held annually near Tarusa.

If you want to experience the real Russia, combining outdoor activities with satisfying your thirst for knowledge, come to the heart of the country and enjoy its magnificent nature, unique landscapes, rich history and traditional folk crafts, for an unforgettable experience.