Istra

(until 1930, Voskresensk), a city in Moscow Oblast, RSFSR.

Istra is in a scenic locale on the Istra River, 58 km west of Moscow, and has a railroad station on the Moscow-Riga line. Population, 16,000 (1970). Istra arose in 1589 as the village of Safatovo, and in 1636 it was renamed Voskresenskoe. In 1781 it became the district seat. The city was destroyed in the Great Patriotic War (1941–45); after the war it was rebuilt from the ground up. It has a teachers college; close to the town aresanatoriums and houses of rest. The New Jerusalem Monastery was founded in the vicinity in the middle of the 17th century. On the monastery grounds is the Moscow Oblast Museum of Local Lore.

a peninsula between the Adriatic gulfs of Trieste and Rijeka, in Yugoslavia and partly in Italy. Area, 3,700 sq km.

Istra is a plateau composed chiefly of Mesozoic limestones, rising gently from southwest to northeast (elevation, 100–600 m). The highest point on the peninsula is Mount Uchka (1, 396 m). Karst is prevalent. The climate is Mediterranean. There is sparse Mediterranean vegetation (thorny shrubs, grasses). Istra’s major ports are Trieste in Italy and Pula in Yugoslavia.

a river in Moscow Oblast, RSFSR, a left tributary of the Moskva River. Length, 113 km; basin area, 2,050 sq km. Fed chiefly by snow, it has an average annual rate of flow at the village of Pavlovskaia Sloboda (12 km from the mouth) of 11.3 cu m per sec. Located in the upper reaches of the river is the Istra Reservoir, 27.4 sq km in area, which supplies water to Moscow. The river valley is highly scenic, one of the most beautiful in the vicinity of Moscow. The city of Istra is situated on the river, as are sanatoriums and houses of rest.