The area of the district is 1,771.99 square kilometers (684.17 sq mi).

[2] The 18th-century estate of Aleksino used to be reputed for its stud-farm of Orlov stallions.

The Godunovs commissioned a five-domed cathedral, a tented refectory, and a pillar-like bell-tower to be built there.

According to Pyotr Baranovsky, the abbey represented the best-preserved 16th-century monastery complex in Eastern Europe.

It was blown up by the retreating Germans in 1943 but was partly rebuilt in the 1990s.