There is a legend about the construction of the temple. A well-known Russian entrepreneur of the 18th century, Savva Yakovlev built an iron ore empire in the Urals. As often happens, after his death, a struggle for inheritance began. The sons of Russia’s richest industrialist could not share 22 plants. A lot of controversy has arisen because of Nevyan enterprises. Peter, one of the sons, vowed that if he got the factories, he would build a temple. Well, the Nevyan part of the inheritance went to Peter and he spared no money for the construction of the church. Construction began in 1789, and was completed after 7 years. But the Empress personally ordered that the church be built “with haste.”
An Orthodox church was needed in the factory to resist the Old Believers, who had as many as 2 chapels. The temple amazed with its beauty. In a remote, inaccessible place, a cathedral worthy of capitals was built. This is the first Ural cathedral in the style of classicism. The classic five-domed church seems to float in the air. A feature of the structure is the absence of right angles.
The building was built for posterity. The foundation is reinforced with 5 tons of cast iron, all the walls with metal weights. The frames, the roof, everything metal. Even the floor is lined with cast iron slabs. Immediately you can see that there is a lot of iron ore around, you can spend not counting.
The bell tower was also special, with chimes. They beat the chimes every 15 minutes. The largest bell weighed 2 tons.
The interior has been repeatedly updated. This was done for the collection of parishioners and donations of patrons. So, in 1857, on donations, the temple was repaired, it was insulated, the wooden porch was replaced with a stone one, the roof was renewed. In 1860 the iconostasis in the main altar was renewed. It was fixed, covered with gold, decorated with carvings.
Although the church was built to eradicate the “old faith”, the icons in the temple of Nicholas the Wonderworker are Old Believers. Before the icon-painting workshops of the European part of the country was far away, and in the Urals the Old Believers lived a lot. Of course, their style dominated. Icon painting flourished in this region, but Nevyansk stood out especially. The Nevyansk masters had orders not only from the Urals, even from Siberia and the European part of Russia.
At the turn of the 18th-19th centuries, 10 workshops worked there. But gradually the demand for icons of this style fell and by the 20th century only a few people were still painting icons.
Now no one is engaged in Old Believer painting. St. Nicholas Church is worth visiting to admire them.
The Church of Nicholas the Wonderworker was practically not closed, but for 5 years (1939-1944) services were not held there because there was no priest.
Nowadays, the church still amazes with its architectural style and interior decorations, but it is quite obvious that it needs restoration. The Nizhny Tagil diocese announced a fundraising.
Charitable Foundation Holy Land
Russian Temples and Monasteries
