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Eight streets and a couple of lanes of Vladimirsky village are located in the vicinity of Nizhny Novgorod. This village is surrounded by dense taiga forests rich in ripe berries and fragrant mushrooms. As it stands on the shores of the marvelous picturesque Lake Svetloyar, shrouded in secrets and mysteries, its people still believe in ancient legends and celebrate pagan holidays. This place is filled with the voices and laughter of travelers jumping over the bonfire on Kupala Night, prayers for believers' healing at holy springs, and the light of candles in local ancient temples.
One of these temples is the oldest wooden church in Nizhny Novgorod Oblast, the Church of the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God, which gave the name to the village in the 17th century. This rural shrine was erected in 1766, but its modern exterior was formed during the reconstruction in the middle of the 19th century. The combination of various parts like arched windows, Empire cornices and architraves, Doric columns, and rustications at the corners was uncommon for medieval wooden temples. Not to mention the domes that crown the main hall and the octagonal bell tower. These elements made the temple a unique monument of Russian wooden architecture and a center of attraction for connoisseurs of religious architecture.
According to some sources, this unique church was built by the archers of the guard post, who brought here a copy of the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God, and later, the second Vladimir icon, which still adorns the old temple. Even in Soviet times, when the doors of the church were closed to parishioners, religious services were still held in the nun's house. Then the services were moved back to the church. By the way, the church was visited by such famous poets as Apollo Maikov, Alexander Navrotsky, and Maximilian Voloshin.