Church of St. Nicholas

The Church of St. Nicholas was built by Russian merchant, Ksenofont Serebryakov. A legend says that he had nearly drowned during a heavy storm on Lake Baikal and decided to build a church in honour of St. Nicholas, the patron and defender of sailors and fishermen. The construction of the church started in 1846 in Nikola village on the bank of the Angara and was finished after Serebryakov’s death by his wife Natalya. The church was taken from one place to another twice: at first to the lakeside of the Baikal – to the village of Listvyanka, and then, in 1957, to Krestovaya Valley, 500 m (1600 ft) from the shore. It was moved away from the shore because of the construction of the dam in Irkutsk that resulted in a 1m raise in the water level of the lake.

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