Late 18th century church where a mammoth bone was reportedly gnawed to cure toothache
The Church of the Exaltation of the Precious and Life-Giving Cross at Nikolo-Berezovets.
This church is said to have housed a unique relic: a mammoth bone, which, by custom, was gnawed to rid oneself of toothache.
The vaults, as you can see, are in a sorry state of finish, yet the church was never closed in the Soviet years.
The brick church, dating from the late 18th century, has side chapels of the Dormition of the Mother of God and of Saints Florus and Laurus. The parish was founded no later than the 16th century.
The main volume is a two-light, single-domed cube (chetverik); the bell tower, of three tiers, adjoins a four-pillared, two-light refectory, which was considerably enlarged in the late 19th century.
