On the banks of a small river Sukhona and on-site pre-existing trade area is the St. Nicholas Church with a bell tower, which is a famous monument of architecture of the 17th-19th centuries. This Church is one of those temples that exemplify early Ustyug architectures presented in a two-story stone building that combines summer and winter Church.

Date of establishment of the temple in the name of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker is unknown. The earliest mention of the Church dates back to 1630 in Sotoi book. According to records 1629, cool wooden Church, named in honor of Nikola Hostinskogo, burned down, and there was only one small wooden Church in honor of Dmitry Prilutsky, also burned, only in 1679.

17 may 1682 on the site of the burned Church began construction of St. Nicholas Church, only to have stone. The end of the construction had to 1685. Not just the Church suffered greatly from fire in 1698 and 1715. Some time later, in 1720, the Church was added to the second tier, representing the cold Church. Warm the Church was built in honor of the Reverend Dmitry Prilutsky – Wonderworker of Vologda, and cold – in the name of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker. In the Church once had a limit, built in the name of Saint Savvaty and Zosima – Solovki.

Simultaneously with the construction of the upper floor of the Church in 1720 was built standing near the bell tower. Originally the bell tower had a curly head, but during 1776 it was replaced by a spire with an angel and a cross. Up to this point was a wooden bell tower, which had eight bells (burned in 1679).

According to oral tradition, the Church of St. Nicholas was built on cash then famous merchants Panovich. Proof of this can serve as an inscription on the wall of the Church vestibule, which contains the creation date of the Church, and the name Panov, Vasily Alekseevich. According to experts, the temple was founded the visiting traders, why the Church and received the name "Hostinsky". One characteristic feature of the temple is the presence of green copper in the composition of the domes of churches and bell towers, which are gilded in fire. It is known that the gilding took about 700 merchant ducats.

Unlike earlier designs, the quadrangle of St. Nicholas Church is treasuty high volume, but the upper part of the temple lit by several rows of large rectangular Windows. From the West end of the main volume refectory room, and on the East side - altar outbuilding which was made with a ledge that gave the silhouette of the temple some dynamism. Of particular interest is the triangular shape of the altar, which, most likely, begins their descent from wooden altars of the temples. The decoration of the facades that have expressed a clear division that due to the use of traditional classical orders, was first used in architecture Veliky Ustyug as decoration of the facade. The completion of the Central volume is made in the form of a pair of octagons.

As you know, according to ancient tradition, the bell tower of the St. Nicholas Church interpreted the adjacent volume, the lower part of which followed the compositional techniques of the 17th century. Arched openings ringing not covered hipped roof and a closed dome on which stands the octagon, ending in a spire. In General, the tower building is the earliest and most characteristic example of the bell tower longline type.

In 1986, after restoration works were carried out in the premises of St. Nicholas Church, began its work the exhibition hall of the Museum. On the lower floor of the temple was exhibited, the exhibition "Folk art of the Great Ustyug". Richest stock collection of the Museum allowed us to show the diversity of folk art Ustyug land 17-20 centuries. The work was presented patterned, elected heald, derogatory weaving and bestradio; embroidery, still printed cloth, painted on wood, and wrought iron, ceramics and punching.