Nikola-Lenivets

On the banks of the Ugra there was more than one famous battle. The name Nikola-Lenivets came after one of them. Legend has it: on the eve of St. Nicholas the Day, an enemy attacked the settlement from the other side of the Ugra. History did not record whether it was the Tatar-Mongol warriors or Lithuanian knights, but the sudden invasion scattered the locals. They preferred temporary escape to defeat, thereby preserving the settlement. The enemy, sensing an easy victory, indulged in a feast and lost his vigilance - "lazy." The squad gathered in the surrounding forests and at dawn defeated the army of the enemy. Since then (according to oral tradition) the settlement was named by Nicholas - in honor of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, on whose day and under the auspices of which the victory took place. Sloth - in memory of the victory and due to the fact that the place itself is traditionally disposed to laziness and idleness.

In subsequent centuries, at the time of strengthening the statehood of Russia, the Ugra River became an important strategic object, on the left bank of which outposts were erected, designed to reflect the attacks of the enemy. The people called the river "Belt of the Blessed Virgin Mary". In 1480, Nikola-Lenivets was in the center of the Great Stand on the Ugra River , which put an end to the Mongol-Tatar yoke .

Today, excavations are resuming on the territory of the Settlement. Heritage research is underway. In the museum of local lore you can see the tools of hunting, labor and life of that era.

In honor of the victory over the Tatars, a wooden clock was built, which at the beginning of the 19th century was replaced by a large stone church in honor of the Holy Trinity, which for many years became the most significant architectural, artistic and spiritual center. The church was built in 1802 at the expense of the local landowner Nikita Alekseevich Muromtsev. To produce brick for erecting the walls of the temple, a clay quarry was developed, and on the slopes of the settlement brick kilns were built, which were transported by cart to the construction site. Workshops for the production of forged metal products and carved wooden decorative elements of the building were also created on the spot. On the maps of that era, the settlement of Nikola - Lenivets is marked with a symbol from 2,000 to 10,000 inhabitants.

With the advent of Soviet power, the structure of life has changed. Service in the temple was forbidden, church valuables exported; the iconostasis is destroyed, the bells are dropped and taken away for re-melting, the priest is repressed. The center of public life was moved to the village of Zvizji. The Great Patriotic War added destruction. The Germans took these places without a fight. Leaving in (1943), they burned all the houses, but they left the church.

From 2000-2003, at the initiative and under the leadership of the architect Vasily Shchetinin ^[2] , the Trinity Church was reconstructed according to the design of the Terra architectural bureau.

The church is currently not functioning.

Since 2000, Nikola-Lenivets has become an outpost of contemporary art. Together with peasants, local residents from nearby villages, Nikolai Polissky created many objects and created the Nikola-Lenivets crafts . In 2005, Nikolai Polissky, together with the creative inhabitants of Nikola-Lenivets: Vasil Kopeiko , Anna Schetinina and Vasily Schetinin founded the festival " Archstoyanie ". Project management and curatorial work was proposed by Julia Bychkova and architect Anton Kochurkin.

In 2006, the first festival was held in the village of Nikola-Lenivets. During its history, 101 art objects were erected on the territory of Nikola-Lenivets, more than 150 authors took part, including Francois Roche (France), Nikolai Polissky (Russia), Alexander Brodsky (Russia), Adrian Geyze (Holland), West 8 Bureau (Netherlands), Manipulazione Internazionale (Russia), Yuri Grigoryan (Russia) and others. The objects that arose due to the "Archstoyanie", and extra-festival objects of Nikolai Polissky, became an integral part of the landscape of Nikola-Lenivets.

In 2011, entrepreneur Maxim Nogotkov acquires 612 hectares around the village of Nikola-Lenivets and establishes the management company of the Nikola-Lenivets project, the center of territorial initiatives Archpolis. Everything necessary for life and work all year round appeared in Nikola-Lenivets - guest houses, a camping and a hostel, an outdoor cafe and a movie theater, bike rental and WiFi.

Since 2012, "Landscape workshops" have been held in Nikol-Lenivets. French architects from the Wagon landscaping bureau and teachers at the Versailles Landscape School have developed the concept of the Versailles park. They proposed an approach that combines design with high-quality immersion in the territory and each season they come to Nikola-Lenivets to independently take care of the park, develop it with the participation of students and interns from Russia and France, and also share knowledge at workshops in " Landscaping workshops. " Active training in the workshops will be joined by practitioners in the field of landscape architecture, students of specialized universities and people interested in the sustainable development of the territory, rural urbanism and environmental agro-technologies.

Since 2013, musicians and artists from different countries have been living and working in Nikol-Lenivets. The art hostel Kazarma, located on the highest point of the park, becomes the center of creative activity. Here, famous artists from different disciplines (music, photos, videos, design) and curators of the main art areas of Nikola-Lenivets live at the same time. The residence involves work on the result in a given framework of production processes. The unique content created by the participants of the residence will be presented at the “New Media Night” and “Archstoyanie” festivals.

On the territory of the former mechanical base in the neighboring village of Zvizzhi, a production and creative territory was created - "Stan", where the workshop of Nikolai Polissky and the " Nikola-Lenivets Crafts " are located.

1989 - the architect Vasily Shchetinin and the artist Nikolai Polissky move to Nikola-Lenivets.

1992 - the Ugra National Park was created. Part of Nikola-Sloth is part of it.

1995 - architects Anna Shchetinina and Yulia Bychkova move to Nikola-Lenivets.

1997 - designer Vasily Kopeiko moved to Nikola-Lenivets.

2000-2003 - reconstruction of the Trinity Church (project of the Terra architectural bureau, supervisor - Vasily Schetinin, with the support of businessman Igor Kireev)

2000 - Nikolai Polissky creates the first land art project in Nikola-Lenivets - “Snowmen”. An artel of local residents “Nikola-Lenivets crafts” was formed. In the summer, Nikolai Polissky and Nikola-Lenivets crafts create the "Hay Tower".

2003 - Nikolai Polissky and Nikola-Lenivets crafts build the "Media Tower", the highest belvedere in Nikol-Lenivets.

February 22, 2004 - the first big event - Maslenitsa - in Nikol-Lenivets. They burn the "Media Tower", accompanied by the performance of German Vinogradov.

2003 - participation of the Nikola-Sloth team at the ArtKlyazma festival and awareness of the festival's future project.

2006 - the initiative group of the Archstoyanie festival was formed (Nikolai Polissky, Anna Schetinina, Vasily Schetinin, Vasily Kopeiko, curators Anton Kochurkin and Julia Bychkova). The critic Alexander Panov came up with the name and formed the concept of the festival.

July 29, 2006 - the first festival of landscape objects "Archstoyanie". Created "Nikolino ear" (Vlad Savinkin, Vladimir Kuzmin), "Barn" (Yuri Grigoryan), "Crib" (Alexander Brodsky).

2009 - in the summer, as part of Archstoyanie, Rotunda facilities (Alexander Brodsky) were created and the Versailles landscape park (French Bureau Wagon Landscaping) was laid. In the framework of the winter “Archstoyanie” Vasily Shchetinin creates the “Gilded Calf”.

2010 - Maxim Nogotkov buys 612 hectares of land to develop and support the project.

2011 - the entrepreneur Maxim Nogotkov founded the Nikola-Lenivets management company, the center of territorial initiatives “Archpolis”.

2012 - an eco-farm starts under the leadership of Anna and Sergey Morozov in Nikol-Lenivets.

July 7, 2012 - the object of Nicholas Polissky "Universal Mind" was presented and the festival "Night of New Media" is held for the first time.

2012 - in the framework of the festival "Archstoyanie" objects were created "Arch", "Settlement", "Fast trail" and "Storming the sky."

2013 - the hostel "Barracks" was built (Sergey Syrenov, Architectural Bureau "Arkhpole"). The new object of Nikolai Polissky - "Beaver" is presented and the festival of the same name is held. For the first time, an open blacksmithing workshop was organized at Mehdvor (the former mechanical station of the farm of the village of Zvizji) under the leadership of Peter Vinogradov.

^{[3] [4]}

• nikola-lenivets.com - the official website of Nikola-Lenivets
• History of the place on the site of the festival "Archstoyanie" (inaccessible link)
• www.polissky.ru - the official website of the artist Nikolai Polissky