Sightseeing tour of Lesnoye Ardashevo village, Temnikovsky district

Lesnoye Ardashevo (Mordovian Ordazh), a village, Temnikovsky district, before the revolution Temnikovsky district of Tambov province. The population is currently about 150 people. The Moksha village of Lesnoye Ardashevo was first mentioned in documents of 1688. The local Mordovians adopted Christianity gradually, over the course of a century, and in the 1740s there was a mass baptism by decree of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna. Until the end of the XIX century, the settlement, despite the number of inhabitants of 1400 people, was considered a village and was part of the parish of the village of Plosskoye. In the 1890s, the Ardashevites decided to erect their own extensive stone church, which was completed and consecrated in 1896 in the name of the holy Blessed Grand Duke Alexander Nevsky with warm side chapels in honor of the Intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos and St. Nicholas the Wonderworker. In Soviet times, the church was withdrawn from the parish and adapted for economic needs. Attempts have been made repeatedly to destroy it, but the building has been preserved, although it has suffered some losses.
Architecturally, the Alexander Nevsky Church, built according to a standard project, is a cube topped with a five-domed in the neo-Byzantine (New Russian) style characteristic of the second half of the XIX century. Since temples of the same type according to the project were destroyed everywhere, the Alexander Nevsky Church has great historical and artistic value. The building has been placed under state protection and is recognized as an architectural monument of national significance. The parish was restored, the church was consecrated with the same name. Restoration work is underway. Near the village there is a revered spring "Twelve keys" ("Kemgaftuva spring").