In ancient times, the Nikolsky temple in Nyrab was called "manifest," meaning not made by hands, and there were reasons for this. Legends about the miraculous construction of this church are still told in Nyrab. The time of its construction is usually attributed to 1704-1705, but the names of the customer and the architects remain unknown. When reliable information is lacking, legends arise.

According to local legend, the absence of information about the builders is explained by the fact that the church was erected by "masters who came from nowhere and were hired by someone." They did not use scaffolding or lifting devices, built the temple at ground level, and every morning everything assembled overnight seemed to sink into the ground. When the construction was completed, the masters disappeared, and the church seemed to have risen from the depths. In another version of the legend, the builders raised the temple only to a small height, and the rest miraculously grew from the earth. A third version tells of a mysterious contractor who left Nyrab after completing the construction without taking any payment.

The dating of the church is confirmed by a fresco inscription on the arch connecting the church's square with the refectory. It was made in 1725 and indicates 1704 as the time of construction and January 1705 as the month of consecration. Although the inscription is now poorly readable, it was copied before the revolution and is available to researchers. The author of the inscription did not mention the names of the customer and builders, possibly due to the humility of the customer, who was still alive.

Among the common misconceptions about the construction of the church is the claim that it was built by captured Swedes sent by Governor Matvey Gagarin. However, in 1704-1705, Gagarin had no relation to the Siberian order, and captured Swedes were sent to Siberia only after the Battle of Poltava.

The name of the village Nyrab might originate from the Komi words "nyr" (nose) and "yb" (field), meaning "Nose field." However, the village stands on the banks of the Nyrabka River, and usually, a hydronym gives its name to a settlement.

Nyrabka is first mentioned in 1579 when there were six households in the village. Nyrab gained particular fame due to the imprisonment of Boyar Mikhail Nikitich Romanov. In the 17th century, Nyrab enjoyed privileges from the Moscow tsars.

The wealth of the parish is confirmed by the fact that in 1676, Archbishop Ion took one hundred rubles from the treasury of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker of Nyrab for the construction of a cathedral in Khlynov. The time of the appearance of the Orthodox parish in Nyrab is unknown. Researcher Vasily Popov attributed the construction of the first church to 1613-1617. In 1619, the voivode of Cherdyn reported to the tsar that the church had burned down two years earlier.

Professor G.N. Chagin claims that there were four wooden churches in Nyrab in the name of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker. The stone church was built in 1704 and consecrated in January 1705. It is the oldest stone building in the Cherdyn district. In 1736, a warm Epiphany church was built on the site of the burned wooden church, next to which a bell tower was erected.

In 1817, a new parish was formed, including 12 villages and three settlements. In 1866, a cast-iron floor was laid in the church, and between 1880 and 1833, repairs were carried out.

The Nikolsky temple was closed in the 1930s, and the bell tower was dismantled in 1932. In 1952, the restoration of the church as an architectural monument began. In 1991, the temple was returned to the faithful, and in 1998, the pit, the place of Mikhail Romanov's imprisonment, was cleared. In 2012, a chapel in honor of Archangel Michael was restored.