The village of Votcha is located in the Sysolsky District of the Republic of Komi and is one of the oldest settlements in the region. In the 16th century, it served as the administrative center of the Sysolsk land. In the first half of the 19th century, between 1849 and 1841, the first stone church was built here, known as the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church. The exact date of its foundation has not been preserved.

The walls of the church were adorned with iconographic paintings, remnants of which can still be seen today. The last priest of the church was Father Tikhon Shalamov, whose son Varlaam became a well-known Soviet writer. His works contain much of interest about life in the Russian North.

In the mid-1990s, a church dedicated to St. Victor the New Martyr was built nearby, and the Nativity Church began to fall into disrepair. Funds for its restoration were not allocated, and parishioners moved to the new church.

As of today, the condition of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church leaves much to be desired: the roof has partially collapsed, and the walkways are overgrown with grass. Although the church has long been inactive, it remains a monument of architecture and attracts tourists from both Russia and abroad, who come to admire the preserved wall paintings.