The existing church of the Tikhvin Icon of the Mother of God in Vshizh is the fifth in succession. The first church was built in the 11th century on Blagoveshchenskaya Hill, where a cemetery was located, and, according to legend, it sank underground. A memorial wooden cross is now placed at its presumed location. The second church, erected in the center of the princely town in the late 12th and early 13th centuries, was made of brick and was richly decorated. Its architecture resembled the Church of the Intercession on the Nerl and the Smolensk buildings of the 12th century, as well as the Church of Paraskeva Friday in Chernihiv.

In 1238, during the siege of Vshizh by the Mongol-Tatars, the church was destroyed, leaving only fragments of walls with frescoes. After that, the town was not restored, and only in the 17th century did the village of Vshizh appear in its place. In the 19th century, landowner Fomina excavated the remains of the destroyed church, where many valuable items of church utensils were found, some of which are kept in the State Historical Museum. A memorial cross is placed at the site of the temple.

The third wooden church in the name of the Transfiguration of the Lord was built in 1763 by Yakov Vasilyevich Machikhin and was destroyed during the Soviet era. It was located near the current building of the Tikhvin church-museum, where a church-parish school used to be. A 300-year-old linden tree, an ornate cross, a 4-meter icon, and a photograph from the Soviet era displayed in the museum remind of the church.

The fourth large five-domed brick church was laid on a higher site due to the insufficient capacity of the old temple. Its construction was not completed until 1917 and continued even after the revolution, despite prohibitions. The church, brought to the domes, was dismantled before the Great Patriotic War, and the bricks were used to build a cow shed and an art school in Zhukovka. Now only the foundation remains of the church, and a memorial cross is placed behind the central apse, visible upon entering the village. There is a legend about a church or monastery beyond the Desna, where Lake Svyatoe formed. It is said that divers have seen church crosses at its bottom.