The iconostasis of the Nativity Church in the village of Novinki, Nizhny Novgorod Region, is an outstanding example of church art, preserved since the early 19th century. The church was built in 1828 with funds from parishioners and became a vivid example of rural classicist architecture. The facades of the building are adorned with strict order forms that beautifully complement the archaic five-domed onion-shaped completion. Today, the church is located on the grounds of a rural cemetery, but it is unknown whether it was originally a cemetery church, as no ancient graves predating the post-revolutionary years have been found in the cemetery.

The exterior of the church, despite its preservation, appears ordinary for rural architecture of the first half of the 19th century. However, the interior decoration of the temple impresses with its grandeur. The interior space is designed for 500-700 people, indicating the significance of the parish. The central feature of the interior is a tall framed iconostasis consisting of six tiers, which is a rarity for churches of that time. This indicates the scale and importance of the church for the local community.

The composition of the iconostasis is executed in the spirit of classicism, but the carved decoration of the frame refers to baroque altar partitions of the mid-17th century. In the first third of the 19th century, there was a departure from strict classicist forms in Russia, as architects sought new combinations of styles. In Novinki, this is manifested in the central axial part of the iconostasis, where the unbraced pediments and columns with Corinthian capitals are adorned with carved ornamentation. The graphic content of the ornament, including floral rosettes and acanthus leaves, remains classicist, but its scale and density of filling are closer to baroque.

The frame of the iconostasis is covered with traditional levkas, which is a chalk ground with the addition of linseed oil and animal glue, onto which paint is applied. The color palette is dominated by golden ochre, dense crimson, and white lead, which is characteristic of rural church iconostases of the 19th century.

A distinctive feature of the Novinki iconostasis is its sixth tier. In canonical iconostases, which formed by the end of the 17th century, there were usually five tiers: local, festive, deesis, prophetic, and patriarchal. However, in the 18th century, in the search for space for new plots, sixth and even seventh tiers began to appear, such as the Passion tier depicting the Passion of Christ and apostolic scenes, as well as the piani tier for small parish icons. The emergence of the piani tier is associated with the decision of the Great Moscow Council of 1666-1667, which condemned the practice of parishioners bringing their own icons to the church and ruled that they should be given to the church irrevocably. Thus, icons were placed above the local tier for veneration. However, the presence of a sixth and especially a seventh tier in an iconostasis has always remained an exception, and such iconostases were installed in few places. One of them, with a sixth Passion tier, can be seen in the Nativity Church in Novinki.