The memorial plaque on display in the Historical and Memorial Museum of the Demidovs comes from one of the oldest churches in Tula — the Church of the Nativity of Christ.

In the 17th century, the village of Rozhdestvenskaya — present-day Chulkovo village — was home to the Church of the Nativity of Christ after which the village was named (“Rozhdestvo” meaning “Christmas”). It is unknown whether the church was made of wood or stone. Literature on local history of the 19th–20th centuries presents several versions regarding the construction of the existing church. One version suggests that the temple was built by Nikita Demidov and that its construction began no later than 1725. Another version states that it was erected by his son Akinfiy in 1732, and the third points out that the construction was funded by the donations of the parishioners.

The Church of the Nativity of Christ is located in one of Tula’s districts, which is historically associated with the activities of the Demidovs family of industrialists. According to scribal books of 1627–1629, the village of Chulkovo was in the patrimony of the Chulkovs. This was where Nikita Demidov built his first metallurgical manufactory in 1694–1695, which greatly impacted where the people settled, as the majority of the villagers worked at the factory. These people comprised the parish of the only church in the village — the Church of the Nativity of Christ.

There are two unproven (documentally or otherwise) legends connected with the Church of the Nativity of Christ. According to one of them, Nikita Demidov himself was buried under the porch of the wooden, and later stone building. However, this version is refuted by the inscription on the bell, which refers to the burial of Nikita Demidov in the Armory settlement, that is, in Tula’s Zarechensky district. The second legend claims that there was a long underground passage from the Tula Kremlin to the church, through which some associates of Ivan Bolotnikov, the leader of the uprising of 1606–1607, escaped pursuit.

In 1940, the church was closed. For many years it was used as the storage facility of the Tulaugol combine and later the Tula Regional Philharmonic. In summer of 2012, the church was transferred to the Tula Diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church and the reconstruction of the Church of the Nativity of Christ began. The first Divine Liturgy since the return of the church to the faithful was celebrated on October 4, 2012, on the day of the memory of St. Demetrius Metropolitan of Rostov.