A Soviet television news crew - in Illinois to produce a one-hour documentary on free enterprise, private sector agriculture and religion - filmed historic sites in Nauvoo for the production.

TV anchor Boris Kostenko, his producer Alexi Tscvarev, and cameraman Anatoly Vaskin were guests of the Church in Nauvoo Sept. 7-8.They filmed the Jonathan Browning Home and Gunshop, the Joseph Smith Homestead and Mansion, the newly landscaped Smith Family Cemetery, the LDS Visitors Center with its Monument to Women garden and the exteriors of most other historic structures.

The crew filmed the Carthage Jail and gardens at the visitors center there and parts of the nearby Macomb Ward's sacrament meeting on Sunday, Sept. 8. Before visiting in the Nauvoo area, the Soviet crew attended a Russian Orthodox church in Chicago, but requested to attend an "American church."

"We enjoyed having them there at our sacrament meeting," said Maughan McMurdie, a member of the Macomb Ward bishopric. "They said they enjoyed the meeting very much. They were very gracious."

After the meeting, Brother McMurdie presented the Soviets with a video copy of "City of Joseph," the historical musical depicting the life of the early members of the Church in Nauvoo from 1839-1845.

McMurdie wrote the musical score and has been the musical director of the production each year since its beginning in 1976. Record crowds of more than 50,000 viewed the musical this year in Nauvoo.

While in Nauvoo, the Soviet visitors also received copies of the Book of Mormon, Gospel Principles, and the Joseph Smith Story in their own language. All three asked questions about the Church and were given information about how to visit the newly established branch in their home city of Moscow.

The Nauvoo visit was part of a one-week trip to Illinois arranged through the Illinois Department of Commerce and Community Affairs. The documentary will be aired in the Soviet Union to a potential audience of 3 million people.

The Nauvoo footage may also be used in conjunction with filming done by another Soviet TV crew that visited Utah several months ago, according to Hugh McHarry of the Illinois Department of Commerce.

"Producer Tscvarev, speaking in Russian, said the trip far exceeded their expectations and the documentary will far exceed the planned hour in length," commented McHarry, who is also LDS. "Nauvoo was considered to be a highlight of the trip."

According to the Illinois Office of Tourism, Nauvoo has become the leading tourist attraction in western Illinois, attracting more than a quarter of a million visitors a year.