Description of the attraction
The main Orthodox cathedral of the city of Almaty, located at the foot of the Alatau Mountains, is the Ascension Cathedral.
The construction of the cathedral in Pushkin Park began in 1904. The local architects K. A. Borisoglebsky and S. K. Troparevsky were the authors of the project of the temple. The construction works were supervised by the regional engineer - A. P. Zenkov. The construction of the Turkestan Cathedral was completed in 1906. The solemn consecration of the temple took place in the summer of 1907.
There are three chapels in the temple: the first is the central one, consecrated in memory of the Ascension of the Lord, the second is the southern one, consecrated in honor of the Annunciation of the Most Holy Theotokos, the third is the northern one, in the name of the saints Faith, Hope, Love and their mother, Sophia. The real decorations of the cathedral are the three-tiered iconostasis, stucco and blacksmith works of the best Verny, Kiev and Petersburg masters and icon painters P. Usyrev, A. Murashko. The gable rafter roof of the cathedral is decorated with five domes with onions and crosses. The crowns of the walls and closed frames of the temple building, as well as the roof rafters, are made of the trunks of tarred Tien Shan biennial spruce.
In 1911, the temple was able to withstand a catastrophic 10-point earthquake, when almost the entire city was destroyed. Since 1929 the cathedral has been used as the Central State Museum of the Kazakh ASSR. The interior of the temple building has changed a lot after in the 1930s. public organizations were located within its walls. The bell tower of the cathedral was used to organize the first radio broadcasts in the city.
In January 1982, the building of the cathedral was declared a historical and cultural monument of republican significance. In April 1995, the first president of the Republic of Kazakhstan, N. Nazarbayev, handed over the cathedral to the ROC for unlimited use.
In 2004, restoration work was carried out in the cathedral. Currently, there is a Sunday school and a library at the Cathedral of the Ascension of the Lord.
