Church of the Holy Ascension
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Church of the Holy Ascension
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Alaska Heritage Resources Survey
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Church of the Holy Ascension on a sunny day, with red roofs, green onion domes, and a small churchyard.
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| Location | Unalaska, Alaska |
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| Coordinates | 53°52′32″N 166°32′11″W / 53.87556°N 166.53639°WCoordinates: 53°52′32″N 166°32′11″W / 53.87556°N 166.53639°W |
| Area | 1.5 acres (0.61 ha) |
| Built | 1826 |
| Architect | Mooser & Piser; Alaska Commercial Co. |
| MPS | Russian Orthodox Church Buildings and Sites TR (AD) |
| NRHP Reference # | 70000112 |
| AHRS # | UNL-005 |
| Significant dates | |
| Added to NRHP | April 15, 1970 |
| Designated NHL | April 15, 1970 |
| Designated AHRS | June 6, 1971 |
The Church of the Holy Ascension, also known as the Holy Ascension Orthodox Church, is a prominent landmark in Unalaska, the major community of the western Aleutian Islands in southwestern Alaska. The current church was built in 1894, probably on the site of an 1826 church, and likely using timbers and other elements (including one iconostasis) from the older church. It is one of the oldest churches in Alaska, and is significant as the site from which missionaries brought their religion to the local Aleut people. This evangelization effort was so successful that today's Aleut population is still strongly Orthodox. The church was declared a National Historic Landmark for its architecture, and for its role in the history and culture of Alaska. It is the second cathedral church of the Orthodox Church in America Diocese of Alaska, after St. Michael's Cathedral in Sitka (which is also a National Historic Landmark).
The Church of the Holy Ascension is located in Unalaska, a community of about 4,000 on the north side of Unalaska Island, the largest of the western Aleutian Islands. It stands roughly midway on a peninsula dividing the Ililiuk River and Ililiuk Bay, west of the main part of the community. The church stands on a property known as the "Russian Greek Mission Reserves", a 1.5-acre (0.61 ha) area on which the bishop's residence also stands.
The church is a wood-frame structure, cruciform in shape, with a belltower at its western end. The tower is 52 feet (16 m) tall, starting as a square structure, which rises to a cornice with shallow center gables on each cornice, and an octagonal cupola topped by a green onion dome, which is capped by an Orthodox cross. The tower is connected to the nave of the church by a gable-roofed narthex. The nave is rectangular, with a hip roof capped by a cupola similar to, but smaller than, that on the tower. Hip-roofed wings containing chapels extend north and south from the near the eastern end of the nave. The apse is at the far eastern end of the structure, with a hip roof that rises only to the level of the cornice of the nave. All of the roofs are covered in wooden shingles painted red; the domes are covered in tarpaper which is painted green.
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