OLDEST - Continually Functioning Orthodox Church Building - Juneau, Alaska
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Weathervane
N 58° 18.185 W 134° 24.543
8V E 534634 N 6462606
St. Nicholas Russian Orthodox Church, located in Juneau, Alaska, is the oldest continually functioning Orthodox Church building in Southeast Alaska.
Waymark Code: WM12WRH
Location: Alaska, United States
Date Posted: 07/27/2020
Views: 3
"St. Nicholas Orthodox Church was founded in 1893, at the request of the local Tlingit community. Financed by the Russian Mission Society, our building was constructed locally by Tlingit people and Serbian miners, the church was built on land donated by Yees Ganalax and using plans sent from Russia. Furnished, decorated, and outfitted by generous gifts from the Russian Mission Society, the church was consecrated by Bishop Nikolai (Ziorov) in 1894, the church has been a fixture of the Juneau community and landscape ever since. 127 years of Southeastern Alaska's harsh weather have taken their toll on the building and its artifacts. We are listed on the National Register of Historic Places and are in phase II of a of full architectural stabilization and installation of a fire-suppression system. We also need to do significant work to conserve and protect the original iconography, restore the original candle stands, and to properly store the historic vestments and other items from the 1893 shipment.
In 1894, a diverse yet single-minded group of people joined together to build our Church. Native Alaskans, Serbian miners, a few Orthodox townspeople from other cultural heritages, and even some non-Orthodox Christians took up a call for the building of a Russian Orthodox Church in our young but energetic town. The Church was named after St. Nicholas of Myra, the Wonderworker. In the last century most other buildings of the Russian period have collapsed or been replaced, leaving St. Nicholas as not only the oldest continually-functioning Orthodox Church building in Southeast Alaska, but also a beautiful example of Russian Colonial architecture, and the last example of the octagonal church design in Alaska.
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