Ascension Cathedral, Almaty

Ascension Cathedral, Almaty tickets: which one to buy

The Ascension Cathedral, known as Zenkov Cathedral, stands in the middle of Panfilov Park in the centre of Almaty, Kazakhstan's largest city, and entry is free, with donations welcome. It is a Russian Orthodox cathedral built almost entirely of wood, painted in bright colours, and it is one of the few buildings of old Almaty, then called Verny, that survived the devastating earthquake of 1911. The cathedral is on every city tour of Almaty, together with the Memorial of Glory and the eternal flame in the same park, the Museum of Kazakh Musical Instruments, the Green Bazaar, Kok Tobe hill, reached by cable car, and the mountains of Medeu and Shymbulak, a short drive above the city.

The cathedral is active, with services, and visitors should dress modestly: women cover their heads, and men remove their hats. Photography inside may be restricted during services. Panfilov Park is a green, shady place with benches and fountains, popular with families and wedding parties, and pigeons gather in front of the cathedral, making it a lively spot. The metro station Zhibek Zholy is a short walk from the park. Guides on city tours explain the history of the building.

Visiting Ascension Cathedral, Almaty: what to see

The cathedral was built between 1904 and 1907, and it is associated with the engineer Andrei Zenkov, who worked on its design and construction and whose name it popularly carries. After an earthquake destroyed an earlier stone church in Verny in 1887, the builders chose wood, using a flexible structure intended to resist tremors, and when the great earthquake of 1911 struck, the cathedral survived with little damage, while many brick buildings collapsed. A popular story says it was built without nails, although metal fastenings were in fact used.

The cathedral rises about fifty-six metres, with a central dome and a tall bell tower, and its walls are painted in yellow, pink and white, with decorative details and gilded crosses. After the Russian Revolution, the cathedral was closed, and it was used as a museum and for other purposes during the Soviet period, including as a cultural venue. It was returned to the Russian Orthodox Church in the 1990s and restored, with a new iconostasis and paintings inside. The interior, decorated with icons and frescoes, is warm and colourful, and candles burn before the icons. The cathedral stands in the park named after the soldiers of the Panfilov division, who fought near Moscow in 1941.

Ascension Cathedral, Almaty opening hours and the best time to go

The cathedral is open daily, and services are held in the morning and evening. Almaty has a continental climate, with hot summers and cold, snowy winters; spring, when the park blossoms, and autumn, when the trees turn gold, are the most pleasant seasons. Orthodox Christmas on 7 January and Easter bring crowds of worshippers. Weekends are busy in the park. Allow about half an hour for the cathedral, and walk through Panfilov Park to the Memorial of Glory. Evening services with choral singing are especially atmospheric.