Almaty’s Cathedral

Gold was something I’d expected in an Orthodox church. In churches in the west which date from before the great schism between the Orthodox and Catholic churches, one finds a lot of gold in murals and mosaics. And this is also true of Orthodox churches in Turkey and India. So when I entered the nave of Almaty’s Russian Orthodox Zenkov cathedral I was stunned but not surprised. But let me begin at the beginning, as one should.

The 56 meters high wooden cathedral is an ethereal sight at the center of Almaty’s green heart: the Panfilov Park. I’d read about the fact that it used no nails, that it was consecrated in 1903 and completed by 1907, that it was used to house the Central State Museum after the revolution, that Almaty’s first radio transmitters were housed in the belfry, and that it reopened as a church in 1997. We approached, circled it, and then entered.

The first segment of an Orthodox church is the narthex. This was already glinting in gold. I noticed an icon of Mary with infant Jesus on one side, with votive candles burning in front of it. Appropriately, on the other side of the narthex there was a very ornate cross, and a mother and infant stood in front of it as the father took a photo. When the family came together to light a lamp I realized that they were orthodox Christians from Kerala.

Then we passed another set of doors to get to the nave. There were beautiful murals and icons here, and the marble floor had a rich glow. I could show you lots of photos of the details here (The Family and I went a little crazy) but I will restrict myself to a photo of one of the major murals: a painting of the nativity. Very rich in colour, I thought.

Beyond the nave is the sanctuary. It is separated by a wall of icons, called the iconostas. The gilded wall was full of icons which we did our best to look at carefully. But there were just too many. The cathedral is not large, but so full of detail that it takes you a long time to take in. There was no entry to the sanctuary, and the so-called royal doors were shut to make that clear. I satisfied myself with a photo of this opulent door. before we turned and left slowly in a daze.