Representatives of the Legislative Assembly of the city of St. Petersburg visited the Ascension Cathedral

May 16, 2024. Alma-Ata. The historical and spiritual pearl of Kazakhstan - the Ascension Cathedral - was visited by members of the Legislative Assembly of the city of St. Petersburg.

The delegation was headed by the Chairman of the Legislative Assembly A.N. Belsky and vice-governor of the Northern capital of Russia B.M. Piotrovsky. The group includes: deputy of the Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg, head of the United Russia faction P.A. Krupnik; Deputy of the Legislative Assembly, Deputy Secretary of the regional branch of the United Russia party, head of the regional executive committee V.N. Garnets; Deputy of the Legislative Assembly A.I. Novikov and others. Representatives of St. Petersburg arrived in Alma-Ata to participate in a working meeting with Akim E.A. Dosayev.

The guests in the main church of the Alma-Ata diocese were met by the Head of the Orthodox Church of Kazakhstan, Metropolitan Alexander of Astana and Kazakhstan.

The meeting was attended by: the manager of affairs of the Kazakhstan Metropolitan District, Bishop Gennady of Kaskelen; sacristan of the Ascension Cathedral of Almaty, head of the Metropolitan District's public relations department, Archpriest Alexander Suvorov; head of the administrative secretariat of the Head of the Metropolitan District, Priest Georgy Sidorov; Head of the Metropolitan Protocol Service, Protodeacon Roman Golovin.

Metropolitan Alexander told representatives of St. Petersburg about the history of the construction of the Ascension Cathedral, emphasizing that this year marks 120 years since its construction began. The Metropolitan shared with his interlocutors documentary evidence that during the creation of the cathedral, erected according to the design of the talented architect - engineer A.P. Zenkov, innovative technologies and principles of seismic resistance were used for that era, thanks to which the cathedral survived the terrible earthquake of 1911, which destroyed 90% of the buildings in the city of Verny.

During the conversation, the hierarch noted the historical role and significance of the temple in the modern life of the southern capital of the Republic and mentioned that the cathedral is included in the list of 100 national sacred objects of Kazakhstan under the presidential program “Rukhani Zhangyru”.

During the excursion, the archpastor dwelt in detail on the details of the full-scale professional restoration of the temple, which was carried out from 2017 to 2020 under the control of the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Kazakhstan and UNESCO, with the involvement of local scientists and high-level specialists from Russia, Serbia, Italy, Germany and France. According to the archpastor, advanced technologies and high-quality modern materials were used in the restoration of the unique historical and cultural monument - the country’s calling card.

The head of the Metropolitan District said that the President of the country, Kassym-Jomart Kemelevich Tokayev, when visiting the cathedral, highly appreciated this grandiose restoration project, calling it “the second birth of the national shrine of Kazakhstan.”

The guests noted the grace and grandeur of the external appearance of the temple and the beauty of the interiors, decorated with paintings made by talented Palekh isographers under the leadership of member of the Union of Artists of Russia V.K. Kurilova. Metropolitan Alexander said that modern isographers used the sketches of Nikolai Gavrilovich Khludov, a famous icon painter and artist who worked on decorating the interiors of the cathedral and one of the teachers of the first Kazakh professional artist Abylkhan Kosteev, after whom the State Museum of Art in Almaty is named.

The Metropolitan showed the excursion participants the gift of the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church for the 25th anniversary of the return of the Ascension Cathedral to believers - the icon “The Image of the Lord Jesus Christ Not Made by Hands.”

Members of the delegation lit candles in front of the shrines of the temple.

As a souvenir of their visit to the temple, the guests were presented with: an album about the Ascension Cathedral, an artistically executed plaque with its image, the text of the Easter message of Metropolitan Alexander and discs with recordings of the metropolitan choir under the direction of the Honored Artist of Russia O.N. Ovchinnikova.

Chairman of the Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg A.N. Belsky thanked the archpastor for the excursion and presented an icon of the blessed Grand Duke Alexander Nevsky.