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The Church of the Holy Ascension 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.〔〔 and 〕 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). ==Description== 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 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 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.〔 The interior of the church has a fairly uncomplicated layout. The first floor of the tower acts as a vestibule, while the narthex area provides spaces for storage and stairs leading to the choir loft and the belfry, the latter occupying the tower's second level. The floors of the church are wooden, and painted red throughout. A red carpet leads through the nave to the eastern end of the building, where the main iconostasis and altar are located. The chapel to the north is dedicated to Saint Innocent of Irkutsk; that to the south is dedicated to Saint Sergius of Radonezh.〔 The structure has undergone only modest alterations since its construction in 1894-96, and underwent a major restoration in 1998. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Church of the Holy Ascension」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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