Ascension Cathedral

Located behind the war memorial, the Holy ascension Church, created in 1907 according to the plan of the architect Andrei Zenkov during the period when the main building material of the seismically unsafe metropolis was wood, depicts the spiritual side of the Park. The temple reaches a height of more than 53 m, which makes it one of the tallest wooden buildings on the planet. It has withstood the earthquakes of the 20th century, including the most powerful tremor of 1910, and has remained in incredibly good shape. The use of staples, rather than nails, to join beams together proved to be the most inspired protection against the risk of earthquakes. During the Soviet period, it was used as a regional historical Museum and storage, but after the destruction of the Union, it was reconstructed in the Church. The temple today is a confection of warm soft tones. Its dome, covered with colorful lozenges, is located on the top of an octagonal drum. It is guarded by four smaller domes. The decoration offers a lively collection of icons and frescoes, yellow, blue and scarlet stained-glass Windows give a rather summery quality to the light filtering through them.

It is important to note the fact that the Russian Orthodox Christianity is different to Catholic Christianity as practiced by the majority of Europeans. It is a long story to tell as to why it is so. One of the important differences in church design is the Golden Dome and a Golden Cross. As a rule, Catholic Churches do not have Golden items and as a result are cheaper to build. Recently the church was renewed. Unfortunately some small details disappeared after the works. As of now it seems to be newly built. Although before it had a warm feeling of old times.