Anchorage’s oldest building, a Russian Orthodox church, gets new life in restoration project

By MARK THIESSEN
Associated Press

EKLUTNA, Alaska (AP) — A refurbishing effort will breathe new life into Anchorage’s oldest standing building, a simple Russian Orthodox log church dating from the era of Russia’s colonization of Alaska. The church features not only religious icons provided by Romanov czars but a cemetery blending burial traditions from Russia and the Indigenous beliefs of the Dena’ina Athabascan people. A three-year restoration project started this month at the old St. Nicholas Russian Orthodox Church in Eklutna, an Indigenous village that is the only Alaska Native community within the municipality of Anchorage.