Friends of St. Nicholas & Historic Preservation

We need your help!  In 1894, a diverse yet single-minded group of people joined together to build our Church. Native Alaskans, Serbian miners, a few Orthodox townspeople from other cultural heritages, and even some non-Orthodox Christians took up a call for the building of a Russian Orthodox Church in our young but energetic town.  The Church was named after St. Nicholas of Myra, the Wonderworker.  In the last century most other buildings of the Russian period have collapsed or been replaced, leaving St. Nicholas as not only the oldest continually-functioning Orthodox Church building in Southeast Alaska, but also one of the oldest standing structures from the Russian period in the state.  The unique status of this building has made St. Nicholas a Juneau landmark and many friends among history lovers throughout the world.

Our historic building is now showing the signs of its more than 125 years of continuous use.  The foundations of the Old Rectory need serious work, the artwork on teh iconostasis are covered with soot and faded from their continuous use since 1894, and historic artifacts such as the 127-year-old hand-stitched epitaphion/plashchanitsa are dangerously unprotected.  The Church was built in a unique octagon style with an original iconostasis, icon set, brasswork, and banners shipped from Russia.  We continue to use these in our worship.  Our Church responded to the needs of the native Tlingit people by providing an Orthodox church which conducted services in their language, and we currently have the only icons of Christ and St. Nicholas in the world which feature titles written in Tlingit.