Temples of Almaty: from a mosque to an underground church

Not only is Almaty rich in the number of nationalities living here but also in the number of religions. Altogether, there are 17 of them in the metropolis, while throughout the republic, there are 18. Each of these religions is represented by unique temples. All of them are interesting architectural and cultural objects of a particular era. In this article, we will tell you which temples are definitely worth visiting in Almaty.

The oldest mosque of all, "Fatima"

The first mosque in Almaty City (Vernyi in the past) appeared in the middle of the 19th century in the historical district Tatarskaya Sloboda or Tatarka. The sponsor of the construction was the first merchant of Verny, called Alymov. The temple was built from bricks. However, because of the earthquake in 1887, it was almost destroyed and later rebuilt from wood. It operated until 1940. During Soviet times, the building of the “Fatima” Mosque, named after the daughter of the Prophet Muhammad, began to be used as a warehouse for a boot-felling factory. Only in the middle of the 90s, this mosque was rebuilt again. At the same time, as old-timers say, the current building externally resembles what it was before the revolution. It stands out from other Almaty mosques with its pointed minaret hat, made in the best traditions of Tatar architecture.

The Central Almaty Mosque

The mosque place was not chosen by coincidence. At one time, on a crossing of Pushkin and Mametova streets, there was one of the Tatar mosques of the late 19th century. The largest mosque in Almaty was built in its place in 1999. Decorated with white marble and topped with five minarets, the temple can accommodate up to 7,000 visitors. The tallest minaret rises 47 meters. The major golden-colored dome of the mosque looks especially beautiful at dawn and sunset against the backdrop of the Trans-Ili Alatau mountains.

The central entrance of the mosque is made in the shape of an elongated portal with a pointed arch (peshtak). Among the “peshtak” decorations are Arabic scripts and Kazakh ornaments. Wooden doors carved in the form of national patterns are always open to visitors. There are rooms not only for prayers but also for conducting Islamic classes and marriages.

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St. Kazan Cathedral

The first building of the cathedral in the Malaya Stanitsa district of Almaty was built from materials from the St. Sophia Church in 1871, which was located in Bolshaya Stanitsa. Earthquakes in 1887 and 1910 damaged the temple, and it was rebuilt several times. With the advent of Soviet power, the temple did not work. And only in December 1944, the cathedral made of Tien Shan spruce was returned to the faithful citizens.

A large-scale reconstruction took place here in 1998. The four domes of the temple, the entrances to the building, and the iconostasis were restored. In the spring of 2022, the cathedral was again undergoing renovations, during which a unique find was made. A vast room was discovered under the base of the temple. It is assumed that at the beginning of the 20th century, prayer services were held here, unknown to the Bolsheviks. Now, there is an underground church with special chapels in memory of six Orthodox monasteries, icons, and arks with the relics of saints.

Ascension Cathedral

This temple with painted domes is a unique example of wooden architecture. The first building of the cathedral was built before the severe earthquake of 1887. In Verny, as Almaty was called before, all buildings were almost destroyed, and only wooden ones were damaged less. Therefore, in Pushkin Park (now a park named after 28 Panfilov guardsmen), in 1907, a 54-meter-high temple was built from Tien Shan spruce. The cathedral is constructed from wooden parts that are connected with metal fasteners. As the chief engineer of Semirechye, Andrei Zenkov wrote about the temple, “Despite its enormous height, it is a very flexible structure. Its bell tower swayed and bent like the top of a tall tree and worked like a flexible beam.” That is how the temple survived the 1910 earthquake.

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The internal and external decoration of the cathedral deserves special attention. For example, the rooms inside were painted by the famous artist Nikolai Khludov, and artists from workshops in Kyiv and Moscow also took part in the design. The facade of the building is richly decorated with carved platbands, lattice elements, and domes with multicolored checkered patterns. Surrounded by fir and deciduous trees, the majestic cathedral resembles a tall fairy tale tower.

Central Synagogue of Kazakhstan

The Almaty Synagogue is considered the first modern synagogue in Central Asia. Construction of the synagogue began in 1996 and was completed a year later. The two-story central building of the synagogue in Kazakhstan is made of brick. On one of the walls of the synagogue there is a golden inscription "Jewish Center. House of Menachem. Chabad Lubavitch". The windows and fence feature a six-pointed Star of David (a symbol of Judaism). There is a nine-branched candlestick in the courtyard, which is lit on the holy holiday of Hanukkah.