Sitka

This icon from the Bishop’s Residence shows six saints who lived or served in Sitka — St. Seraphim of Uglich, St. Sebastian Dabovich, St. Innocent Enlightener of Alaska, St. Tikhon the Patriarch, St. Jacob Netsvetov, and St. Anatoly Kamensky. To believers, icons are windows to heaven.

This icon in St. Michael’s Cathedral is of Blessed Olga Michael, a native Alaskan (Yup’ik) midwife who lived along the Kuskokwim River from 1916 to 1979. A healer known for her gentle manner and care for those who had suffered abuse, she is venerated in the region where she lived and her story has touched…

The focus for anyone entering St.Michael’s in Sitka is the screen of icons in the front of the cathedral. Gold decoration, paintings of saints, lighted candles and the sound of Russian hymns made it a rich sensory experience.

A National Historic Landmark, St. Michael’s Russian Orthodox Cathedral in the center of Sitka is the most prominent symbol of Russia’s colonial presence in Alaska. Built in 1848, it burned down in 1966, but almost all of the liturgical treasures were saved (by an human chain of townspeople who carried them to safety) and the…

The Russian Bishop’s House in Sitka included this sample of the colorful wallpaper that covered the building’s walls in the early 1800s.

This Eagle/Raven “Lovebird” design decorates a drum in the Sitka National Historical Park museum.

Walking through the rainforest by Sitka, it’s no surprise that lots of things are green. This view of the ground cover has plenty of different textures.

Native carvers placed a white man on top of this pole with images representing thievery under him. It’s a reminder of a dishonest Sitka trader — not the best way to be remembered!

One of the sights walking through the rainforest near Sitka. This replica of the totem pole that stood at the corner of the Yaadaas clan house in Old Kasan represents the symbols of that clan.

Visiting Sitka’s National Historic Park, I found several replicas of original totem poles — this one created in Tuxekan Village in 1903. Can you identify the creatures below the Raven?