Russian Bishop's House





"Russian Bishop's House"





Reception Room, Bishop's House



During our stay in Sitka, we toured the “Russian Bishop’s House.”  The Tsar who authorized the Russian American Company’s monopoly in Alaska intended the church to be part of Russian America.  The Russian American Company built the Bishop House in 1842-43 (employing Finnish shipwrights) for  the residence of the first Priest and later Bishop, Ioann Veniaminov, known as “Bishop Innocent.”  The Russian Orthodox Church used the building until 1972 when it was sold to the US National Park Service.  The upstairs served as the Bishop’s residence with a library, chapel, and public reception area, while the downstairs served as the church offices, a school for the Creole, Aleut, and Tlingit children, and a seminary where Native clergy were trained.  We were fascinated with the construction features of the building:  sand and wood chips were used between the sub floor and floor planks for insulation; wood filler strips were put in the log joints and cloth was tacked to the logs then painted or wallpapered; dead air space was created between the first and second floors, again for insulation, and cloth was used to cover the ceiling and painted.  Some of the original furnishings are still in the House along with religious artifacts and items of historic interest.  The rarest of Russian artifacts included the only marker recovered of 20 known to have been buried, declaring Russia’s claim to Alaska which reads “Land of Russian Possession."



Example of Floor Construction





Chapel in the Russian Bishop House





Rare Marker Declaring Russian Possession