St. Seraphim Chapel

Lower Kalskag, US

The St. Seraphim Chapel, also known as the Old Church, is a historic Russian Orthodox church in Lower Kalskag, Alaska, United States, in Bethel Census Area, that may include a portion built in 1843, or it may have all been built later. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 198

0. The community has a 1975-built new church used for Russian Orthodox services; this is an old church that is either a later enlargement of an original church built probably in 1843 or it is wholly a later 1800s replacement. The old church reflects the influence of traditional three-part Russian Orthodox ecclesiastical architecture in America expressed in the style of a log cabin. Balanced in the center, it is divided into three parts: vestibule, nave, and altar chamber. Each section is built by squared logs with corner dovetailing and straight butt joints at points where the logs are shorter. A 1979 survey suggested that no other extant log church in Alaska (and perhaps nowhere else in all of North America) of its age possessed comparable construction.

Listen to the audio guide for St. Seraphim Chapel Free on WIP — starts by itself when you arrive, even with the screen off