The Ascension Cathedral of Almaty visited by the wife of the President of the Republic of Serbia, Tamara Vucic

October 2, 2025. Almaty. The historical and spiritual gem of Kazakhstan – the Ascension Cathedral – was visited by the wife of the President of the Republic of Serbia, Tamara Vučić.

The distinguished guest was accompanied by: Minister of Culture and Information of the Republic of Kazakhstan A.G. Balaeva, and Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Serbia to Kazakhstan Vladimir Jovičić.

At the main church of the southern capital, Mrs. Vučić was welcomed – with the blessing of the Head of the Orthodox Church of Kazakhstan, Metropolitan Alexander of Astana and Kazakhstan – by: cathedral keymaster, head of the Metropolitan District’s Public Relations Department, Archpriest Alexander Suvorov; head of the administrative secretariat of the Head of the Metropolitan District, Priest Georgy Sidorov; and head of the Metropolitan’s protocol service, Protodeacon Roman Golovin.

Archpriest Alexander told the First Lady of Serbia about the history of the cathedral’s construction, emphasizing that this year marks the 30th anniversary of the return of the church to its rightful owner – the Orthodox Church. Father Keymaster shared documentary evidence that during the creation of the cathedral, which was erected according to the project of the talented architect and engineer A.P. Zenkov, innovative seismic-resistant technologies and principles were used, which enabled the cathedral to withstand the devastating 1911 earthquake that destroyed almost all the buildings in the city of Verny.

During the tour, the guest learned about the details of the full-scale professional restoration of the church, carried out on the initiative and with the blessing of Metropolitan Alexander of Astana and Kazakhstan from 2017 to 2020, under the supervision of the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Kazakhstan and UNESCO, with the involvement of local scholars and high-level experts from Russia, Serbia, Italy, Germany, and France.

In his presentation, Archpriest Alexander noted that the President of Kazakhstan, Kassym-Jomart Kemelevich Tokayev, during his visit to the cathedral and meeting with the Head of the Metropolitan District, gave a high appraisal of this grand restoration project, calling it “the second birth of the national shrine of Kazakhstan.”

Tamara Vučić remarked on the elegance and majesty of the cathedral’s exterior and the beauty of its interior. Before the church’s sacred relics – including the gift of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill, the icon of the “Not-Made-by-Hands Image of the Lord Jesus Christ,” and the gift of Metropolitan Alexander, the Theodorovskaya-Almaty icon of the Most Holy Theotokos, an exact “measure-for-measure” copy of the revealed miracle-working icon of the Queen of Heaven – the wife of the President of Serbia lit candles.

As a memento of her visit to the cathedral, the guest was presented with an album about the Ascension Cathedral. Tamara Vučić thanked the clergy for the tour and conveyed words of goodwill to the Head of the Orthodox Church of Kazakhstan.