The Ascension Cathedral in Almaty is considered the tallest wooden Orthodox church in the world, with the main dome rising 39 metres to the top of its cross and the bell tower cross reaching 46 metres

The construction of the cathedral, to a design by the architect Borisoglebsky and the engineer Zenkov, was completed in 1907. The church withstood the devastating Vernyi earthquake of January 1911.

Legend describes the cathedral as built without a single nail, but this is not quite so: the church is indeed entirely of wood, yet it stands on a reinforced concrete foundation, and it was the first building in Semirechye to use reinforced concrete structures, while the walls and dome are held together by a great number of steel bolts, ties and plates, which, combined with the techniques of wooden architecture, gives it such stability