Video
Audio Described Walkthrough of the First Floor of the Russian Bishop's House
Transcript
00:00 (35 sec)
Russian Bishop’s House first floor, 11 minutes.
The Bishop's House is a two-story building approximately 7,500 square feet in area. The central part is constructed of logs cut flat to give the appearance of board siding and has a row of multi-paned windows on each floor. At either end of the building is a smaller addition covered in board and batten. Four steps lead up to a small porch in front of these small extensions. The building is painted dull yellow with white trim. The standing seam metal roof is dark red. The entrance to the building is at the left end.
00:35 (15 sec)
The entrance leads into a small room about 13 feet square. Six feet in front of the door is the visitor contact desk with a sign behind it that reads, "Welcome to the Historic Russian Bishop's House." To the right of the desk is a staircase leading upward. We move to the left, passing the desk, and entering a room behind.
00:50 (55 sec)
After passing through a small hallway we enter a room 14 feet wide and 11 feet deep. On the far wall directly in front of us, a table top with a tactile floor plan of the first floor of the building which contains visitor exhibits and artifacts. Below the floor plan is a drawer-like section pulled out with a floor plan of the second floor which is a restored bishop's residence and an active Russian Orthodox Chapel.
01:08
To the right of the floor plan exhibit, past a closed door, is a large graphic panel titled "This is Tlingit Aan í." The side wall beyond is made of the flat-surfaced logs painted gray. As the view moves around the room in a clockwise direction, we see there is a doorway in the side wall and then, on the wall through which we entered, a large chalkboard for visitor comments with the prompt “Where does your culture come from?”.
Finally we see an emergency exit on the side wall to the left of the floor plan exhibit.
01:45 (15 sec)
The view returns to the side door and passes through to another small room. The walls to the right are weathered and peeling. There is another doorway with a panel to the left reading "Continue This Way" and two small panels on the right titled "Find It."
02:00 (15 sec)
Passing through that next doorway we enter a larger room filled with exhibits. In front of you is a large panel with a timeline of events in Sitka history and a panel to the right of it titled "The Legacy of Russian America."
02:16 (24 sec)
The view moves to the right side of the room where there is a large map showing the North Pacific world, with informational panels about the Russian Empire and Russian America on either side of it. A smaller angled panel below shows a world map.
We also have a nice view of the flooring here, which is made of wide boards painted brown.
We continue on to the outside wall, opposite the door we entered through, where there are more panels on either side and below two windows.
02:41 (24 sec)
The panels on this side of the room discuss First Peoples, For God and Tsar, and Russia in the Pacific and include a flip book and a touchable plaque. The view then shifts to look behind us where several more graphic panels are mounted on the back of the timeline exhibit. They include panels on Soft Gold, Employment or Enslavement, and Harmony or Exploitation.
03:05 (20 sec)
We continue moving to the left to more exhibits between the windows at the end of the room. These panels discuss Colonial Governance, Imperial Interests, and Supervising the Settlements. On a counter in front of the windows is a touchable model of the Russian Imperial double-headed eagle.
03:25 (15 sec)
Next the view moves to the end of the room. Exhibits along the wall here discuss Russian Society in Alaska and interactions with the Alaska Native peoples. Also in this section is a panel about Women in Russian Alaska and an exhibit with audio samples of common phrases in each of the five languages spoken here.
03:40 (14 sec)
Now we turn back to face the middle of the room where there is a panel on the Battle of Sitka. An artifact case below it showcases old military equipment such as canon balls, a Russian musket and Russian ammunition.
03:54 (14 sec)
Continuing past that exhibit we see a section of the side wall that shows the original structure. It is protected by a sheet of plexiglass and has a small "Find It" panel on it that highlights some historic graffiti. There is a bench along the wall to the left of that section.
04:08 (31 sec)
The view moves briefly back to the center of the room where there is a graphic panel titled "Countering the Fur Traders”. In a case behind the panel is a fur pelt from a sea otter. At the right of the panel is a touchable sample of the dark brown, thick fur.
As the view swings back to the righthand wall, we see a wood stove in the shape of a black cylinder with a stove pipe, just beyond the bench. We then get another look at the historic wall section before turning back to the right and moving through a doorway at the far end of the room.
04:39 (14 sec)
The next room extends 19 feet to the right and is 13 feet wide. There are two windows on the far wall and exhibits on either side wall. In the middle of the room is a bench facing a large video monitor mounted on the left wall as you face the windows at the far end.
04:55 (15 sec)
Centered on the right wall is a large map of Alaska, northern Canada and the northwestern US. Blue dots on the map indicate the major Russian settlements. To the left is a panel titled "Russia's North America Settlements" and to the right of that is a large panel titled "Life in Russian America."
05:10 (17 sec)
Turning around to look at the opposite wall we see a 40-inch video monitor which shows a 3D-flythrough of a digital reconstruction of Sitka in the 1840s. A panel below discusses this as the colonial capital while panels on either side discuss Kad'yak: The Center of the Fur Trade and Feeding the Colony.
05:27 (15 sec)
Passing another black cylindrical stove we move through the doorway opposite the one we entered. This is a small room only six feet wide and 14 feet deep with white painted walls. We turn and move through a door in the right wall to enter a second room.
05:42 (45 sec)
This room is 14 feet wide and 12 feet deep with two windows ahead of us on the outer wall. The walls here are natural-colored wood planks with many knots. The unfinished left wall is covered in plexiglass. Directly in front of us is a metal railing which protects an exposed area of historic foundation. On the railing is a panel titled "Building a Colony" which discusses Russian building techniques used for this structure.
Moving to the left of the railing we reach another panel against the outside wall titled "A Room Revealed" with a wallpaper sample and a touchable piece of spiny devil's club which the native Tlingit used to protect a house's inhabitants.
Turning back towards the railed area we get a better view of the sand covering historic floorboards. On the railing here is a display case with two historic bricks and several construction tools.
06:27 (30 sec)
As we move to exit the room we see another historic wood stove in the corner by the door. Across from the door as we exit is a graphic panel titled "Uncovering the Past at Old Sitka" with a display case holding some of the artifacts unearthed at Old Sitka since 1968 such as tools and weapons. The items include a drawknife blade, a key, a pipe, and a doorknob. We then move through the next door just past the display case.
06:58 (15 sec)
We have now entered a stairwell with a gray-painted staircase winding both up and down. On the opposite wall is an emergency exit. A bench sits next to the stairs.
We turn to the left and then left again to enter another set of rooms at the rear of the house.
07:14 (33 sec)
This room is approximately 19 feet wide and 13 feet deep. Exhibits line the walls except for the outside wall which has two windows. Exhibits on the wall to the left include panels titled "On the Menu" and "What's in the Pantry?" A large display case in the middle holds kitchen artifacts such as bottles, a bowl, and frying pan.
To the right of that display in the corner is a section of original log and brick wall protected by plexiglass. On the plexiglass is a graphic showing a simple outline of a Russian stove, where the wood burned at the bottom, the cooking area was in the middle and the chimney at the top.
07:47 (14 sec)
The view then sweeps around to the wall to the right of the entry. Here is a panel discussing how the colony was supplied with food, clothing, and equipment. To the right is a display case with a brass-colored Russian samovar for heating water, a teapot and teacup.
08:01 (29 sec)
We then return to a vertical panel in the middle of the room titled "Life and Labor in Russian America" which points out that the Russian American Company controlled labor, trade, and daily life in the colony.
Turning 180 degrees to face the opposite wall we see more exhibits on life in the colony. At right is a large sepia-toned image of a painting of a barefoot Indigenous Alaskan man wearing traditional clothing consisting of a headdress and patterned cloak with fringe on the bottom.
08:30 (25 sec)
We then move through a door to the left of those exhibits to enter a room with exhibits on Russian religion and education. This room is 19 feet wide and 17 feet deep. A chalkboard prompts “How can we avoid the mistakes of the past?” Along the outside wall to the right, below the windows, are exhibits that discuss Bilingualism in Alaska and Training a Workforce. In the middle is a display case about 3 feet long containing a grammar book, an abacus, a bilingual textbook, and Russian coins.
08:55 (20 sec)
Looking back to the wall through which we entered we see more sections of protected historic wall with a bench to the right of the door. As we continue to turn in a clockwise direction we see an exhibit in the middle of the room with a panel titled "Conversion and Cultural Change -- How did Russian orthodoxy change Alaska Native culture?"
We then move past that to the far corner of the room.
09:15 (15 sec)
Here is a map of Alaska showing the major Russian orthodox parishes in 1860. To the right is a display case with books by Bishop Innokentii, an icon of St. Innocent, and a reproduction of a wax seal. To the left is a doorway which leads back to rooms on the other side of the house.
09:30 (16 sec)
We now turn back to view more exhibits in the middle of the room on the Orthodox Mission, Orthodoxy in Alaska, and a case with an Orthodox icon, an icon of Saint Iakov, and an Orthodox peg calendar.
Turning back to the left we exit through a door passing more protected sections of historic wall and another bench.
09:46 (24 sec)
This room is approximately 19 feet wide and 13 feet deep. Directly in front of us is a panel titled "The End of the Russian Era."
To the right are more panels between and below the windows on the outside wall which discuss the fate of Alaskan and Russian peoples after the transfer.
10:10 (20 sec)
Continuing to turn back to the right, we see panels next to the door through which we entered that discuss the transfer, or purchase, of Alaska to the United States..
10:30 (30 sec)
The view then moves past the door to exhibits along the other side wall. One large panel at right is titled "Russia's Legacy Today." In the left corner is a large video monitor which shows a simple slideshow of the Russian Bishop’s House before, during and after NPS’ renovation.
Back in the center of the room is a vertical image panel with a modern-day photograph of the front of St. Michael’s Cathedral in the center of downtown Sitka.
11:00 (29 sec)
This is the final exhibit area on the first floor. The view now moves down a passageway past the entrance to the main exhibits, through the small room with the touchable floorplan, turns left, and returns to the information desk and the front entrance. To the left of the entrance is a table which holds the National Parks Passport Station for the park. To the right is a bench. The tour of the second floor is contained in a separate video. End of video.
Description
A narrated walkthrough of the museum exhibits on the first floor of the Russian Bishop's House
Duration
11 minutes, 31 seconds
Date Created
02/18/2025
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