The earliest Orthodox cathedral in the New World, it was built in the nineteenth century, when Alaska was under the control of Russia, though this structure burned down in 1966.

It had been a National Historic Landmark since 1962, notable as an important legacy of Russian influence in North America and Southeast Alaska in particular.

St. Michael's Cathedral is located in the downtown business district in Sitka, on the southwestern coast of Baranof Island in the Alexander Archipelago of Southeastern Alaska.

A chapel was built by an employee of Alexander Baranov, the chief manager of the Russian-American Company, in time to receive icons salvaged from the 1813 wreck of the Neva.

In 1808 Baranov had shifted his headquarters of operation in North America from Kodiak to New Archangel (Novo-Arkhangel'sk) in Southeast Alaska, as it had better fortifications.

Innocent Veniaminov, a Siberian-born priest who had worked at Unalaska, Alaska for ten years, where he had designed a two-domed church and also established a school.

[5] He designed the cathedral in the Russian ecclesiastical architectural style, for which it has been noted as one of the finest examples of its kind in North America.

[5] In 1867, Alaska was sold to the United States; Army Major General Jefferson C. Davis arrived in Sitka with several hundred soldiers who pillaged the cathedral, as well as local businesses and residences.

[8] A Temperance Society and Brotherhood formed within the cathedral was instrumental in maintaining the building during the lean years after the Alaska Purchase.

[5] The old cathedral, built between 1844 and 1848, remained in good shape with limited modifications for more than one hundred years, until it burned down in January 1966; it had then been the oldest church in Alaska.

The royal doors in the center of the Ikonostasis (a wall of icons and religious paintings, separating the nave from the sanctuary) and the chandelier were the most treasured items retrieved and restored in the new cathedral.

All of the icons and religious artifacts were donated by wealthy Russians and Imperial government officials in the early 19th century; those saved from the fire were reinstalled in the new cathedral in the same order that had existed in the original building.

A round clock with Roman numerals and a pediment is fixed between the two 15-light false windows in the north, south, and west directions.

[5] A central double door provides entry into the vestibule or narthex of the cathedral in the lower floor of the bell tower, to the east of which is the nave.

[5] The interior decorations and fittings consist of the rich and much valued original collection of Russian religious art that had embellished the earlier cathedral.

The screen of iconostasis, however, is new, carved out of wood and painted white with gilded border; it is an exact replica made from a small remnant of the original, retrieved from the fire.