diff --git a/changelog.d/18058.doc b/changelog.d/18058.doc
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..618957918f4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelog.d/18058.doc
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Add application service sample configuration file.
diff --git a/docs/sample_application_service.yaml b/docs/sample_application_service.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..cd79bd55252
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/sample_application_service.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+id: <id>
+url: null
+as_token: <as_token>
+hs_token: <hs_token>
+sender_localpart: <sender_localpart>
+namespaces:
+  users:
+    - exclusive: false
+      regex: ".*"
+  aliases: []
+  rooms: []
diff --git a/synapse/server.py b/synapse/server.py
index 462e15cc2ff..bc8dfccbf42 100644
--- a/synapse/server.py
+++ b/synapse/server.py
@@ -155,6 +155,7 @@
 from synapse.util.ratelimitutils import FederationRateLimiter
 from synapse.util.stringutils import random_string
 from synapse.util.task_scheduler import TaskScheduler
+from synapse.util.synapse_ascii import get_logo
 
 logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 
@@ -355,6 +356,7 @@ def get_instance_name(self) -> str:
 
     def setup(self) -> None:
         logger.info("Setting up.")
+        logger.info(get_logo(self.version_string))
         self.start_time = int(self.get_clock().time())
         self.datastores = Databases(self.DATASTORE_CLASS, self)
         logger.info("Finished setting up.")
diff --git a/synapse/util/synapse_ascii.py b/synapse/util/synapse_ascii.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..efeed26a902
--- /dev/null
+++ b/synapse/util/synapse_ascii.py
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+SYNAPSE_LOGO = '''  
+  ____                                   
+ / ___| _   _ _ __   __ _ _ __  ___  ___ 
+ \___ \| | | | '_ \ / _` | '_ \/ __|/ _ \\
+  ___) | |_| | | | | (_| | |_) \__ \  __/
+ |____/ \__, |_| |_|\__,_| .__/|___/\___|
+        |___/            |_|             
+'''
+
+def get_logo(version: str) -> str:
+    """Returns the Synapse ASCII art logo."""
+    return SYNAPSE_LOGO + "\t\t\t\t\t\t" + version + "\n"