St. Nicholas Cathedral is one of the oldest buildings reflecting the example of religious architecture of the middle of the 17th century, is a Prime example of architecture, formed under the strong influence of the school of architecture of Yaroslavl.

There are written sources that mention that the original St. Nicholas Church was the usual, but at the end of the 17th century it became a Cathedral. In the middle of 1710 on the Church building suffered a terrible fire, and then only in 1756 was built a stone Cathedral, a solemn ceremony of consecration which held and Suzdal and Yuriev Metropolitan Slivers.

From the North, was built a chapel of the miracle worker and of St. Mitrophan of Voronezh, which occurred in 1833, thanks to the financial support of the merchant D. V. Kornilova

Until 1867 the building was used as a warm Church because it was the year when the Cathedral was heated, resulting in the need for a cold Church almost completely disappeared.

Over the years the building was intended to house the regimental Church, sacristy and a small library. With the support of wealthy merchants started to in the late 19th and early 20th centuries available Shuisky churches were radically rebuilt according to the best architectural traditions of the time. It is important to say that the Cathedral of St. Nicholas, which was more like the old Russian hut was planned suddenly to carry. The plans were intended for the construction of the new Church, located on the left side of the main temple.

Today he has a record of father Dunaeva – rector of the Cathedral, which were made at the end of the 19th century. He wrote that the walls are not built of solid masonry, with the middle filled up the booth, then filled in using lime mortar. Cathedral iconostasis belongs to a new device, and it is available in the iconostasis icons almost all are not just the Russians, and even Byzantine. One of the most revered icons is the old icon of the Wonderworker and St. Nicholas, which is located on the right side of the Imperial gate. Today at the Cathedral there is not one of the miraculous icon. Wall surfaces are covered with a color scheme of blue, while they are absolutely no painting, although some sources of the late 19th century tell of painting not only the walls, but the altar. If we take into account the vaults, here you can see some picturesque scenes relating to 1887.

St. Nicholas Cathedral is a domed pillarless temple, characterized by a rather original composition, which simulates the type of wooden cribwork of the Church with its decorative design and in the style of classicism. The main volume are rectangular, elongated along the axis running from North to South. The Cathedral has a three-part altar, as well as to adjoin the long refectory room, which is the Cathedral of a single architectural space. Two parts of the building are covered with the help of a gable roof, and the wedding of the main scope is made using a cylindrical drum equipped with an onion dome. All facades are rectangular openings that are marked with a triangular shape and especially large pediments supported on brackets. The main entrance to the Cathedral is located on the South side and decorated with festive portico, consisting of wide apart and doubled in the Central part of Corinthian columns. Around the perimeter of the Cathedral in the past there were separate burial.

During the Soviet era, the building of the temple was the city archive, which existed for quite a long time. Today, St. Nicholas Cathedral is a metochion of the Holy Nicholas shartomskiy monastery.