According to ancient tradition, in 1170, when many troops Suzdaltsev attacked the city Novgorod the icon "the Sign of the virgin", the people of Novgorod defeated. According to the legend, during the siege of Novgorod Archbishop Elijah prayed for several days about saving the city. Then he took in the Church of the Savior icon, and put it on the wall, facing his attacker. One arrow hitters hit the Holy face. Then the icon itself turned his face and shed a tear. At this point, the Suzdal lost his sight, and the enemy was defeated. True or fiction, but the icon has remained to this day the trail of the arrow. The victory was a real miracle, because the forces were unequal. In honor of the miraculous icon of the Novgorodians built the Church Signs. In 1688 the Church is very old, and in its place was built the Cathedral of the sign.

The structure is typical of churches of the 17th century, although its architectural forms are more similar to Yaroslavl, rather than traditional Moscow. The Cathedral is located in the vicinity of the Church of the Transfiguration, and from this neighborhood even more noticeable by its distinctive architecture.
The temple chetyrehstolpnyj, traditional Russian framestate 17th-century five-domed. It consists of a basement, two-storey bypass gallery and three apses. The facades are divided blades and topped with false Gables, richly decorated with paintings. Around the perimeter of the Gables provides a frieze, with specific for Moscow and Kostroma buildings pattern. In the spirit of the Yaroslavl tradition, the temple-studded exterior and interior frescoes. The painting is present even on the arches of the porch, the Holy gates, the semicircles of the cornice. The painting was executed by the painter And.Bakhmutova. He was helped by 30 artists from Kostroma. Unlike traditional Novgorod school, the painting of the Cathedral hurriedly turned-realistic, even coarse. Many images are full of patterns and bright colors. Each figure is made as a separate from the others and different from other images. Despite this, when looking at the temple in General, there is a majestic harmony.

Internal painting of the same kind, with a strong secular character. On the area of the entire Western wall of the temple is an image of "the last judgment". One of the figures painted is very similar to Peter I. in Addition to paintings, the Cathedral was also a considerable collection of ancient icons. Of them, unfortunately, remain only a few. This is a known icon of the Sign Mother of God " and "Christ Emmanuel", depicting Christ in adolescence, close to the archangels Michael and Gabriel. Still have two icons that originate from the iconostasis of the Cathedral. Today, all these icons are stored in the Novgorod Museum.

For centuries in the temple on several occasions fires. Especially much he suffered during the Second world war. The Nazis had set up in the temple barracks, they broke open the floor. From the smoke of fires was strongly smoky frescoes, the walls were riddled with bullets. Every time the structure was repaired. Were wealthy philanthropists who have allocated money for the reconstruction and restoration of the Cathedral. In 1950-ies the restoration of the Church was engaged in Novgorod restoration workshop. They made for the Cathedral a new roof and restored the destroyed parts. However, due to all these repairs the temple had lost some of its original appearance.

The present Cathedral of the sign is not valid, but it is open, and can be visited as a monument of ancient architecture and amazing monumental painting. However, due to the fact that in the magnificent acoustics of the Cathedral, it often sounds religious and classical music. Music complements and opens like a monumental architectural and artistic ensemble, the extraordinary beauty of ancient artistic conception.