The Savior Church, dedicated to the Savior Not Made by Hands, is the second stone building in Irkutsk and is located in the historical center of the city. Before its construction, there was a wooden church on this site, built in 1672 in the center of the Irkutsk fortress. After the October Revolution, the church was closed, but the building was preserved and restored in the 1970s and 1980s. Since 1982, the building has housed the exhibition department of the Irkutsk Regional Local History Museum.

In the early years of the Irkutsk fortress, there was no real temple. In 1672, Cossacks led by Ivan Maksimov and townspeople built the first wooden church in honor of the Not Made by Hands Image of the Lord Jesus Christ. Permission for construction was obtained from the Tobolsk Metropolitan Cornelius in 1670. There are no exact details about the appearance and decoration of the wooden church, but the 1684 inventory of Irkutsk states that it was two-storied, with cold and warm parts, and was called a cathedral. In 1697, a clock was installed on the bell tower.

In 1706, at the initiative of the voivode A.S. Sinyavin and the city's residents, the construction of the stone Savior Church began. The architect was Moisey Ivanovich Dolgikh, who had previously worked in Tobolsk and Verkhoturye. The new church was built in the traditions of ancient Russian temple architecture: a pillarless two-story square with one dome, a two-story refectory, and a semicircular apse. The upper church was consecrated in 1710, and the lower one in 1713.

In 1758, a bell tower was added to the refectory, and in 1769, a church in honor of St. Dmitry of Rostov was arranged on the second tier of the bell tower. In the 1770s, when the population of Irkutsk increased, the church was expanded. In 1777, a stone annex with two floors was added on the northern side.

In the early 19th century, the church was painted both inside and out. The exterior paintings included images of saints and scenes related to the history of Irkutsk. The interior paintings have not survived, while the exterior ones were restored. In 1829, there were 82 households in the parish, more than half of which belonged to merchants and townspeople.

In 1861, during repairs, the wooden gallery was dismantled, and the eastern side of the church was reinforced with iron hoops, which saved the temple from destruction during the earthquake of 1861-1862. In 1869, the church's crosses were covered in gold. In 1879, the church withstood a severe fire that destroyed the entire parish.

In 1920, church property was transferred to the state, and in 1931, the church was closed for services and turned into a shoemaking workshop. Later, the building was used as a dormitory and workshops. In 1960, the church was recognized as an architectural monument, and restoration began. The work was completed in 1979, and the building was transferred to the Irkutsk Regional Local History Museum.

In 2006, the museum handed over the keys to the church to the Irkutsk diocese, and in 2007, a liturgy was held in the church for the first time in 75 years. In 2010, another renovation began, during which frescoes were restored and the original appearance of the domes was returned. The remains of the first residents of Irkutsk, found near the church walls, were also reburied.