In Astrakhan, there was already a church named Exaltation in the early 17th century. The first mention of it dates back to 1628, and in 1703, the Dutch traveler Cornelius de Bruin left a description of it. According to him, this church was the second most significant after the cathedral. It was built of plastered brick, with a gilded dome and a cross three sazhen high, which was painted green at the bottom. Presumably, the temple was located in the White City, but its exact location is unknown. Later, in the first half of the 18th century, a similar church was built in the Earth City, behind the Ascension Gates, near the Annunciation Convent. Before it, another church, the Annunciation Church, stood on this site, the history of which is also interesting.

The Parish Annunciation Church is first mentioned in the late 18th century. It was located in the Garden Sloboda. N.B. Golikov writes that "in the southeastern part of the Western City, behind the Armenian Sloboda, on the Skakolny Hill was the Garden Sloboda, formed in the area of gardens, vineyards, and vegetable gardens created in the early 18th century, and its southeastern end led to the rampart on the bank of the Kutum." Even in the late 16th century, to the east of the newly established Ascension Monastery, on the Kutum River, there was a royal garden. Perhaps that is why the elevation between the monastery and the river was called the Garden Hill. In 1617, the builder of the monastery, hieromonk Misael, reported to Tsar Mikhail Fyodorovich in Moscow that "Russians come to their monastery from captivity in the Nogai and Crimea and want to settle near the monastery, and some have already settled and built yards." The sovereign allowed the former captives to settle near the monastery, and thus a monastery sloboda was formed, which became the basis for the future Garden Sloboda of the Earth City. For a long time, there was no church in this sloboda, and its residents were attached to the monastery, where they were served by the monastery priests.

The Cross Exaltation Church was built in the ancient Russian style with a three-tiered stone bell tower. The church was topped with a two-tiered hexagonal drum with a small dome and onion-shaped cupola. The lower tier of the drum had six tall windows, while the upper tier had four oval ones. The bell tower resembled the Moscow bell tower of Ivan the Ladder in the Kremlin. Its three hexagonal tiers gradually decreased in height. All tiers had six elongated windows, which gave the bell tower an airy appearance. It was crowned with a dome with a small cupola and cross. On the right side of the church, a chapel was added in honor of Saints Joachim and Anna, separated from the main church by a wall and having a separate entrance from the west. Above it was a small cupola with a finial.

In January 1924, the Cross Exaltation Church was seized by Renovationists, and in 1930 it was demolished by order of the Soviet authorities. Now, there is a wasteland at the intersection of Kalinin and Natasha Kachuevskaya streets. In 1994, a Holy Cross was erected here with the image of the Equal-to-the-Apostles brothers Cyril and Methodius, teachers of the Slavs. Such crosses have been installed in many cities of Russia in memory of the holy brothers. In Astrakhan, the site for the Cross was chosen not by chance, as Cyril and Methodius once visited here. The name of the ancient church that stood here suggested that this was the best place for a spiritual monument. Every year on May 24, on the day of the memory of Cyril and Methodius, a procession is held to the Cross from the Assumption Cathedral, gathering many Astrakhan residents.