The stone church dedicated to the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, with a bell tower and fence, was built in 1849 with funds from parishioners of Khvalynsk and merchant Mikhail Alexandrovich Grigoryevsky from Rybinsk. The project was developed by provincial architect Grigory Vasilyevich Petrov. The famous artist Kuzma Sergeyevich Petrov-Vodkin participated in the church's decoration, having married Mara Yovanovich in this church. In 1910, the church was adorned with the Crucifixion of the Lord, created by his hand.

In the spring of 1931, the church bells were removed and sent for melting, and the building itself was closed and handed over to the food workers' union as a club by the city council's decision. In 1936, a grain storage facility was placed in the church, which was used intermittently until the end of the Great Patriotic War. In 1937, believers managed to temporarily resume services. In 1946, the building was dismantled for construction materials. In 1947, Bishop Boris Vik of Saratov and Volsk consecrated the restored church in honor of the Exaltation of the Honorable and Life-Giving Cross of the Lord in memory of the old Cross Exaltation church, which had been dismantled for bricks. This took place in the building of the Pokrovsky church, built between 1906 and 1914 by the Khvalynsk Old Believers.

According to the resolution of the Saratov Regional Duma dated November 17, 1994, the church building is recognized as an object of historical and cultural heritage. In 2003, thanks to the support of State Duma deputy Vyacheslav Viktorovich Volodin, the church received funding from the federal budget as part of the program for the preservation of cultural heritage monuments. The church also includes a chapel at the cemetery of the city of Khvalynsk.