The Church of the Merciful Savior in Nizhny Novgorod is the only surviving church built in memory of the miraculous salvation of Emperor Alexander III's family after a train crash on the Kursk-Kharkov railway on October 17, 1888. On that day, the emperor had a copy of the ancient miraculous Vologda icon of the Uncreated Savior.

Nizhny Novgorod merchants decided to build a church in honor of the Savior near the city fortress. In 1888, fundraising began, which included well-known financiers and industrialists such as N.A. Bugrov, N.E. Bashkirov, A.A. Blinov, A.M. Gubin, V.A. Sobolev, and others. In 1897, a Construction Committee was established under the leadership of Y.E. Bashkirov.

In 1898, a competition for the church project was announced among the members of the Imperial St. Petersburg Society of Architects. Out of 18 projects, A.M. Kochetov's project won. On June 7, 1899, Bishop Vladimir, head of the Nizhny Novgorod and Arzamas diocese, laid the first stone of the church.

The church was laid nine years after the disaster, not only in memory of the salvation of the royal family but also in honor of Alexander III, who died on October 20, 1894. The construction was overseen by academician of architecture V.P. Zeidler. On August 26, 1903, the last large bell was raised to the belfry, and on October 12, Bishop Nazarius consecrated the church.

The report of the Construction Committee for 1904 mentions that in 1902 an unknown resident of Nizhny Novgorod donated a bell weighing 54 poods, while the other bells were cast in Yaroslavl. Before the revolution, the belfry had 8 bells, the largest of which weighed over 2.5 tons.

The church's frescoes were completed in 1912. The paintings were done based on sketches by famous Russian artists such as V.M. Vasnetsov, I.E. Repin, and others, for the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow and the Vladimir Cathedral in Kyiv. The Byzantine-style ornaments were created based on sketches by A.M. Kochetov, with work conducted under the supervision of A.O. Karelin.

After the revolution, the church remained one of the few functioning in the high part of the city. In the early 1920s, it housed the archbishop's see under Metropolitan Sergius. From 1924 to 1926, he served in the Savior Church. In 1930, an attempt was made to close the church, but thanks to the efforts of the rector Nikolai Bogolyubov and members of the Parish Council, this decision was overturned.

Part of the church's basement was used as a warehouse for the Red Cross society. In 1935, members of the clergy and their families lived in the basement. After the arrest of the last clergymen in 1937, services ceased.

Later, the church premises were used as a warehouse for the sewing enterprise 'Vesna.' Before the war, a project was developed to convert the church into an archive, but changes only affected the internal layout. During the Great Patriotic War, the belfry was used as an air defense point.

The revival of the church became possible thanks to the efforts of Maria Sergeyevna Mikhailova, who gathered the necessary documents for its reopening. In 1992, the church was returned to the believers and re-consecrated. The first rector was Archpriest Igor Ponomarev. On April 19, 1992, the first Divine Liturgy was served. In 1997, one of the first children's Sunday schools in the city opened at the church. In 2010, a book about the church was published by Olga Dyogteva.