The Resurrection Church, the oldest in Penza. Its first wooden building was erected in the Cherkassk fortress in 1660/61, which may indicate the existence of the fortress before the founding of the Penza fortress. It is likely that the fortress appeared as early as the 17th century.

In 1874, during the construction of the Syzran-Vyazma railway, the church was closed, and due to the proximity of the railway and its dilapidation, it began to be dismantled. However, the well-known Penza philanthropist Maria Mikhailovna Kiseleva decided to restore it at her own expense. From 1882 to 1884, under the guidance of architect Vladimir Mikhailovich Betyutskiy, the church was restored. In the second half of the 80s, the dismantled bell tower and refectory were rebuilt.

In 1930, the church was closed and used as a red corner for the housing construction cooperative of railway workers. In fact, the building housed a warehouse and then a transit prison.

Today, as people approach the altar, they do not even suspect that they are standing on the site of a former punishment cell, where particularly guilty prisoners were held. The conditions were terrible; surviving here was a real challenge. The floor of the cell was concreted and flooded with water, and the folding bunks were attached to the wall in the morning, forcing a person to stand in water all day without the possibility of sitting down. At night, the bunks were lowered, but it was difficult to sleep on them due to their narrowness and short length. Dampness was a constant problem: water in the cell appeared from a hole in the roof, through which rainwater flowed into the cell.

Executions were carried out at night near the church, and burials took place here, near the garages. In recent times, when hangars were built, shot skulls, skeletons, and remnants of clothing were found.

During the Stalin era, prisoners were forced to engage in labor therapy, sewing clothes, shoes, and uniforms. The prison was disbanded only in 1955. It is impossible to learn more about what happened in this prison, as part of the documents is strictly classified and will only be available in 2050.