The cathedral was located in the city center, on the main street now called Kalinin Street, on a hill 5 fathoms high (about 10.65 meters). On this hill stood the Spaso-Polycarp Monastery, founded by the Venerable Polycarp of Bryansk in the 16th century and abolished in 1764. In the land books of 1626 and 1628, the monastery was described as located on the Goat Steppe by the Desna River opposite the Streltsy settlement, with the Church of the Transfiguration of the Lord and the Nativity of the Virgin, as well as the church of the Venerable Polycarp. During the Time of Troubles, the monastery was devastated but later restored.

The wooden Transfiguration church was sold to the village of Korostovka, and around 1694, a two-story stone church was built in its place. The upper tier had an altar in honor of the Transfiguration of the Lord, and the lower tier was dedicated to Saint John the Warrior. Under the altar of the latter, a burial vault for the princes of Baryatinsky was later created. At the same time, a stone bell tower was erected above the Holy Gates. In 1694, Prince Daniil Afanasyevich Baryatinsky began the construction of a church in honor of the Nativity of the Virgin, which was completed by his brother Alexei Afanasyevich Baryatinsky. The church was consecrated in 1697. In 1710, a wooden church in honor of Saint John the Warrior was built, which was replaced by a stone one in 1730.

In 1766, the monastery was abolished. The Church of the Nativity of the Virgin became a parish church in 1768, while the other buildings were transferred to the Tver Carabinier Regiment. From 1779, the monastery cells housed a Spiritual School, which was moved to Sevsk in 1798. The monastery buildings stood until the fire of 1845.

The Bryansk Cathedral was originally the Spaso-Transfiguration Church on the Vladychnye Graves. Probably, after the abolition of the Bryansk diocese around 1500, the Bryansk Cathedral became the Pokrovsky Church. According to the decree of the Holy Governing Synod dated November 12, 1798, the parish Transfiguration Church of the Polycarp Monastery was named the Bryansk Cathedral, retaining the name 'Pokrovsky Cathedral.'

In 1862, the Church of the Transfiguration of the Lord was dismantled, and with the funds of merchant Nikolai Alexeyevich Vyazmitin, the construction of a new cathedral began. By 1875, the church was nearly completed, but on July 16 of the same year, a fire occurred, resulting in the burning and collapse of the dome. The Church of the Nativity of the Virgin also suffered greatly and was dismantled in 1881 due to cracks. A stone pillar with an inscription about the time of construction and consecration was erected in its place. Only the stone tented bell tower, altered after the fire, remained from the monastery.

In 1876, the right chapel of the Cathedral was consecrated in honor of Saint Nicholas, and in 1879, the left chapel in honor of Saint John the Warrior. The main altar in honor of the Transfiguration of the Lord was consecrated in 1897. Marble-mosaic iconostases created by academician V.D. Fartusov were installed in the three chapels. According to tradition, the relics of the Venerable Polycarp of Bryansk rested on the left side of the Cathedral. The Cathedral housed an ancient icon of the Venerable Polycarp with a cross from his chains, an icon of the Holy Martyr Kuksha with a particle of relics, as well as the Gospel and icons from the 17th century. The sacristy of the Cathedral contained an ancient repository.

Every year, several processions were held from the Cathedral:

1) on the Feast of the Ascension of the Lord around the Cathedral;

2) on June 29, on the feast day of the apostles Peter and Paul to the Bryansk Peter-Paul Monastery;

3) on July 12 with the icon of the Mother of God 'Three-Handed' for a prayer service at the city shops;

4) on August 11 with the icon of the Mother of God 'Sven' around the city in memory of the deliverance from the invasion of the French in 1812;

5) on August 15/28 to the Sven Monastery;

6) on October 1, the icon of the Mother of God 'Sven' was brought to the Cathedral for a month.

In the chapel of the Cathedral was the icon of the Mother of God 'Three-Handed.' An annual procession with this icon was established in memory of the event when, in the 1840s, lightning struck the place where the icon hung, but no fire occurred, although there was a large fire nearby.

The Cathedral had a women's church-parish school, two literacy schools, a spiritual library, and a reading room.

After the establishment of the Bryansk province in 1920, the Bryansk Diocese was created in December of the same year. The Pokrovsky Cathedral became the Bryansk Cathedral. At the end of 1923, the Orthodox and Renovationist communities fought for the right to conclude an agreement for the use of the Cathedral. In 1924, the Cathedral was closed. Items of artistic and historical value were transferred to a museum, while other church items were distributed among other churches. The Cathedral housed a people's house named after October 25, an anti-religious museum for a long time. During the Great Patriotic War, the Cathedral suffered greatly. In the early 1960s, it was destroyed, leaving only the ancient bell tower. There were proposals to restore it and transfer it to the museum, but on July 20, 1968, by the decision of the local authorities, the bell tower was blown up.

On the site of the Pokrovsky Cathedral now stands the cinema-concert hall 'Druzhba.' Nearby, a chapel in honor of the Protection of the Most Holy Theotokos was built and consecrated in 2002.