The Cross Exaltation Monastery was founded in the second half of the 14th century and is part of the Nizhny Novgorod and Arzamas Diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church.

On the western side of the monastery cathedral, between two buildings, rises a 34-meter bell tower, a decoration of the monastery. Seven bells were installed on it, producing a melodic ringing. During processions with the miraculous Oranskaya Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God from the male Oransk Monastery, the bell tower would sound the call to prayer, and as the procession approached, the ringing would begin.

At this time, the monastery clergy, the abbess, and the sisters would come out to the eastern gates, greeting the icon with the singing of the troparion: "Today Nizhny Novgorod shines brightly like the sunrise, having received, O Lady, your miraculous icon." The icon was brought into the church, where a moleben with an akathist was held.

On Sundays at 9 a.m., the icon was transferred to the Spaso-Preobrazhensky Cathedral of Nizhny Novgorod, and the ringing of the bells would again resound, echoed by other churches in the city. For over a hundred years, the bell tower was a decoration and a towering dominant of the monastery.

At the end of 1918, the monastery was closed, and a concentration camp for nobles, priests, and intelligentsia was set up on its territory. The bells were thrown down, and then the bell tower itself was demolished, as it served as a landmark. By January 1928, all the nuns had been evicted.

On August 19, 1935, the Culture Commission under the presidium of the Gorky Regional Executive Committee decided to demolish the former monastery. The order was partially carried out: the Cross Exaltation Cathedral was severely damaged, the Kazan cemetery church became housing and was later destroyed, and the walls, towers, and cemetery of the monastery were demolished.

In 1995, the territory of the former monastery was transferred to the Nizhny Novgorod Diocese. After the restoration of the Cross Exaltation Cathedral in the 2010s, the restoration of the bell tower began. On September 2, 2014, the Metropolitan of Nizhny Novgorod and Arzamas consecrated nine new bells, cast in Kasli, Chelyabinsk region, the largest of which weighs 600 kg.

According to the memories of the locals, the golden crosses of the bell tower and cathedral were visible from 40 versts away. Today, the cathedral is hidden behind gloomy buildings and is not visible even from a close distance, but the recently rebuilt bell tower once again rises above the monastery.