In 1598, during the relocation of the monastery to a new site, a tall octagonal wooden belfry was built, to which bells from the old monastery were transferred. The largest of them, the Blagovestny, weighed 76 poods. The belfry also had tower clocks with chimes.

In the 1630s, during the construction of the stone cathedral, a three-tiered brick belfry was erected with a storage room below and a ringing platform under the tent. In the 17th century, it housed 11 bells, but in 1701, by order of Peter I, three bells were sent to Moscow to be melted down for cannons. In 1704, Archimandrite Philaret informed Archbishop Pitirim of Nizhny Novgorod that the wooden tent of the belfry had rotted, damaging the clocks, and requested permission for repairs.

On January 28, 1751, a fire occurred in the monastery, destroying the wooden parts of the belfry. That same year, it was restored, adding a brick tier for ringing and an octagonal structure for the clock mechanism. The repair of the clock and the forging of the cross were carried out by blacksmith Fyodor Khalezov from the village of Bor. Already in the 17th century, due to ground subsidence, the belfry tilted to the north, but this process stopped. In 1751, stonemasons leveled the top of the belfry, resulting in the tiers from the 17th and 18th centuries being aligned differently. This decision proved successful, as the belfry has survived for more than two centuries.

However, in 1838, architect A. I. Sheffer, inspecting the monastery buildings, expressed concern. The Capital Construction Committee commissioned architect A. L. Leer to conduct an investigation and repair of the belfry, which was mandated on March 11, 1840. The belfry of the Pechersky Monastery is a rare example of ancient Russian bell towers from the 16th and 17th centuries, which have practically not survived to our time.