The church, built between 1762 and 1774 in the Naryshkin style, was erected with funds from the residents of Palech and nearby villages by master Yegor Dubov. After the 1917 revolution, the church was closed and turned into a museum. The last rector, Archpriest Ioann Rozhdestvensky, now recognized as a saint, was arrested and executed.

In 1993, the church was handed over to the Russian Orthodox Church and became a dependency of the Nikol-Shartom Monastery. In 2012, it came under the jurisdiction of the Kineshma Diocese and received the status of a cathedral.

The church has a four-pillar structure. The low attic tier replicates the plan of the central part of the church's foundation. The eastern wall of the altar, with a conical roof, is rounded. The interior space of the church is organized according to longitudinal-axis symmetry with an upper ceiling resembling a loggia. The decorative elements of the church are characteristic of Russian Baroque: the windows are adorned in various styles, with semicircular frames, window decorations with ears and aprons. The bell tower is decorated with a diamond pattern and multi-tiered niches with tiles. The high base of the church is decorated with a narrow strip of a curb. Architectural forms are emphasized by single columns and their bundles.

The frescoes from the early 19th century are executed in a mixed technique with graffiti. They were created by Moscow masters P. and M. Sapozhnikov and Palech masters A. Belyaev and S. Vecherin. The frescoes have been repeatedly updated and restored. The main tones are soft and pastel. The iconographic program is typical for the time of the church's creation: the compositions are square and rectangular, borrowed from German engravings, with modifications that make the images more relief and simplified.

Palech icon painting is characterized by a mix of traditions, similar faces of saints and colored gaps, professional mastery of drawing, and multi-figure compositions. The iconostasis, made in the early 20th century in the Samara workshop of the Belousov brothers, is stylized as a Baroque iconostasis of the 18th century. It contains late icons and several originals from that era.

Among other icons, the 18th-century "Savior in Power" stands out with a geometric background symbolizing the earthly and heavenly worlds. In the frames of the Smolensk Mother of God icon, the Kazan and Vladimir icons, as well as icons of church holidays and saints, are depicted. A rare subject, "The Ladder of Divine Ascent" from the book of John Climacus, is noteworthy. A wooden sculpture, "Christ in the Dungeon," by a local master who interpreted the "Permian Gods," has also been preserved.