Before the October Revolution of 1917, the Protection Cathedral was located in the city on the banks of the Volga. In the 1870s, the cathedral underwent major restoration and was expanded with two chapels dedicated to the Ascension of the Lord and the Holy Prophet Elijah. In 1931, the Soviet authorities finally closed the cathedral, and its last rector, Archpriest Mikhail Lebyazhev, who served from 1924 to 1931, was arrested and sentenced by the 'troika' to exile in the Northern Territory. Nothing is known about his further fate. After its closure, the cathedral was subjected to looting and desecration, and its walls were used for various economic needs. In 1954, the temple was completely destroyed, and its remains now rest at the bottom of the Volga Reservoir.

In 2016, with funds from the Government of the Ulyanovsk Region, a Memorial Chapel was erected on the banks of the Volga in honor of the Protection Cathedral of the city of Sengilei. On August 21, 2016, Bishop Diodor Isaev of Meleks and Cherdaklinsky conducted the consecration of the chapel in the presence of the Governor of the Ulyanovsk Region, Sergey Morozov.