In 990, the first church of Alexandrov land, a wooden temple dedicated to St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, was founded at the site of the modern cinema "Saturn." This place was called Nikolsky Pogost, and the ancient cemetery still lies on the territory of houses No. 12 and 14 on Soviet Lane. Around Nikolsky Pogost, a Slavic settlement gradually grew. In the second half of the 11th century, with the spread of Christianity, a wooden church of the Nativity of Christ was established to the east of Nikolsky Pogost, and the settlement began to be called "the village of Rojdestvenskoye." In the following centuries, with the development of the grand princely New Alexandrov Sloboda, the village merged with the posad. The unofficial capital of Ivan the Terrible required an increase in the service staff, so a vast Alexandrov Sloboda emerged on the right bank of the Sherna River. The Church of the Nativity of Christ was rebuilt in wooden form no less than eight times but miraculously survived the Time of Troubles and the invasion of Polish-Lithuanian conquerors in 1612. In 1627-1630, when all of Russian land was in ruins, royal scribes made an inventory that listed two churches in the Posad: in the name of the Nativity of Christ and St. Nicholas the Wonderworker. In 1649, after the Catholic invasion, the Nativity Church was rebuilt, renewed, and expanded, becoming the cradle for the future Assumption Women's Monastery. The first nuns, tonsured by St. Lucian of Alexandrov, settled here: widow Anna with the name Anisiya and widow Fecla with the name Theodora. Later, they moved to the Assumption Church of the newly founded monastery. In 1653, the Nicholas Church was renewed and expanded, with new chapels established in the name of the holy prophet Elijah and St. John the Baptist. In 1675, when Rus was still in ruins, both churches supported the Orthodox spirit in the vicinity. The inventory books preserved records of the condition of the churches that year. In the Sloboda across the Sera River, there was a pogost with the Church of the Nativity of Christ, made of logs, with a refectory and altar, surrounded by porches. The church had royal doors, a canopy, and columns decorated with gold, icons adorned with silver and gold. The second church of Nikolsky Pogost was described as warm, with a refectory, made of logs, with an altar and royal doors, a canopy, and icons decorated with silver and gold. In 1687, the churches were visited by the royal brothers Ivan and Peter Alexeyevich, and in 1696, thanks to Tsar Peter I, a stone church of the Nativity of Christ with a chapel of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker was built instead of the two wooden churches. The construction was financed by local residents and the tsar's generosity with the participation of court official Yakov Ladogin. In the early 19th century, a church dedicated to the Bogolyubskaya Icon of the Mother of God was added to the Cathedral of the Nativity of Christ, built in 1800 at the city cemetery. In 1829, merchant Fyodor Baranov built a stone bell tower, which was destroyed by local authorities in 1929. In 1847, his son Ivan expanded the church by building and consecrating a chapel in the name of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker. In 1831, a chapel in the name of Archangel Michael was rebuilt. After the reconstructions of the 1820s-1830s, the cathedral was designed in the Empire style, with architect Y.M. Nikiforov. In 1895, Vladimir church historian V.G. Dobronravov noted the richness of church utensils and the sacristy. The Cathedral of the Nativity of Christ represents a traditional church ark with the main altar in the name of the Nativity of Christ. The right, southern altar is in the name of Archangel Michael, and the left, northern, in the name of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, now fully located in the former refectory of the cathedral. To the west of the space under the bell tower, which was destroyed in 1929, auxiliary rooms were added. The altar part of the cathedral ends with three semicircular apses covered with conchs. The temple part is covered with a sail vault with a drum and onion dome. The refectory part is covered with spherical vaults with a tin roof. Under the Baranov merchants, the cathedral was rebuilt into a spacious temple that accommodated almost all the Orthodox population of the city and surroundings. During the Soviet era, the church was closed and used as a theater, club, bakery, and cultural center. The revival of the cathedral began in 1991. Archbishop Evlogy transferred Georgy Zaponov and appointed him the rector of the cathedral. In 1992, the first Divine Service took place, and in 1993, the altar of Archangel Michael was consecrated. From 1993, services were led by priest Alexander Filippov, and from 1997, Fr. Sergey Sokolovsky. Both are buried at the cathedral walls. Since 1995, Fr. Viktor Kukin has served in the church. Priests Nikolai Tikhomirov and Nikolai Rostovtsev serve in the cathedral and the attached church of the Bogolyubskaya Icon of the Mother of God. Since September 2000, the rector of the cathedral has been archpriest Boris Tolkachev, and active completion of the church's revival began. By early 2002, the restoration of the drum with the onion dome was completed, and on January 6, a cross was erected. The central altar of the Church of the Nativity of Christ remains under restoration, but in 2003, rough work was completed, and the curtain separating the church was removed. The parishioners awaited the first festive Divine Service in the main altar.