The Smolensk Cathedral is located in the working settlement of Vyyezdnoye, where Ivan the Terrible settled 600 Cossack families, forming the "state palace village, Cossack Vyyezdnaya Sloboda." In 1635, this village was granted to the boyar B.M. Saltykov. By the early 20th century, there were two stone churches in Vyyezdnoye: one in honor of the Nativity of Christ with chapels of Saint Nicholas and the prophet Elijah, and the other, in the name of the Smolensk Icon of the Mother of God with chapels of Saint Dmitry of Rostov and the martyrs Flora and Lavra. These churches became dilapidated, and the parishioners appealed to the Nizhny Novgorod Bishop Veniamin for permission to build a new stone church. Permission was granted on May 29, 1803, and construction lasted 12 years. In 1815, the temple was completed, becoming spacious and majestic.

The cathedral is cross-shaped and is situated on a square of 1600 square fathoms. It is adorned with three porches with pediments on 16 columns and five domes. The main body of the cathedral consists of a cube with five domes and an adjoining refectory, decorated with a portico featuring eight half-columns. The Smolensk Cathedral and the tall bell tower next to it unite residential and public buildings. The interior decoration of the cathedral was done by Moscow painters and students of the Stupino school, with the main decoration being the painting "Crucifixion" in the altar, presumably painted by Bartolomé Esteban Murillo. Count V.P. Saltykov, the owner of Vyyezdnoye, received this painting as a gift from Princess Maria-Augusta in 1770.

Next to the cathedral stands a tall tent-shaped bell tower, built in 1721. The construction of the Smolensk Church, completed in 1815, was funded by the donations of prosperous residents of Vyyezdnoye with the assistance of Sergey Vasilyevich Saltykov, the owner of the village. In 2007, the cathedral and bell tower were granted the status of cultural heritage sites of federal significance, and in 2015, it marked 200 years since their construction.