The Spassky Cathedral was built between 1808 and 1816 at the central holy site of the city, where churches that preceded it had stood since the 16th century: first a wooden one, then a stone one from 1684. All of them were dedicated to the main Elabuga shrine, the icon of the Savior Not Made by Hands, dated to the mid-17th century. Notably, this image protected both the Kazan Kremlin and the city of Elabuga from disasters. It is believed that thanks to it, Elabuga was saved from Bashkir troops during the uprising led by Akai Kusyumov. In memory of this miraculous deliverance, annual processions with the icon to Menzelinsk and back were held until the revolution.

The cathedral is a true architectural marvel of the early 19th century. Fortunately, its exterior has remained virtually unchanged. The five-tiered bell tower, 70 meters tall, like the church itself, is painted snow-white and can be seen even beyond the city limits. It is taller than the highest Kazan bell tower on Bauman Street and surpasses the height of the Raifa and the non-existent Seven Lakes bell towers. This is possibly the largest bell tower in the Volga-Vyatka region, second only by 11 meters to the famous "Ivan the Great" in the Moscow Kremlin. Before the revolution, a large bell weighing 4.8 tons, cast at the factory of Vasily Afanasyevich Shishkin, the grandfather of the famous artist, hung there. The tiers of the bell tower, gradually decreasing in size like a staircase, direct the gaze to the sky, where its peak shines in the sun like a candle flame. A long refectory with 11 windows on each side connects the bell tower to the church. Behind it rises the cathedral itself, one and a half times shorter than the bell tower, but still impressive. Five semi-spherical domes on octagonal drums are topped with elegant onion-shaped spires. The decoration of the church and bell tower is abundant with Ionic half-columns, which give the structure lightness and height.

Thanks to generous donations from merchants, the interior of the church was richly decorated. However, after the revolution, all valuables were plundered. According to the inventory compiled during the confiscation, there were 273 kg of silver church utensils alone, not to mention the gold and precious stones on the icon vestments.

Only the magnificent wall paintings created by outstanding Russian artists of the 19th century, such as Gunn, Bruni, and Vereshchagin, have partially survived. It is said that little Vanya Shishkin, the future great landscape painter, born in 1832 in Elabuga, often came to watch the painting of the cathedral. The life of Elabuga in the last pre-revolutionary century was inseparable from this church. It was visited by the great native of the city, psychiatrist V.M. Bekhterev, as well as writers M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin, V.G. Korolenko, M.I. Prishvin, and A.N. Tolstoy. The cathedral has witnessed tragic events in its time: on February 24, 1918, the cathedral priest Pavel Vasilyevich Dernov and three of his sons were shot, becoming some of the first victims of the Red Terror in our region.