The Cathedral of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, a five-domed, two-column cathedral of the Kostroma Diocese, existed in the 18th and 20th centuries. It was located in the Kostroma Kremlin on a hill on the left bank of the Volga and was renowned as a repository of the Theodorov Icon of the Mother of God, one of the greatest relics of Kostroma land. Russian sovereigns visited this place multiple times. In the 1930s, the cathedral was demolished along with other Kremlin buildings.

The time of the cathedral's founding, like that of the city itself, remains a subject of debate. For a long time, local historians believed that the cathedral was built during the time of Vasily Kvashni in the 13th century, but archaeologists found no ancient layers at this site. It is currently believed that Kostroma emerged at the confluence of the Volga and Sula rivers and was only moved to the Kremlin hill in the early 15th century.

The Assumption Cathedral became the first stone structure in Kostroma. The exact date of its construction is unknown, but it is most often attributed to the mid-16th century. The church was originally single-domed and two-columned, with a high vaulted undercroft. It is one of the first known two-column churches in Russia, and its unique feature was the orientation of the apses to the north, towards Zaprudye, where the Theodorov Icon appeared. The two-column design became popular in the Kostroma region and may have served as a model for the cathedral in the Epiphany Monastery.

The original architecture of the Assumption Cathedral has not survived. It was repeatedly updated and rebuilt after fires in 1654, 1773, and 1843. In the 17th century, the cathedral was expanded to the west and transformed into a four-column structure with five domes instead of one. In 1666, a side chapel was added in honor of Saint Theodore Stratilates. The cathedral housed revered icons and banners of the Kostroma militia.

During the reconstructions of 1775 and 1778, the cathedral's domes acquired a Baroque appearance, which is not typical for the Upper Volga region, and in 1820 and 1821, they were gilded. At that time, new wall paintings dedicated to the discovery of the Theodorov Icon were created. Instead of the previous tent-like bell tower, a new four-tiered one, 64 meters high, was built, the tallest in the province. On the site of the burned Cross Exaltation Monastery, the Epiphany Cathedral was constructed, where services were held during the cold season, and Triumph Gates were also erected.

In November 1929, the Assumption Cathedral was closed and converted into a grain storage facility. Five years later, it was blown up to use the rubble for the construction of a flax factory.

In the 1990s, the idea of restoring the Kremlin cathedrals was actively discussed. In July 2015, Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and all Rus consecrated the cornerstone at the site of the Assumption Cathedral, calling this event "a symbol of the restoration of historical truth."

In 2016, archaeological excavations were conducted at the site of the cathedral, during which elements of the interior decoration, gilded parts of the iconostasis, remnants of a bronze covering with precious stones, fragments of wall paintings, frescoes, and tiles were found. Parts of the ancient foundation, brick flooring, a wooden palisade, and an ancient burial site were also discovered.