The Assumption Church in Rylsk was originally an ordinary parish church but later gained the status of a city cathedral. The idea of building a stone church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary belonged to the Rylsk merchant of the first guild, Ivan Fedotovich Filimonov, who became wealthy from trading sickles from Austria. Documents regarding the time of construction have not survived, but the commonly accepted date of construction, 1811, is taken from the "Clerical Records" and refers to the consecration of the altars. It is known that in the late 19th century, the cathedral's archive contained metric books from 1770 to 1810 and income-expense books from 1809 to 1840. This suggests that the wooden church of the Assumption existed from the late 1770s until 1809/10, until a new stone church with three altars was laid, the main one dedicated to the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. On July 30, 1840, the church was transformed into a cathedral by the decree of the Holy Synod, which required changes in its design. On June 9, 1847, a plan for the construction of a stone fence around the church estate was approved. Since the mid-19th century, this fence, executed in the style of late classicism, has been part of the cathedral ensemble.

The proximity of the temple to the main trading square of the city led to requests for the construction of trading stalls, but they were rejected, as Filimonov's will prohibited the development of the territory around the temple. The name of the project author and the craftsmen involved in the construction is unknown. For a long time, the cathedral served as a training center for the theological school, which was moved to Rylsk in 1876, and the seminary opened in 1906. The Assumption Cathedral remained active until 1936, after which it was closed and used for economic purposes, gradually falling into disrepair. Restoration work is currently underway, and services are being held.

The temple is a monumental building in the style of mature classicism. It is a four-pillar cross-domed church with five domes, externally resembling a square with rounded corners and four porticoes at the center of each facade. The building is entirely brick, with limited use of white stone in the decoration of the cornices. The church has three altars: the main altar of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary is located in the eastern arm, the altar of St. Basil the Great in the southeastern corner cell, and the altar of St. John the Baptist in the northeastern one. The iconostases were likely made in the style of late classicism. Since the mid-19th century, the church was warm due to a heating system with "Amos" stoves in the basements. The bell tower of the cathedral, adjoining the western side, has four tiers and a square shape. It was built simultaneously with the church and connected to it by a passage. Its architecture shows noticeable influence from baroque. A clock was installed on the bell tower in the early 20th century, and the spire was likely replaced at the turn of the 19th-20th centuries.