The first wooden church was built in 1727. In June 1830, the construction of a stone church in the name of the Resurrection of Christ began in the settlement of Kyakhta, with two warm chapels dedicated to the Kazan Mother of God and Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker. The church project was developed by Moscow architect Grigory Gerasimov, and Italian craftsmen participated in the construction.

Funding for the construction was provided from "axidency" funds and generous donations. The initial estimate was 600 thousand rubles, but actual costs significantly exceeded this amount. Contemporaries noted that "in terms of interior decoration and wealth, the church had few equals throughout Siberia." It was called "frozen music in stone."

Particular attention was drawn to the "cold chapel" with its unique crystal iconostasis in bronze, silver royal gates, painted icons, silver altar and sacrificial table, precious gospel, and a huge silver chandelier adorned with colored stones. The luxurious iconostasis was made in the style of Westminster Abbey at the Moscow factory of Poltavtsev. Some icons for it were created by artist E. Reichel in 1847-1848. In 1854, the restoration of the icons involved the Decembrist artist N. A. Bestuzhev.

The Resurrection Church is an outstanding example of Russian classicism architecture. The main church, which has a square shape, is topped with a dome with a drum five fathoms in diameter. The rooms around the church are connected to it by wide arches. The central part of the church is adorned with six-column porticos of the Doric order on the southern, eastern, and northern facades, while the western side includes winter chapels and a four-tiered bell tower. The height of the bell tower to the top of the cross was 42.6 m, and the weight of the main bell was 562 poods. The interiors of the church were characterized by meticulous craftsmanship.

The main church was particularly solemn, with cornices ornamented with brackets and medallions, stucco ornaments, angel heads, and rosettes made by the tradesman Prasolov. The territory of the Resurrection Church was enclosed by a fence of stone pillars and cast-iron grilles, the construction of which was also overseen by Prasolov in the second half of the 1840s. The fence was completed with two small one-story wings. In the late 19th century, a chapel-tomb was built inside the fence on the southern side. The church windows were protected by wrought iron grilles, and the domes were covered with white iron. Over time, some elements, such as the tops of the domes, the wooden spire of the bell tower, the fence, the stucco of the main church, and one of the wings, were lost.

The church was closed in the 1930s and turned into a warehouse for Spetstorh. In the 1970s-1990s, restoration work was carried out in the building, after which it was planned to open a Museum of the History of Russian Geographical Discoveries in Central Asia, but this was not destined to happen.

In 1996, the church was handed over to the Russian Orthodox Church. Through the efforts of the parishioners of the Assumption Church, it was cleared of debris, and the Kazan chapel was repaired, where services are now held. However, the parish does not have sufficient funds for the complete restoration of the church, so most of the building remains unrestored and is gradually deteriorating.