The Ascension Cathedral in Pereiaslav-Khmelnitsky was built in 1700 at the initiative and expense of Hetman Ivan Mazepa as the central structure of the Ascension Monastery. It is a typical example of Ukrainian Baroque. The first stone of its foundation was laid in 1695, and the construction lasted five years. On June 1, 1700, the cathedral was consecrated with the participation of the hetman himself, who gifted the church the Peresopnytsia Gospel, on which the Presidents of Ukraine now take their oath. Mazepa allocated 300,000 gold coins for its construction. The hetman's mother, Maria Magdalena, gifted the cathedral a gold and silver embroidered epitrachelion.

The construction of this church marked the beginning of the revival of the ancient Pereiaslav bishopric. By Mazepa's decree on January 4, 1701, the monastery, on whose territory the cathedral was located, was granted the village of Matskovka, as well as forest and haymaking lands. Between 1770 and 1776, a three-tiered brick bell tower with a pear-shaped dome was built next to the cathedral. The cathedral and bell tower became the main vertical dominants, completing the perspectives of the streets of this small town.

The restoration of the surviving buildings of the former Ascension Monastery lasted ten years, from 1954 to 1964. In 1975, as part of the celebration of the 30th anniversary of Victory, the Ascension Cathedral was transformed into a church dedicated to the heroism of soldiers during the crossing of the Dnieper in the fall of 1943. The basement of the cathedral housed the Mausoleum of Eternal Glory, where the names of Pereiaslav residents who died on the fronts of the Great Patriotic War are immortalized on the walls.