From the Spaso-Preobrazhensky Cathedral, the colorful domes, reminiscent of St. Basil's Cathedral, and the five-tiered bell tower of the Ascension Cathedral of the same-name monastery are clearly visible. The Ascension Monastery was founded by Bishop Pitirim in 1690 on the northern outskirts of the city, at the mouth of the Studenets River. Initially, it was a women's monastery, and its first abbess was the sister of Bishop Pitirim, Ekaterina. The first buildings of the monastery were wooden and burned down in 1724. In the first half of the 18th century, Tambov was a poor city and could not afford to rebuild the monastery from scratch. For a long time, there were neither churches nor convent buildings, only wooden cells for the nuns. However, in 1764, during the reforms of Catherine II, when many monasteries were closed, the Tambov Monastery was designated as a third-class monastery with small but permanent funding. In 1798, the first stone church of the monastery, the Ascension Church, designed by Ivan Kruglikov and Nafanail from the Sarov Desert, was consecrated. In 1816, the second church was laid in honor of the icon of the Mother of God "Joy of All Who Sorrow," which has remained almost in its original form, unlike the Ascension Church, which was destroyed in the 1930s.

The Ascension Monastery became known in the mid-19th century when the nun Miropia, born Maria Adenkova, a noblewoman by birth, settled here. After her husband's death, she left for the Moscow Zachatyevsky Monastery. In 1812, during the French invasion, the monastery evacuated, and Maria chose Tambov for settlement. She brought with her the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God with relics of saints. The miraculous properties of the icon manifested on the way when a coachman, who planned a robbery, suddenly went blind and regained his sight after repentance and prayer. In Tambov, nun Miropia read akathists daily before the icon. Before her death, she had a vision in which the Mother of God commanded her to transfer the icon to the Shatsky Vyshensky Monastery, where numerous miracles began. Nun Miropia was buried by the southern wall of the Ascension Church, and an iron chapel was erected over her grave. In 1906, during the reconstruction of the main church, her burial site ended up inside the walls, and a niche in the shape of a cave was arranged for it.

In 1918, the monastery began to be looted, bell ringing and processions were prohibited. In 1929, the Sorrowful Church was closed, and later the Ascension Church was destroyed. The revival of the monastery began even during the Soviet era: in 1988, the Sorrowful Church was handed over to the Russian Orthodox Church in honor of the Millennium of the Baptism of Rus. In 1992, a decision was made to resume monastic life. In 2007, the construction of the Holy Ascension Church began, which was completed seven years later. Architects Lunkin A. S., Lunkin G. M., and Tretyakov D. I. were inspired by St. Basil's Cathedral, although the forms and style of the church are Russian-Byzantine. The bright eclecticism rises above the city by more than 60 meters, impressing from afar, but up close, the disharmony with other monastery buildings is noticeable.