Originally, the monastery was named Spaso-Transfiguration, but was later renamed Spaso-Evfimiev in honor of the first abbot, Saint Evfimy of Suzdal.

The wooden structures of the monastery have not survived, and its modern appearance was formed in the 16th-17th centuries. The construction of majestic buildings was made possible by generous donations from the nobility. Significant contributions were made by Grand Duke Vasily III, his son Ivan, the Pozharsky princes, and others.

On July 7, 1445, a battle took place near the monastery walls between Russian troops commanded by Vasily II and the Kazan army led by the princes Mahmud and Yakub, sons of Khan Ulu-Muhammed. Vasily was defeated and taken prisoner.

In 1511, the archimandrite of the monastery became Kirill, who later became the Archbishop of Rostov, Yaroslavl, and Belozersk.

The monastery is mentioned in the correspondence of Ivan the Terrible with Andrei Kurbsky, where the exiled prince notes that the monks of the Spassky Monastery beyond Suzdal are known for their greed and drunkenness.

The main church of the monastery, the Spaso-Transfiguration Cathedral, is built in the traditions of ancient white-stone architecture of Suzdal, distinguished by its monumentality and severity. The frescoes of the 16th century and the paintings by masters Guriy Nikitin and Sila Savin are of particular value.

In 1837, the heir to the throne, Alexander Nikolaevich, visited the monastery, and on May 16, 1913, in honor of the 300th anniversary of the Romanov dynasty, it was visited by Emperor Nicholas II with Grand Duchesses Olga, Tatiana, Maria, and Anastasia.

In 1923 and 1939, a political isolation facility operated in the former monastery prison, and since 1935, a special-purpose prison. Among others, Metropolitan Peter Krutitsky, Bishop Alexander Boyarsky, economists Nikolai Kondratiev, Leonid Yurovsky, as well as communist and Komsomol figures Vladimir Nevsky, Martemyan Ryutin, Lazar Shatskin, and Ivan Smirnov were held here.

In 1940, interned soldiers of the Czech Legion of the Polish army led by Ludvik Svoboda, captured after the Polish campaign of the Red Army, were located in the monastery. In 1941, with the onset of the Great Patriotic War, a verification and filtration camp was organized here for soldiers and officers of the Red Army who had been captured or surrounded. A total of 8,232 people passed through the camp. From January 1, 1943, the monastery became a camp for prisoners of war, where officers and generals of the Wehrmacht, as well as the armies of Italy, Romania, Hungary, and Spain, including Field Marshal Friedrich Paulus, were held.

From 1946 to 1967, a reformatory labor colony for juvenile offenders was located on the monastery grounds: initially for boys, and after the 1947 riot, for girls. In 1968, the monastery was transformed into a museum.