The wooden cathedral was built with money granted by Prince Dmitry Pozharsky. The main shrine of the church was the Icon of the Kazan Mother of God, after which the cathedral was named.

In 1630, a fire broke out, the building was rebuilt and consecrated under Mikhail Fedorovich, the first tsar of the Romanov dynasty. Construction and alterations continued for several centuries: until the end of the 17th century, various structures were erected, including the front porch and bell tower, and in the XVIII century one of the chapels and reconstructed the shopping arcades in such a way that the cathedral could not be seen from Red Square. During the war with the French in 1812, the main icon was taken out of the temple and hidden, and the altar was made a stable. Later, in the second half of the 19th century, the facades were redesigned, a new silver iconostasis was created and another tier was added to the bell tower.

In the 20th century, the Bolsheviks who came to power closed and completely dismantled the Kazan Cathedral, replacing it with a pavilion dedicated to the III International. In 1990, the first stone was laid in honor of the restoration of the Kazan Cathedral. The temple was completely recreated according to the drawings of the famous restorer Baranovsky.

The cathedral is an example of a one-domed church with a series of large and small kokoshniks and triangular platbands. According to architectural historian Pavel Rappoport, this composition reflected the desire of architects to make the building elegant and joyful and became a harbinger of the Russian pattern.