The Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul has a long and glorious history. The first documented mention of it dates back to 1613, when Tsar Mikhail Romanov took part in its consecration. At that time, the temple was wooden and was called the Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, it had side-chapels of St. Peter and Paul and the Great Martyr Irina. Half a century later, the church building was on the territory that became the private property of Peter the Great's ally Franz Lefort. It was Lefort who rebuilt the dilapidated structure at his own expense in 1696, and the church was re-consecrated in honor of St. Peter and Paul. The stone building of the cathedral, which has survived to this day, was erected in 1711 at the expense of Peter the Great for soldiers and officers of the Lefortovo Regiment.

The main building of the cathedral is crowned with five domes. In addition, two side chapels have been added to it — St. John the Theologian and St. Sergius of Radonezh, a refectory and a bell tower, on which 8 ancient bells have been preserved. Inside the main church there is a wooden gilded iconostasis of the 18th century, made in the Baroque style, the iconostases of the side-chapels are decorated in the Empire style. The cathedral houses a number of famous Orthodox shrines: the relics of the Blessed Prince Mikhail Tversky, the Miraculous Pochaev Icon of the Mother of God, which was moved here in the 30s of the twentieth century, and the icon Mother of God “The Indestructible Wall”.

In 1991, a small baptismal church of Archangel Michael was built on the territory of the cathedral, and in 2000 the temple complex was supplemented with a chapel of Jesus Christ. The cathedral is surrounded by a stone fence with a metal grid.

Services are held daily in the cathedral, Orthodox holidays are celebrated, Easter performances and parish meetings are held. The priests of the church take an active part in public events taking place in the city, including secular ones - the celebration of City Day, Victory Day. The church conducts extensive educational work on spiritual improvement through the traditions of the Orthodox faith, and lectures on philosophical, social and spiritual topics are held within its walls. The church choir gives concerts in children's and medical institutions. Church clergymen provide spiritual and material assistance to hospital patients, employees and children of the Orphanage.

The church has singing schools for adults and children, a children's Sunday school, which teaches the Law of God, fine arts and church singing, and a parish newspaper is published. On Sundays, conversations for adults are held on the canons of the Orthodox faith.