The main cathedral of Nikita Monastery was erected by order of Ivan the Terrible in 1561-1564. As it turned out, the small church - the monastery's first stone building, constructed under Vasily III in 1520, became a modest side chapel at the southern base of the new cathedral.
Ivan the Terrible sponsored the monastery's expansion and fortification not solely for religious reasons. He was preparing it for the role of a reserve oprichnina fortress, in case Aleksandrovskaya Sloboda - the stronghold of the oprichnina of the Russian Tsardom in the second half of the XVI century - were ever to prove unreliable.
Upon the completion of the Cathedral of Nikita the Martyr, the tsar personally attended its consecration, presenting gifts: a bronze chandelier from himself, and from his wife Anastasia - an icon of Nikita Stylites embroidered by her own hand.
The church is a massive structure crowned with five domes. The central dome is particularly large. Among the building's innovative features are pointed arches, which at that time were almost never seen in Russian architecture.
During the alterations carried out in the XVIII century to renew the roof and widen the window openings, suspicious cracks were discovered in the vaults. Restoration work did not save the central dome from collapsing in 1984.
At present, the Cathedral of Nikita the Martyr has been almost fully restored to its original appearance, including the paintings on the walls of the interior spaces.
