The cathedral was built in 1860–1872 by a Russian Orthodox Ecclesiastical Mission in Jerusalem, when the Holy City was part of the Ottoman Empire.

The Martin Eppinger [de] designed the church as a cruciform building, a basilica with one central nave and two side aisles, and two lateral rooms in the shape of rounded apses completing the cross-shaped layout.

The cathedral is built from white stone, with eight steeples, each topped by a cross.

In the period of the British Mandate, the Trinity Cathedral remained independent[clarification needed].

The ownership of the church is undetermined as it is part of an ongoing legal and diplomatic controversy between Russia and Israel apparently centered on the arrest of an Israeli citizen for drug smuggling.