[1][2] The construction of "military" or "garrison" Orthodox churches by the Russian government in former Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth lands had started after the suppression of the November Uprising of 1830-31, and peaked during the reign of emperor Alexander III of Russia.

[1] The church was designed as an Orthodox cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul in 1890 by K. H. Lymarenko; it was authorized for construction on November 10 that year.

Completion of the church finalized the administrative building complex of the Kaunas Fortress; it symbolized less the presence of Orthodox Christians than the imperial authority of the Russian government.

[1] After the fall of the Kaunas Fortress during World War I the Germans cut down the church bells and transported them to Germany.

[3] As built, the cathedral reached 50 meters height; it was finished in three shades of sandstone color with equal-armed cross ornament.

The space between external and internal shells of the main dome was filled with hollow clay resonators.

It originated as a 2005 art installation - "21st century catacombs" – designed for the blind, the visually impaired, and the sighted.