The church is the oldest building in present-day Kotka,[2] and it is a notable representative of neoclassicism in Finland.

The first Orthodox wooden church was located in the northern part of Kotkansaari, next to the barracks.

In the same year, on the day of St. Nicholas, December 6, 1795, Count Alexander Suvorov is mentioned as having visited the church and even read an epistle text in connection with the service.

[5] In his place, the architect Miller, who worked in the Admiralty, also had to travel to the Ruotsinsalmi Fortress.

Well-known officers of the Ruotsinsalmi Fortress, such as Deputy Admiral and Knight Nikolai Khrushchev, Commander of the Fortress Ivan Kononovich and Major General and Knight Fedor Timirjazev, among others, are buried in the cemetery.