[4] The first and foremost church in the city of Odesa, the cathedral was founded in 1794 by Gavril Bănulescu-Bodoni.

Construction lagged several years behind schedule and the newly appointed governor of New Russia, Armand-Emmanuel de Vignerot du Plessis, Duc de Richelieu, employed the Italian architect Francesco Frappoli to complete the edifice.

The cathedral was the burial place of the bishops of Tauride, including Saint Innocent of Kherson, and Prince Mikhail Semyonovich Vorontsov, the famous governor of New Russia.

[citation needed] On July 23, 2023, the cathedral was severely damaged by a Russian missile attack.

[4][7] UNESCO strongly condemned repeated attacks by Russia on World Heritage sites in Ukraine, including the Transfiguration Cathedral.