Begun building in 1899, this wooden Cathedral in Central Square, Harbin, was completed in 1900. Also built next to the Cathedral was the Holy Iveron Icon of the Theotokos Chapel, being a replica of the revered Moscow Chapel of the same namesake that was destroyed by the Bolsheviks in 1928.
On August 23, 1966, during the Cultural Revolution, the Cathedral was destroyed by the Red Guards. Present day Square was where the original Cathedral use to stand.
According to Harbin municipal religious archive, Fr Valentin Baryshnikov served as the sixth rector, while the seventh and last rector of the Cathedral Fr Anikita Wang was martyred in 1967.
In 2007, St Nicholas Art Museum has been built at a different location as a full scale replica of the original St Nicholas Cathedral.