In the 1750s a stone catholic church and a monastery were built at the expense of Michał Andrzej Grocholski, county judge of Bratslav and philanthropist. In 1758 the Cathedral was consecrated and began to function for spiritual purposes.
Paolo Antonio Domenico Fontana, a famous Italian designer, was the author of the project and architect of the Cathedral. He added to his architectural work the elements of Vilna Baroque, successfully combining local national traditions with the late Western European Baroque. In the basement of the Cathedral there was a family crypt (a burial vault) of the Grocholskis.
The Dominican and neighboring Jesuit monasteries became parts of a dual ensemble - the Mury complex, which had a joint defense system and played a significant role in the trade development of the area and protecting the city from enemies. After the neighboring monastery was liquidated in 1773, the Dominican church became parochial for the Catholic community of Vinnytsia.
In 1832 after a severe government persecution caused by the uprising of the Poles against the Russian Empire, the tsarist autocracy handed it over to the Orthodox.
In 1855 Protoiereus Porfyrii Voznesenskyi, the Cathedral Dean of that time, paid attention to the fact that many church members did not go to church in winter time. The reason was cold weather. The members of the clergy also suffered from cold weather. That is why they decided to build the so-called “warm church” which was arranged in the lower part of the Cathedral where there was the family crypt (a burial vault) of the Grocholskis. As previously agreed with the Catholic clergy, the burials of the founders were moved: a part was moved to another church, and the rest - outside the church. The lower church was sanctified in honor of St. Cosmas and Damian aimed at memorizing the previous cathedral.
In Soviet times the church was shut down and rebuilt into a rubber warehouse, but during the Nazi occupation the cathedral became active again and had been functioning nearly 20 years. After that the Holy Transfiguration Church was again shut down and the House of Physical Culture was arranged in the building and later on - the Organ and Chamber Music Hall of the Regional Philharmonic. After the disintegration of the Soviet Union, the church was returned to the religious community. Nowadays it is the Orthodox Church of Ukraine and the residence of Metropolitan Vinnytskyi and Barskyi.
The spatial composition of the former church has repeatedly been changed. However, during the last restoration in the 1990s under the supervision of architect Otchenashko, the appearance of the church became more complete in modern Eastern Christian implementation. The fact that the building was originally built as a Catholic church, is evidenced by the revealed fragment of the original painting on the walls and ceiling, that can be seen in the bell ringer’s room to the right of the main altar. The church building, cells, walls and the defensive tower of the Mury complex with the monastery stables in the south-western part have been preserved.
