The cathedral was built between 1830-1836. The idea of building such an important object of worship belonged to Metropolitan Gavriil Bănulescu-Bodoni. But the foundation stone was laid only 9 years after his death.
The architect Avraam Melnikov, chosen by competition, used the late neoclassical style (empiric style) for the building, with the use of ancient Greek forms for the columns.
It has a symmetrical composition,  representing a square with a side of 27 m, by joining to the cubic body four porticoes with six Doric columns each, resulting in a cruciform plan with identically designed facades. It was built of stone and brick, with three altars – one main altar – the Nativity of the Lord, and two side altars – the one on the left, dedicated to St. John the New, and the one on the right – St. Nicholas the Martyr (current names).
The first radio station in Chisinau, Radio Basarabia, was officially inaugurated by broadcasting the liturgy from the Metropolitan Cathedral on 8 October 1939.
The cathedral suffered during the 1940 earthquake, then during the World War II, with the spire, dome and interior being rebuilt in 1956, but with deviations from the original forms. During the USSR it was used as an exhibition hall.
The reopening in a new format took place on August 25th, 1996 with the consecration of the Cathedral Cross.

The original bell tower was built at the same time as the cathedral. It was located 40 m away from it, symmetrically with the cathedral and in relation to the geometric centre of the cathedral section. It had four levels, three prismatic, with successively receding sides, and the fourth in the form of a flat circular belfry for the bell chamber, covered by a dome. On the first level was a chapel, the entrance to which was through a portico with two columns on the south side. Identical porticoes adorned each facade of the bell tower, creating a small-scale repetition of the composition of the cathedral and harmonising with it in the shape of the domes.
It was demolished in the 1960s and rebuilt in 1998 according to the old images.

The history of the construction of the “Holy Gates” is curious – after the original project (which involved the erection of the Cathedral and the Bell Tower), they were not planned.  At the time, when the bell tower was already erected, it was discovered that the largest of the bells could not fit through the windows to be mounted. The giant bell, cast from Turkish cannons, weighed about 400 poods (about 6.5 t).
In order to accommodate the big bell, a decision was taken to build the Triumphal Arch, located at the entrance to the square from the direction of the Mitropolis (it has not been preserved to this day – it was destroyed during the World War II).
The official version was that the Arch was erected to commemorate the victory of the Russian armies over the Turks, of course.
The first arched clocks appeared in 1842. They were brought from Odessa, but in 1849, a strong hurricane tore off the dial, but its mechanism continued to work until 1881. The new mechanism was purchased from Austria. The actual clock worked without repair until it was bombed in 1941.
In 1945, plaques with the names of Soviet army fighters and citizens, who fought on the territory of Bessarabia in World War II and received the distinction of “Hero of the Soviet Union”, were nailed on the walls. The plaques were removed in 1991, after Moldova gained its independence.
Since its erection, the Triumphal Arch bore several names – it was also called the Holy Gates, and under the Soviet regime it was called the Arch of Victory.