The Cathedral is dedicated to the Descent of the Holy Spirit onto the Apostles, and with its architecture, iconostasis and the icons painted in it, occupies a significant place in the history of Serbian art. It was built during the Turkish reign, when Turkey legally acknowledged the equality of Muslims and Christians, in the Church district, or the Christian district of the time. It was built between 1856 and 1872 from the donations of the Orthodox Christian community and clergy, and for a long time it was the biggest Orthodox Cathedral in Serbia.

The designer and builder, Andreja Damjanović from Veleš, constructed a monumental basilica with three naves, with a cross-like layout with five cupolas, multi-sided altar apses on the east side and a covered porch with columns, connected with arcades on the other sides of the church. In the interior, the half-domed vault of the nave is supported by two rows of columns, and there are galleries above the porches. Next to the western façade, a bell tower was built in 1937, according to the designs of Aleksandar Medvedev.

In the temple architecture, probably under the influence of Romanticism, the influences of a variety of historical styles are evident: Serbian-Byzantine, Romance, Renaissance and Islamic architecture. This was an important stage in the development of an architecture with national characteristics under the influence of the movement for the restoration of what was “Serbian”.

This church was severely damaged during the air raid conducted by the allied forces in 1944, and it was damaged in a fire in 2001, in which the iconostasis was irreversibly lost. After the fire, extensive reconstruction according to the designs of the architect Mileta Veljkovića was undertaken and completed in 2006.