The Transfiguration Cathedral was the Cathedral of the Life Guards Preobrazhensky Regiment - the first Russian Guards Regiment. It is situated next to the Liteyny prospect, a place where the  Barracks of the Preobrazhensky regiment were located for a long time. In the 1830s this place was the regimental courtyard of the grenadier company of this regiment. It was there that the daughter of Peter I, tsesarevna Elizabeth, was praying  to obtain the throne "illegally abducted" from her by the regent Anna Leopoldovna.

A few days after getting enthroned Elizabeth decided to build a temple on this site in gratitude to God for the great mercy shown to her. In 1743 a stone temple in the name of the Transfiguration of the Lord was established.

By order of the Emperor Paul I  the Transfiguration Cathedral was renamed into the Cathedral of the entire guard in 1796. The cathedral burned down in 1825 and was restored by the winter 1828. The magnificent  cathedral with five domes designed in the  late classicism style keeps its original form to the present time.

There is a square garden surrounded by a fence near the cathedral. The fence consists of 34 granite bases with 102 bronze gun barrels. These guns were taken from the walls of Turkish fortresses during the Russian-Turkish war of 1828-1829. All middle barrels are decorated with golden double-headed crowned eagles. Being the main church of the entire guard, there were numerous regimental banners and other trophies conquered from Turks inside the cathedral. The uniforms of Alexander I, Nicholas I and Alexander II were kept behind the glass in special cabinets.

In 1918 the cathedral became a parish church. Banners, guns and trophies were confiscated and moved to the Artillery Museum. In 1950 they were put to the Hermitage.

Near the northern wall of the cathedral, in the aisle of the saints Clement and Peter there is a winged altarpiece with images of the Transfiguration of the Lord, the great martyr Panteleimon and the holy king Constantine. In 1900 the regiment commander, Major General Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich (the famous poet K.R.) gifted this winged altarpiece  to the regimental hospital.