The Saint Sophia Cathedral is one of the main symbols of the Russian Harbin. It was built at the beginning of the 20th century. Since then the temple has experienced a lot: it was housed for different purposes. However, despite everything, it was preserved. Now is included in the list of architectural monuments.

In 1907, a wooden temple was built on the territory of the future cathedral. It was built for the Russian military personnel who were located not far from the temple. At that time there were no proper Orthodox churches in Harbin. So it was decided to build one which could accommodate all the believers. Unfortunately, the first church was not very attractive. Then in 1911, it was reconstructed. As a result, the church walls became stone and the size of its central hall became bigger.

As the number of emigrants was rapidly increasing, even the reconstructed church did not manage to accommodate all the believers who came there during the holidays and worships.

In 1923, the major repairs of the temple started. The old building was preserved, it housed the main church establishments. During the weekends students of the Theological Institute came there for lectures. The new building was built near the old one, becoming the main architectural object. The construction process was slow, and the consecration of the temple took place only in 1923.

Religious services were held there for a long time. Moreover, it was a place for religious and cultural celebrations. However, the change of power and new impulses of the time led to the closing of the church in 1957. Its space was used as a student dormitory. Besides, during the Cultural Revolution, some people made proposals to demolish the church as it was supposed to be a thing of the past. However, its architectural beauty stopped the initiators of the idea.

Only in 1997, the authorities of the city decided to conduct major repairs of the building. Several multi-story buildings were demolished for the sake of saving the historical look of the church. In 10 years the temple was fully equipped for housing the architectural museum of Harbin which is functioning even today.