The “Saint Alexander Nevsky” Cathedral in Ungheni was built in 1903 in the city center. The cathedral project was conceived by the Russian architect Alexandru Bernardazzi.
The history of the “Saint Alexander Nevsky” church in Ungheni is easily included in the picture of the general evolution of religious life in Bessarabia in the 20th century. Its specific aspects are determined by the evolution of local events.
The railway construction campaign, initiated by the tsarist administration in the second half of the 19th century, determined the emergence of a number of localities. Thus, in the period 1871-1875, with the laying of the Chisinau-Iaşi railway segment, a new locality Ungheni-târg appeared. Here, the boyar Mihail Buznea established an agricultural fair. People settled near the places where they worked. Ungheni has always been located in the immediate vicinity of important trade routes in the past, such as the Great Moldavian Commercial Road and the Fishermen's Road.
In a circular of the General Directorate for Household Issues with no. 40/9314, dated December 1, 1907, it was stated that at that time out of 2300 inhabitants of Ungheni-tárg, in terms of confession, 670 were Orthodox Christians. Their spiritual needs were probably met by the nearest church in the area – “St. Hierarch Nicolae” in the village of Dănuţeni (today a district of the city of Ungheni). Given that the above-mentioned number did not include children from Orthodox Christian families, we believe that at the beginning of the 20th century there was a large community of believers in Ungheni, for whose spiritual needs it was necessary to build their own holy place.
In addition, followers of other confessions than the Orthodox were not widespread, so we can say that the people were not Orthodox Christians.
The final motivation for its construction was the marking, in 1903, of a quarter of a century since the beginning of the Russian-Turkish war of 1877-1878, for the liberation of the Balkan countries. The celebration was to be held with great pomp throughout Bessarabia, each community choosing its own way of organizing actions dedicated to the event. In Ungheni it was decided that the most appropriate thing in this regard would be to erect an Orthodox church. Especially since in 1877, Tsar Alexander III himself came here and read the declaration of war to the imperial troops who were about to cross the Prut against the Ottoman Empire.
In order to coordinate the actions, it was decided to form an initiative group, called the "construction committee", which brought together 12 people. Among them: V.I. Otmarştein - head of the 19th sector of the railway, the southwestern branch, M.S. Manjeron - head of the railway depot in Ungheni, A.O. Glembatski - head of the post and telegraph service in Ungheni, priest M. Bârcă, etc.
The members of the initiative committee immediately announced a collection whose results were impressive. The appeal was launched, generous donations came from all over Bessarabia and from some regions of the Russian Empire. The initiated project raised awareness among the entire local community. Along with the monetary donations, there were gifts for the future home and proposals to provide work on the construction site by peasants from the villages of Ungheni, Dănuţeni and Bereşti.
As As a token of gratitude for the sacrifices made, 23 people were awarded the title of honorary member of the construction committee. Among them were: A. Nesterov, L. Gorgopa, I. Chernoluiski, S. Baliţki, C. Voinovici, H. Anuşi, A. I. Bernardazzi, K.N. Andriopolo, etc.
Already on July 19, 1903, the construction committee had collected over 10,000 rubles. This allowed the necessary inquiries to be made in order to begin construction work. In the following days, they addressed the Religious Consistory in Chişinău, through which they obtained approval of the project and construction authorization from the Governmental Committee for Construction and Roads.
Thus, the main organizational issues having been resolved, on August 30, 1903, a numerous procession A festive procession, consisting of residents of Ungheni and neighboring villages, headed by the Bishop of Chisinau and Hotin himself, IACOB, (Piatniţki) (26.01.1898 – 12.08.1904) set off from the “St. Hierarch Nicholas” church in Dănuţeni towards Ungheni, singing psalms, to the place where the future church would be built. The laying of the foundation stone and its consecration took place in the presence of a large number of important guests, both from the country and from across the Prut: the governor of Bessarabia, the head of the Gendarmerie Directorate in Bessarabia, the Russian consul and vice-consul in Iaşi, the head of the border police in Romania, etc. It was also a good opportunity to strengthen the friendships between the leaders present.