The wooden Trinity Church was built on the site of the present cathedral as early as 1645. In 1682, the Diocese of Christianssand was founded, and a bishop's church became necessary. The Church of Our Savior replaced the wooden church and was consecrated in 1696. It burned down in 1734, but the second cathedral was consecrated as early as 1738. This church also burned down in 1880, but some of the walls were reused. As a result, the main altar of the present cathedral had to be placed in the west instead of the east.
The present neo-Gothic church was designed by Henrik Thrap-Meyer and completed in 1885. During the German invasion of Kristiansand in 1940, a shell hit the upper part of the church tower, resulting in relatively little damage. With a total length of 70 meters and a width of 39 meters, it is one of the largest churches in the country. The tower is also 70 meters high. It is more than twice the size of its predecessor. Originally, the church could seat over 2,000 people, but today the number of seats has been reduced to 1,500. In 1934, the church underwent its first restoration. The silver baptismal font was salvaged from the old cathedral.