The study is devoted to one of the types of stone church buildings of the 17th century: six-pillar five-domed churches, most often having the status of a cathedral church of a monastery, the main church of a city or diocese. Inside the cathedral type, the six-pillar church occupies a special place: it heads the internal hierarchy, this is the most complex, most voluminous and most representative version of the cathedral building. The author considers all the well-known large cathedrals of this time, introducing new archival materials and a large number of previously unpublished illustrations into scientific circulation. From essays dedicated to individual monuments, a whole picture of the development of one ancient Russian architectural type - a large cathedral.