The Kherson fortress was founded in 1778 by Prince G. Potemkin. The fortress was surrounded by a powerful earthen rampart with nine bastions and a deep moat, creating a serious obstacle for the enemy, and the star-shaped line of fortifications made it possible to conduct crossfire from 220 guns located on the bastions. A system of underground guarded tunnels was dug outside the fortress in case of a long siege. The garrison consisted of eight infantry regiments, an engineer company and a support battalion. Catherine's Church was built to hold services for the soldiers and officers of the garrison.

In the middle of the 18th century, the fortress lost its significance and was transferred to the city. Most of the fortifications were dismantled and the stone was used to build houses in the center of Kherson. In the 1920s, during the laying out of the city park, most of the ramparts were torn down.
At present, the western - Ochakovsky and northern - Moscow gates, built at the end of the 18th century, a powder magazine converted into a restaurant, fragments of ramparts and ravelins, an arsenal with a colonnade, built in 1784, now - a city prison, a fortress siege well, have been preserved from the fortress . During archaeological excavations on the territory of the Kherson fortress, a Scythian burial of the 4th-3rd centuries BC was discovered. BC e. The fortress is a monument of history and architecture.