The Gothic interior of St Catherine's Church is rated the most beautiful of all the rains of Visby. During the Middle Ages the north front overlooked a narrow lane, which accounts for it being more plainly executed. The church was fronted by Visby's courthouse until the end of the 17th century. St Catherine's Church belonged to one of Sweden's first Fran ciscan monasteries, founded in Visby in 1233. The friars were mendicant order.

Both the church and the monastery buildings to the south of it were completed by about 1250. By the early 14th cen tury, the popularity of the Franciscans was calling for a new church. St Catherine's was now widened and tall, fine win dows installed in the chancel. St Catherine's Church is de dicated to St Catherine of Alexandria. The small monastery survived until the 16th century.