St. Catherine's
It is the church of the former Franciscan abbey and the only one of the three former monastery churches preserved in Lübeck.
St. Catherine's Church - Katharinenkirche in German - on Königstraße was built in 1300. It is the church of the former Franciscan abbey and the only one of three former monastery churches preserved in Lübeck. As a church of a mendicant order, it was built without a spire and it was dedicated to Saint Catherine of Alexandria. The clear and light brick building served as a Franciscan centre for the entire Baltic region. A special architectural feature is the two-story choir. Separated by a rood screen with a significant Triumphal Cross group (ca. 1450), the lower choir is located at ground level under rows of columns. The light-flooded upper choir rises above, accomodating the monks' choir stalls. From here, they had immediate access to their dormitories in the abbey, today's Katharineum. At the left side of the entrance is a plaster cast of the St. George group by Bernt Notke; the original (late 15th century) is at the Stockholm Storkyrka church.