The Paulinerkirche is the city's oldest substantial building — a Dominican minster completed in 1304, with a single tall Gothic nave. It survived the Reformation as a Protestant church, served as the university's central lecture hall and library for centuries, and is now a reading room and exhibition space of the Göttingen State and University Library. The medieval skeleton is still very clearly readable beneath later interventions.
The library uses the space for its rotating exhibitions, often drawing on its remarkable collection of medieval manuscripts and Gutenberg-era printed books — Göttingen's library has been one of the great research collections of Europe since the 18th century.