The Catherine Church was built in the early fourteenth century as the conventual church of the Franciscan order, distinguishable from the city's parish churches by its lack of a tower — Franciscan rule forbade it. After the Reformation it became a school church for the adjoining Katharineum gymnasium and is now used mostly for displays and concerts.
The dramatic feature is the row of expressionist terracotta figures by Ernst Barlach in the niches of the west facade — The Beggar, The Singer, The Woman in the Wind, finished between 1930 and 1933. They were the original part of a much larger cycle the Nazis halted. The interior holds Tintoretto's Resurrection of Lazarus. Open seasonally.