Westphalian merchants who had come from Gotland built the church of stone around 1230 to 1275. It was originally Catholic. Its heavy bars, loopholes and hiding places date from when Tallinn had no town wall, which was completed around 1310. Between 1405 and 1420 the central aisle gained a clerestory, which gave the Gothic basilica its current form. The tower was raised in 1515 and is now 345 feet (105 m) high. The article names no architect.
On March 9, 1944, Soviet bombing and fire left the church in ruins and destroyed most of the interior, except St. Anthony's Chapel. Restoration ran from 1953 to 1981, and a fire on October 12, 1982 burned out the tower and destroyed the spire.
Since 1984 it has housed the Niguliste Museum. A fragment of Bernt Notke's Dance of Death, whose original was about 98 feet (30 m) wide, is displayed in the church.
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