The chapel created in 1291 by Cistercian monks assumed its present shape in 1440 when it was rebuilt as a St. Mary's brick church. The half-timber framed nave (oak beams with brick fillings) was constructed in the 16th and 17th centuries with the choir annex added in the 18th century. Later restoration works served to expose paintings from around 1470 on the walls and the triumphal arch. The oldest decorative features are the Gothic triumphal crucifix (around 1500) and the Gothic carved altar created in 1520 at Antwerp. This altar is considered one of the truly outstanding sacred works of art anywhere in Northern Germany and bears close stylistic resemblances to the Bordesholm Altar at Schleswig by Hans Brüggemann and Jan Bormann’s altar for the Güstrow parish church made in Brussels at roughly the same period. The altar was originally acquired by wealthy merchants from Stralsund for a local Church and found its way to its present location only in 1708. The pulpit was originally made for another church, too, probably again in Stralsund, and the and brass chandelier also comes from there.
References:The church of the former Franciscan monastery was built probably between 1515 and 1520. It is located in the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Old Rauma. The church stands by the small stream of Raumanjoki (Rauma river).
The exact age of the Church of the Holy Cross is unknown, but it was built to serve as the monastery church of the Rauma Franciscan Friary. The monastery had been established in the early 15th century and a wooden church was built on this location around the year 1420.
The Church of the Holy Cross served the monastery until 1538, when it was abandoned for a hundred years as the Franciscan friary was disbanded in the Swedish Reformation. The church was re-established as a Lutheran church in 1640, when the nearby Church of the Holy Trinity was destroyed by fire.
The choir of the two-aisle grey granite church features medieval murals and frescoes. The white steeple of the church was built in 1816 and has served as a landmark for seafarers.