The church, one of the earliest examples of Gothic architecture in Tyrol, was founded by the Dominicans after their arrival, in a location that was then outside the city's walls.
The quarter which originated from the monks' church and monastery became known as Neustadt ("New City"); their cultivated lands were nationalized by the Fascist regime in 1930s.
The Chapel of St. John, finally, houses a fresco cycle by a Giottoesque painter, including a scene with one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse and, below, the sinners.
With three surviving preparatory sketches for it (two in the National Gallery of Ireland and the third in a private collection in Stuttgart), Guercino's painting was commissioned by the town's Mercantile Magistrate via consul Bernardino Borno of Verona and put in place a year later.
The cloister, first mentioned in a 1308 document, has wall paintings depicting the Life of Jesus and Mary, executed by Friedrich Pacher around 1496.