According to an inscription from the 14th century, the monastery was founded by a donation by a knight called Holmger and his wife Katarina in 1267 and inaugurated by the Bishop of Reval.

[2] In 1532, amidst the ongoing reformation in Denmark, the Danish king Frederick I ordered the Franciscans to leave the monastery.

They were however not allowed to leave in peace as the citizens of Ystad took the matter in their own hands and forcibly evicted the friars on 24 March 1532.

In 1777, the hospital closed and the premises were taken over by the state-owned akvavit distillery, but as the state abolished its alcohol monopoly in 1786 it became used instead as a granary.

[2] The two-storey gatehouse dates from sometime between the late 14th century and the middle of the 15th, a period in which the monastery was greatly expanded.

The building has a half-timbered extension protruding to the north-east, and richly decorated crow-stepped gables.