Until 7 April 2006, when the Diocese of Novo Mesto was established, it was a capitular church.

It is therefore sometimes referred to as the Capitular Church of St Nicholas (kapiteljska cerkev or simply Kapitelj).

It is distinguished by a combination of Gothic and Baroque architecture and a broken longitudinal axis because the chancel is higher than the nave.

Its renovation was financed by the provost Polidoro de Montagnana, who ordered the construction of a new high altar and acquired the oil painting The Vision of Saint Nicholas (c. 1582) by the Venetian Mannerist painter Tintoretto for it.

In 1860, a new polygonal belfry was erected in the shell of an older one on the west side of the church.