[1] [2] St. John's Prior was situated in the vicinity of the present Strandgaten-Tårnplass streets in the center of Bergen.
There is no certainty on the foundation date of St. John's, but it is generally assumed that it was established about the middle of the 12th century, although its existence is not recorded until 1208.
In 1552, the city of Bergen obtained the right to use the site of the church and churchyard to build a town hall, although the project never came about.
Norwegian antiquarian Lorentz Diderich Klüwer sketched a plan of the building remains in 1823.
During building excavations in 1895 the remains of the priory church were accidentally uncovered, and it was thus possible to locate more precisely.