It is located in the Bryggen area in the central part of the city of Bergen.

Excavations have revealed the remains of an earlier stone church on the site, but it was probably never completed.

Commissioned jointly by the king and the citizens and merchants of Bergen, the construction of St. Mary's Church began in the 1130s or 1140s.

The exact year of completion is unknown, but the church is mentioned in Sverris saga as where the rebels of the Birkebein Party sought refuge when attacked by a peasant army in 1183.

St. Mary's Church is likely to have been built by craftsmen from Scania, then part of Denmark.

[6] By belonging to the wealthy Germans, St. Mary's is richly adorned and escaped the fate of being turned into a ruin, unlike several of the other churches in the city.

The eastern part of the choir shows some Gothic influence reminiscent of the Haakon's Hall, likely caused by the reconstruction after the 1248 fire.