Tombstones of St. Catherine's Monastery

The monastery was founded in 1246 by Dominicans. A monastery complex consisting of several buildings was created. The three-aisled St. Catherine's Church was built as a hall church with a length of 60.94 meters and a width of 18.46 meters. It was the most spacious church in Revalley. There was a school and a library in the monastery. The languages spoken were German and Estonian. The monastery advocated for the right of the city of Reval to maintain its own school to church authorities. There was a close connection between the monastery and the ruling classes of society. Thus man-days were carried out by the knights in the monastery. The monastery has repeatedly received bequests and endowments from the Council, the Great Guild and the Blackheads. They also set up altars in the church of the monastery and buried relatives.
On September 14, 1524, in the wake of the emerging Reformation, there was iconoclasm in the monastery, during which important works of art and science were destroyed. Only the Blackheads had previously managed to bring their altar to safety. He then stood in the House of Blackheads for a long time. In January 1525, the city council of Reval expelled the monks from the city and the church went to the Estonian community.
In 1531 parts of the monastery complex were destroyed in a fire. The rest of the complex fell into disrepair, later serving as an ammunition store and accommodation for beggars. The church was sold to private individuals and structurally changed significantly through various conversions and used as storage. Ultimately, only remains of the monastery church from the end of the 14th century and parts of the cloister, such as the dormitory, the library, the refectory and parts of the cloister, remained intact.
These well-preserved grave slabs, which come from the church, were attached to the south wall of the monastery along Katharinengasse to commemorate the destroyed monastery.