Klosterkirche, Franciscan monastery in Zittau, Germany

The Klosterkirche, the church of the former Franciscan monastery in Zittau, is a two-nave hall church of plastered sandstone with a high pitched roof. Its choir sits on the axis of the north nave and ends flat with three lancet windows; a 15th-century chapel dedicated to St Catherine adjoins its north side. The slender square tower rises 70 metres, turning octagonal around 1660 and capped in 1758 by a hood with lantern and curved spire.

The monastery was founded around 1260 by the Bohemian noble family von Leipa and belonged to the Goldberg custody of the Saxon Franciscan province. In 1407 the provincial chapter of the Saxonia met in Zittau. After Reformation influence grew from 1521, the convent was placed under a minister of the Bohemian king in 1522; the buildings passed to the town council in 1543, and the last friar died in 1554.

The church is now the second Protestant parish church of Zittau, consecrated in 1662. Its name comes from the Franciscan monastery founded around 1260 by the Bohemian von Leipa family. The choir is separated by a transparent wall, and the former monastery buildings have housed the Zittau Municipal Museums since 1934.

The former monastery buildings now house the Municipal Museums of Zittau, while the church functions as an evangelical Lutheran parish church. Visitors should note that accessing both areas may require planning, as they serve different purposes.

The monastery's former convent buildings have housed the Zittau Municipal Museum since 1934. Parts of the old cloister were used as housing for older single women from 1705/06, later as an almshouse until 1928. The church tower, square in plan from 1480, becomes octagonal around 1660 and is topped by a hood with lantern and curved spire added in 1758 by Johann Andreas Hünigen.