The earliest frescos, on the triumphal arch, were painted around 1350.
These coffins were often richly decorated with motifs and scenes similar to those of the earlier fresco and vase painting tradition.
Fragments of early 15th- and 16th-century frescos are preserved on its interior walls.
A restoration of the church and its paintings in 1922 revealed other early frescoes, including fine portraits set in medallions.
During restoration work of the Grosskirche in the early 1970s extraordinary frescoes dating from the latter half of the 15th century were discovered on the north wall.
There were traces of earlier frescoes but they have now been covered with limewash.
The earlier interior frescoes, with a deep, dark patina of hundreds of years of candle smoke, include one of Stephen the Great in the nave.
There are also a number of earlier frescoes in the church dating back to about 1275.
The composition is considerably more dramatic than Raphael's earlier frescoes in the Stanza della Segnatura.
The earliest frescoes are some of those in the Lower Church.