Its beauty would deceive gawker from the scars it faced in the past. The bombing of Würzburg during World War 2 had left much of the city in ruins, destroying many historically rich artefacts and structures, including the rich Baroque interior of the church. Renovation of Stift Haug's interior only completed in 2005, the scars of history existing only in dated photos and the minds of the locals.According to online resources, Stift Haug originally existed as the Church of St John, dedicated to John the Baptist and John the Evagelist. It was founded in 1000 by Bishop Henry I of Würzburg and was originally situated near the current site of the Würzburg train station, making it a millennial old building if it survived in its original state. It underwent several life-changing event, being looted and destroyed in Thirty Years War and restored again as a Romanesque building, only to be demolished again.