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The Paterskirche, the largest vaulted hall church on the Lower Rhine, was built around 1631 by the ‘Franciscan Order of the Strict Observance’. As part of the renovation of the convent building, it was given a baroque interior in the 18th century. In 1979, the city of Kempen and the parish of St Mariä Geburt agreed to establish the Museum of Lower Rhine Sacred Art in the Paterskirche under joint sponsorship. The collection of the Provost's parish includes mainly sacred gold and silversmith's work such as chalices, ciboria, reliquaries, verse devices and altar candlesticks. Particularly outstanding objects are the two lion's head door pulls from the early 13th century and the Gothic monstrance from 1430.
The 19th century is represented by the important Kempen goldsmith Franz Xaver Hellner. The Kramer Museum's collection includes late Gothic works by important Lower Rhine sculptors such as Arnt Beeldesnider, the Cologne masters Tilman and Carben-Meister, Dries Holthuys from Kleve, Kersten Woyers and Hendrick Douwermann from Kalkar. Other important carvers from the Lower Rhine-Meuse region are Master Jan van Steffeswert and Master von Elsloo, whose works are on permanent loan to the museum.