The monastery of Santo Domingo, which belonged to the Order of Preachers, was founded in 1258 by King Teobaldo II of Navarre. It was built on land donated to the Order by Bishop Pedro Ximénez de Gazólaz, at the king’s behest. In 1270 said monarch bequeathed 20,000 “sols” in his last will and testament, enabling the building of the church, the vestry, the chapter room, an infirmary, a parlour, a kitchen, a hostelry and a dormitory. Years later, with the aid of the Castilian nobleman Nuño González de Lara, the brothers built a great single-nave refectory, as well as the cellar, the gatehouse and part of the cloister.

In 1577, the Order requested the donation of lands from the kingdom due to the poverty of the community and the service it provided to the city. Active service continued until 1809 when it suffered the vicissitudes of the War of Independence. With the ecclesiastical confiscations of Mendizábal, it was abandoned definitively in 1839 and fell into ruin.

In 1962 the monastery was reestablished following the restoration of the church roofing and part of the buildings. In 1970, the brothers abandoned the monastery. It was redeveloped in 1981 as a retirement home.

The monastery represents the earliest expression of Gothic architecture in Estella. The living quarters of this austere collection of buildings are grouped around the cloister. The church, with its rectangular form and single nave, presents a flat apse with a great window featuring Gothic tracery. The church interior houses several Gothic sepulchres and the exterior boasts a number of imposing buttresses. The façade features an oculus and two stone coats of arms, with the emblem of Navarre and the sixteen-point star.