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Stiftsbibliothek / UNESCO World Heritage Site

Medieval Monastery Library

Stiftsbibliothek: entrance

Stiftsbibliothek, the library of the former monastery of St. Gallen, goes back to the early Middle Ages. The building itself is from the 18th century in Baroque style, however. Some say that the library's hall is the most beautiful profane Baroque interior in Switzerland. Among the treasures of the abbey library is the oldest book in German language, a dictionary Latin-Old German dating back to A.D. 790 with 3239 words and including the oldest German version of the Lord's Prayer and the oldest German creed. Also famous is the oldest known architectural plan drawn on parchment. The library serves not only a museum, it is also a major source for medieval studies. The whole monastery area has been declared a UNESCO world heritage site in 1983. For a visit of the abbey library, turn to the right at the front (western) entrance of the cathedral and then take the entrance half way down the southern side of the monastery building (see picture). The library is on the first floor to the left.

See also: www.stibi.ch information for visitors and scholars

St. Gallen: monastery district map seen from the east	Cathedral Stiftsbibliothek/Library Karlstor Entrance, by architect Santiago Calatrava
Karlstor (entrance to the monastery district)	Baroque cathedral (built 1755 - 1766): altar

Sightseeing / Other Landmarks

Broder Fountain	Vadianus monument
Old timber framed houses	Waaghaus

Theatre & Concerts

Festivals & Events

Museums

Local History

• Around 590 a few Irish monks led by Columban leave for continental Europe and and try to convert pagan Germanic tribes to Christianity. In 610 they reach the Bodensee [Lake Constance] region. Gallus, one of the monks falls ill and remains at Arbon TG, an old Roman fortress on the south shore of the lake while the others go ahead to Italy. A little later, Gallus settles at the place today named after him as a hermit in the wilderness.

• In the 7th and 8th centuries the Franks (predecessors of the French) establish an empire incorporating all Germanic tribes. They start a cultural initiative all over western Europe in close cooperation with the Catholic church. Within this context, a monk named Otmar is given the task to transform Gallus' hermitage into a real monastery and appointed abbot in 720.

• For some time the traditions of the Irish monks (life as hermits) are kept up in St. Gallen monastery, but in 747 Pippin, French chancellor and later king, decrees that all monasteries in the empire shall adopt the Benedictine rule (Ora et labora: pray and work).

• Notker Balbulus [Notker the stammerer] is probably the most famous monk from St. Gallen. Around 860 he composes new hymns (so called "Sequences") that mark an important step in the development of European music and become the most popular form of singing in the Middle Ages. In 884 he writes a biography of Charlemagne, the great French emperor.

• St. Gallen monastery is a pioneer in fruit tree growing and quite innovative in other fields, too. They draw the first known architectural floor plan showing an ideal monastery and develop standard forms for commercial contracts.

• Notker III. Labeo (950 - 1022), another famous monk is one of the first to translate important works of classical Greek and Latin literature into medieval German.

• The city grows around the monastery and is governed by the abbots for some centuries. For a while, the abbots gain in political influence, in 1206 the abbot of St. Gallen gets the political status of a prince-bishop in the German empire.

• Already in the 12th century St. Gallen has a certain regional fame for its textile products, especially canvas. Division of labor between weaving (rural population), refinement (city craftsmen), and trading/marketing, combined with strict quality control by official city quality controllers establish St. Gallen canvas as a first class product. Long distance trade relations are known from the 14th century.

• In the Appenzell wars of 1408 the monastery loses control over Appenzell, the prealpine region becomes a member of the Swiss confederacy. By 1457 the citizens of the city of St. Gallen have become wealthy and strong enough to reach political autonomy from the monastery, too. To compensate for the loss of influence and income (taxes), the monastery buys rights over the Toggenburg region from the heirs of the extinct counts of Toggenburg in 1468.

• Both the city and the monastery as a political entity are not full members of the Swiss confederacy, but they have close relations as associated members. The council of the Swiss confederacy occasionally assumes the role of an arbitrating body in disputes between the monastery, the city and the back country of St. Gallen.

• In the age of Reformation (16th century), Huldrych Zwingli, born in the Toggenburg village of Wildhaus plays a major role for the German speaking part of Switzerland with far more radical church reforms than Germany's Martin Luther, similar moral rigorism as Geneva's John Calvin, but less theological speculation as the latter.

• Humanist poet, physician and politician Vadianus [Joachim von Watt], born from an influential family of St. Gallen traders becomes mayor and convinces the council to adopt the Zwinglian church reform. After Zwingli's death he writes a theological essay defending Zwingli's sybolical interpretation of the Lord's Supper.

• While both the Toggenburg region and the city of St. Gallen adopt the church reform according to Zwingli, this has different political implications than in other Swiss regions doing so. In St. Gallen the monastery is not closed down and even remains in political control over Toggenburg, thanks to protection by mighty politicians from central Switzerland.

• From 1795 to 1798 the abbot of St. Gallen and most Swiss cities are willing to grant more rights to their back country population and several agreements are reached until 1798. But the city of Bern refuses any changes, so the population of western Switzerland seeks and gets support from Napoleon, and the ancient Bernese regime is defeated by French troops. The so called "Helvetic Revolution" has consequences for all Swiss regions and the former extremely federalist structures are replaced by a centralist revolutionary government according to the French model in 1798.

• In 1803 the failure of the revolutionary, centralist Swiss government (Helvetic Republic) becomes evident and Napoleon decides to reestablish a Swiss confederation. St. Gallen and five other peripheral regions become independent members of the confederation with equal rights compared to the traditional 13 members of the old Swiss confederacy. The city and the back country of St. Gallen form a canton on an equal footing, the monastery cannot restore any political influence nor any rights to collect taxes etc. In 1805 the monastery of St. Gallen is formally closed down by the cantonal parliament.

• The 1815 Vienna conference tries to restore Europe in its political structures before the French revolution. The cantons of Geneva, Valais, Neuchâtel, annexed by the French, join the Swiss confederation as independent members. While most of the old Swiss cantons return to rather undemocratic structures with a dominance of urban aristocracy or influential families, St. Gallen and the other "new" cantons keep up relatively balanced structures.

• Consequently the liberal reforms of the 1830's and the introduction of the 1848 federal constitution bring about less change in St. Gallen than in other Swiss regions.

• The region around the city of St. Gallen as well as Toggenburg are among those that play an early and active role in Switzerland's industrialization.

• See also: general Swiss history

Excursions

Sittertobel Bridge Switzerland's highest railway bridge

Kreuzlingen: St. Ulrich Abbey St. Ulrich abbey features a unique Baroque Mount Calvary scenery with more than 200 carved wooden figures. Appenzell Geographically closer to St. Gallen city than its own backcountry, but politically independent and a place where Swiss folklore is still part of the population's everyday life

St. Gallen Tourist Office

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