Abbey Library of St. Gallen
Stiftsbibliothek St. Gallen
Interesting facts
- The library also guards the Plan of St Gall, drawn by monks of Reichenau around 819–830 and regarded as the oldest surviving architectural plan in Europe.
- Its Abrogans, a Latin–German glossary, is considered the oldest book in the German language and also contains an early German version of the Lord's Prayer.
- When Hungarian raiders approached in 926, the recluse Wiborada is said to have foreseen the attack, and the books were moved to Reichenau; she was killed in her cell.
- Wiborada became in 1047 the first woman formally canonised by a pope, and she is now honoured as patron saint of libraries and book lovers.
- In the Toggenburg War of 1712 troops from Zurich and Bern carried off many manuscripts, a dispute that was only settled through federal mediation in 2006.
- As part of that settlement Zurich returned 40 manuscripts, and a replica of the great St Gallen Globe has stood in the library since 2009.
- A catalogue compiled between 860 and 865 already listed 426 titles, sorted by subject.
- It holds the largest collection of early medieval Irish manuscripts anywhere on the European continent.
- Carved cherubs above the bookcases hint at what lies below them; the one over the astronomy books peers through a telescope.
- The largest ceiling paintings depict the first four ecumenical councils of the Church, from Nicaea in 325 to Chalcedon in 451.
Why it is worth it
The Abbey Library of St Gallen is Switzerland's oldest library and one of the most important monastic collections in the world, and its Baroque hall is among the most beautiful rooms in Europe. Above the door a Greek inscription announces it as a "healing place of the soul". Inside, visitors shuffle across the wooden floor in obligatory felt overshoes, beneath a ceiling of pale stucco and painted scenes, between tall bookcases of carved and polished wood that curve around the hall and rise to a gallery. The mood is light and joyful: everything is cream, gold, pastel and warm brown, a Rococo celebration of learning.
The library goes back to the monastery founded in the 8th century, under its first abbot, Saint Othmar; its books survived the fire of 937 that destroyed the abbey itself. The present hall was built between 1758 and 1767 by the architect Peter Thumb and his son, as the monks' study and reading room. Its shelves hold part of a collection of about 160,000 volumes, including some 2,100 manuscripts written between the 8th and 15th centuries and around 1,650 incunabula, books printed before 1500. Among them are Irish, Carolingian and Ottonian codices and manuscript B of the Nibelungenlied, one of the principal texts of the German heroic epic. Over 900 manuscripts can now be read online.
An unexpected guest stands in the hall: the Egyptian mummy of a woman named Shep-en-Isis. A separate exhibition shows the Plan of St Gall, an early medieval drawing of an ideal monastery regarded as the most important architectural drawing of the Middle Ages. In summer the hall hosts a changing exhibition of manuscripts on a chosen theme.
The library belongs to the Abbey precinct of St Gallen, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1983, described by UNESCO as an outstanding example of a large Carolingian monastery and one of the most important cultural centres of medieval Europe. The town of St. Gallen itself grew up around the abbey, and the library is still the reason many travellers come to this corner of eastern Switzerland.
Getting there
The library is in the abbey precinct in the old town of St. Gallen, a 10–15 minute walk from the main railway station; city bus 11 stops at Stiftsbezirk. Trains from Zurich take about an hour. The nearest airport is St. Gallen–Altenrhein (ACH), about 15 km away; most international visitors arrive through Zurich.
Plan your visit
We have no confirmed visit data yet. Once it is confirmed, this block also carries the date it was checked.
Nearby places
- Abbey of Saint Gall 0.1 km · monastery
- Berggasthaus Äscher 15.8 km · cliff
On these lists
From the encyclopaedia
The abbey library of St Gall is a significant medieval monastic library located in St. Gallen, Switzerland. In 1983, the library, as well as the Abbey of St Gall, were designated a World Heritage Site, as "an outstanding example of a large Carolingian monastery and was, since the 8th century until its secularisation in 1805, one of the most important cultural centres in Europe". It is one of the oldest monastic libraries in the world.
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