Convent of St. Gall

The Convent of St. Gall was inscribed because of its great influence on the development of monastic architecture and is considered to be a typical example of the large Benedictine monastery.

The beginnings of the monastery can be traced back to 612, when the itinerant Irish monk Gallus had established his hermit's cell in this valley. The area soon became a centre of cult-worship.
In 719 this blended into a monastic community, where the Regula Benedicti was introduced.

It was during the abbacy of Gozbert (816-837) that the so-called Golden Age of St. Gall began. Most impressive remains of this period are the Convent's library and archive, containing 150.000 books including numerous treasures.

Year	Decision	Comments
1983	Inscribed	Reasons for inscription

Visit October 2003

I went here on a Sunday morning, not the best day to visit because the cathedral was closed for visitors. So I walked around the convent's complex instead.

It's really huge, with buildings in several styles.

The center of the town of St. Gall is worth a stroll also. Especially the carved 'balconies' that are attached to the houses.

Reviews

Frederik Dawson (Netherlands):

Since ancient time Sankt Gallen, the capital city of the canton of the same name, was well known for its magnificent abbey which was one of most important monastery in this region and was on my wish list to see for a long time. During my Switzerland tour, I took the Voralpen scenic train from Lucerne to Sankt Gallen, the scenery of pre-alpine region was really pretty and I highly recommended using this train as a mean of transportation to enter the city.

From the train station, it was very easy to reach the abbey by just walk along the lovely car free shopping street until you started to notice the huge complex on your right. The complex was very large with many buildings built encircled the cathedral. Actually I was quite disappointed with the complex’s exterior, apart from the cathedral; these buildings were really plain with nothing significant to mention. The unbelievable greenish lawn and the two towers of the cathedral apse were the things to see. However for cathedral’s interior, I was really impressed with the beautiful Rococo style and in my opinion, the green stucco decorating the naves were very unique as I had never seen this color in Rococo decoration before.

The monastic library was another highlight of this abbey, hiding in the very plain building both exterior and interior which made me not sure that I was in the correct place, but when I worn the big slippers, for protecting the wooden floor, and entered into the library, I was overwhelmed by the beauty of one of the most beautiful library in the world. The style of library was also Rococo with amazingly beautiful bookshelves and wonderful white stucco around the ceiling fresco, a real jewel of Switzerland. Sadly that photograph was not allowed.

I really enjoyed my day in Sankt Gallen, this city was a very nice place to visit, and the abbey was deserved to be a UNESCO World heritage Site. My only regret was that I had to cancel my plan to visit Richenau of Germany, another monastic WHS that claimed to have strong link with the abbey of Sankt Gallen due to the shopping street was very tempting with many local and international brands! But this maybe a good reason to revisit this area again in the near future!

Date posted: May 2010

Klaus Freisinger (Austria):
When my flight to Malta and its 3 WHS was canceled because of the volcano, I made a nice train trip instead to St. Gall in Switzerland. It is a medium-sized town with a very pleasant centre full of historic buildings and half-timbered houses. The religious complex in the immediate city centre, consisting of the cathedral and the convent, is a World Heritage Site. Both buildings have a medieval (Carolingian) origin, but were heavily rebuilt in Baroque style. Both are quite nice, but the unmissable part is the library. You can actually only visit one room, but it is full of books and manuscripts that are up to 1,200 years old. A must-see for any history buff.

Date posted: May 2010

Assif Am-David (Israel):
The greatest thing about this convent is its old world known library. It is of immense historic value and still contains unique manusripts. You will get special shoes to wear atop your own ones and will be able to slide along the wooden floors and breath the air of history.

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Hi there
Thanks for publishing my review about St. Gallen. I forgot to add the link to available images about St. Gallen on my website. Could you please insert the URL between interested. & Orders? http://www.directonlineimageorder.com/home.html

Thank you very much.

By the way this is a great site and I will add some reviews about Morocco next year. I will be travelling there the entire month of June 2007.

This site inspires me for future travels and to see the beauty of our planet.

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I used to live in Rorschach where my parents still reside. I was born in Thal (SG) in 1961 and went through my entire schooling in Rorschach and as well in St. Gallen for 4 years. I also worked in St. Gallen for 6 years. St. Gallen is an old city with many things to be seen and not only buildings but also vantage points with beautiful vistas over the city. The centre of the city is naturally grown and has countless old buildings to offer. Have a look at the Stickerei Museum (the embroidery museum). This will give you a very deep insight of how the industry evolved and still is to this day. Amazing! If you fancy great views over the city take a quiet walk on the crest starting at Drei Weieren (Three ponds) which used to be and still is a public swimming area dating back to the old days where the sexes were kept seperate. There is also a minigolf up there where you can enjoy drinks, and say hello to Felix. The very best infromation you will get is when you go to the Verkehrsverein near the Hauptbahnhof (Central Railway Station). They will supply you with everything needed to be able to see the beauties of St. Gallen and the nearby regions. I have some images available on my website if you're interested Orders online welcome. I hope you will enjoy your stay here and I am happy to give more information.

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