In the year 612, an Irish monk too ill to continue his journey lay recovering in the forests above Lake Constance. His name was Gallus, and he had traveled from Bangor Abbey in Ireland with the great missionary Columbanus, crossing the sea to bring the Gospel to the Germanic peoples. When Columbanus moved on to Italy, Gallus remained—not from timidity but from calling. In the wilderness near the source of the Steinach River, he built a hermit's cell and began the work of conversion that would earn him the title "Apostle of Switzerland."
Legend tells that a bear approached his hermitage. Gallus rebuked the beast in the name of Christ, and the animal, awed by the monk's holiness, retreated to the forest. But it returned carrying firewood—and from that day shared the hermit's fire and became his companion. This bear appears on the coat of arms of the city that grew around the monastery founded on Gallus's hermitage, a reminder that even the wild creatures of the forest recognized the presence of grace.
📜 History & Spiritual Significance
Gallus died around 646, and his hermitage became a place of pilgrimage. In 719, another wandering monk named Othmar arrived at the site and transformed the informal gathering of disciples into a proper Benedictine monastery. The Abbey of St. Gall grew rapidly, becoming one of the most important centers of learning in medieval Europe. Its scriptorium produced manuscripts of extraordinary beauty; its school trained scholars whose influence spread throughout the Carolingian world.
The famous Plan of St. Gall, drawn between 820 and 830, survives as the oldest architectural drawing from the Western world—a complete blueprint for an ideal Benedictine monastery that influenced monastic architecture for centuries. This single document, preserved in the abbey library, demonstrates the intellectual ambition of the community during its golden age.
In 1207, Pope Innocent III and King Philip of Germany elevated the abbot to the rank of Prince of the Holy Roman Empire, making the abbey a sovereign state. For centuries the Prince-Abbots governed a territory stretching from the shores of Lake Constance deep into the Appenzell hills. This temporal power ended with the upheavals of the Napoleonic era. The Canton of St. Gallen dissolved the abbey in 1805, converting the church to parish use.
The buildings survived secularization. In 1847, when the Diocese of St. Gallen was established, the abbey church became a cathedral. UNESCO recognized the entire Abbey District (Stiftsbezirk) as a World Heritage Site in 1983, honoring both the Baroque architecture of the eighteenth century and the extraordinary library that preserves the monastery's intellectual heritage.
That library—the Stiftsbibliothek—remains one of the oldest and richest in the world. Above its entrance, a Greek inscription reads Psyches Iatreion: "Pharmacy of the Soul." Within its Baroque hall, designed by Peter Thumb of the Vorarlberg school, nearly 170,000 volumes preserve the accumulated wisdom of twelve centuries. Some 2,100 manuscripts date from before the sixteenth century, many illuminated with the gold and brilliant pigments that made the St. Gallen scriptorium famous throughout medieval Europe.
☩ Pilgrimage Sites in St. Gallen
Kathedrale St. Gallen
Cathedral of St. Gall
The Baroque cathedral, built between 1755 and 1766 to designs by Johann Michael Beer of Vorarlberg, replaced the medieval abbey church. Twin towers rise 68 meters above the city, their facades articulated with pilasters in three orders—Ionic, Corinthian, and Composite. Inside, South German artists created one of the last great sacred interiors of the Baroque era. Josef Anton Feuchtmayer's carvings, Christian Wenzinger's stucco work, and Josef Wannenmacher's ceiling paintings combine to produce a vision of heaven populated by over 800 putti and angels. The choir stalls feature 84 elaborately carved seats.
Stiftsbibliothek
Abbey Library
The library ranks among the oldest and most significant in the world, its Baroque reading hall a masterpiece of eighteenth-century design. The Greek inscription above the door—Psyches Iatreion, "Pharmacy of the Soul"—announces the medieval conviction that books heal the spirit as medicines heal the body. The collection numbers nearly 170,000 volumes, including 2,100 manuscripts from before 1500 and 1,650 incunabula. Rotating exhibitions display treasures from the collection, including pages from the Plan of St. Gall and illuminated manuscripts from the scriptorium's golden age.
Lapidarium
Stone Collection
The Lapidarium preserves fragments of the medieval abbey—architectural elements, sculptural fragments, and inscriptions that survived the eighteenth-century rebuilding. Located in the cellar of the abbey library, this collection provides material evidence of the Romanesque and Gothic buildings that preceded the current Baroque complex.
🕯️ Annual Feast Days & Celebrations
Feast of St. Gallus — October 16
The cathedral parish celebrates its patron with special solemnity on this day. Tradition holds that congregants bring teddy bears to Mass—a charming recognition of the legend that a bear became the saint's companion in the wilderness. The feast draws pilgrims from throughout the region to honor the Irish monk whose hermitage became one of medieval Europe's greatest centers of learning.
🛏️ Where to Stay
Hotel Einstein ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Superior — Four-star hotel in the heart of St. Gallen, featuring two restaurants, indoor pool, spa, fitness facilities, and wellness area. Website ∙ Reserve this hotel
Hotel Walhalla ⭐⭐⭐⭐ — Business hotel at St. Gallen train station, offering over 100 rooms with 24-hour reception. Within 15-minute walk of the Abbey Library and Cathedral. Website ∙ Reserve this hotel
🚗 Getting There
By Train: St. Gallen Hauptbahnhof serves as a major rail hub in northeastern Switzerland. Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) operates approximately 76 trains daily from Zürich (55 minutes to 1 hour 15 minutes). Direct connections available from Zürich Airport. The cathedral and library are a short walk from the station.
By Car: From Zürich, take the A1 motorway east toward St. Gallen (approximately 80 km, 1 hour). Parking available in the city center.
By Air: Zürich Airport is approximately 85 km distant. Direct train connections as described above.
On Foot: St. Gallen lies on the Via Jacobi, the Swiss portion of the Way of St. James. Pilgrims walking from Rorschach on Lake Constance reach St. Gallen after approximately 15 km, continuing toward Einsiedeln and ultimately Santiago de Compostela.
📚 Further Reading
Catholic Encyclopedia: Abbey of St. Gall — Historical entry covering the monastery's founding, medieval prominence, and intellectual legacy.
UNESCO: Abbey of Saint Gall — Official World Heritage documentation of the site's exceptional universal value.
🔗 Useful Links
Stiftsbezirk St. Gallen — Official website of the UNESCO World Heritage Abbey District.
Stiftsbibliothek St. Gallen — Abbey Library with visiting hours, exhibitions, and digital collections.
St. Gallen-Bodensee Tourismus — Regional tourism information.
🥾 Pilgrim Routes
Via Jacobi (Way of St. James): St. Gallen marks an important waypoint on the Swiss Camino, which runs 440 km from Lake Constance to Geneva. The route passes nine historic monasteries, including St. Gallen and Einsiedeln, before crossing into France toward Santiago de Compostela.
🧭 Nearby Pilgrimage Destinations
Einsiedeln (75 km southwest) — Switzerland's premier pilgrimage site, home to the Black Madonna. The Via Jacobi connects St. Gallen to Einsiedeln, passing through Rapperswil on Lake Zürich.
Maria Bildstein (Appenzell region) — Pilgrimage church at 1,016 meters elevation, the highest point on the route connecting the Austrian and Swiss Way of St. James. Features Calvary, shrine, and grottoes depicting scenes from Christ's life.
🪶 Closing Reflection
"The abbey of St. Gall is a perfect example of a great Carolingian monastery and was, from the 8th century to its secularization in 1805, one of the most important in Europe." — UNESCO World Heritage Centre
