World Heritage in Switzerland: Convent of St Gall

In 612, the Irish monk Gallus established a forest hermitage near Lake Constance. The hermitage quickly became a center of knowledge and power, which was maintained by the people who lived there through the twists and turns of history. The cantonal government of St. Gallen meets to this day in the abbey. School pupils gain an understanding of the unknown, and visitors come to hear Mass here. Writing made possible the rise of the Abbey of St. Gallen. Writing established binding ownership relations and recorded knowledge from all over the known world, thus securing political authority and power over the interpretation of religious texts. Keenly aware that the parchments they stored were treasures, the Benedictine monks of St. Gallen successfully protected their library through many ups and downs over the centuries. After the abbey was dissolved in 1805, the decision makers of St. Gallen had the foresight to provide for a smooth transition of the management of the unique heritage stored in the abbey's archive and library. Globally unparalleled number of significant records from the early Middle Ages have been preserved in the abbey library of St. Gallen. This sanatorium of the soul, as an inscription in the library proclaims, was rebuilt in the 18th century. The cathedral of St. Gallen also dates to this last heyday of the abbey. Here where St. Gall first taught, stands today one of the last monumental constructions of the Baroque period in Europe. the identity of the city of St. Gallen.