The Abbey Library of St Gall

In keeping with the Centrepoint HORI­ZON theme of books, we took a trip on 2nd November to the Abbey of St Gall, one of Switzerland’s most famous cultural treasures. With a history going back over 1,400 years, the Abbey includes the Cathedral of St Gall, the Abbey Library and the Abbey Archive. It was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1983, while the manuscript collection was added to the UNESCO World Documentary Herit­age List in 2017.

At the beginning of the tour, our guide, Enza, explained that the site began as a simple hermitage founded in 612 by the Irish missionary Gallus. A community of hermits gathered around his cell, and by the 7th century, the monks were organised into a permanent Benedictine monastery.

We viewed some of the early works of the monastery in the Vaulted Cellar, includ­ing a manuscript illustrated in intricate detail by an Irish monk, a missal in large letters so that the monks could read more easily during services, and the exquisite Evangelium Longum from 895, a book of readings from the gospel bound with carved ivory plaques, precious gems and metal fittings. Another unique item was the St Gall Plan, an architectural drawing and commentary depicting the layout of a model monastery, from a cathedral to buildings for the abbot and monks, a hos­pital, gardens and stables.

Written by Michelle Lauterbach