The St. Gallen Church and Library in Switzerland

St. Gallen SC

Stiftsbibliothek

foto: R Gerth

postmarked in 2013 with four Switzerland stamps from the series: The 100th Anniversary of the Birth of Anna Heer, 1863-1918 - Red Cross 

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The Abbey Library of Saint Gall was founded by Saint Othmar, the founder of the Abbey of St. Gall.

The library collection is the oldest in Switzerland, and is one of earliest and most important monastic libraries in the world. It holds 2,100 manuscripts dating back to the 8th through the 15th centuries and 1,650 incunabula (printed before 1500). The library holds almost 160,000 volumes. 

The library books are available for public use, but the books printed before 1900 must be read in the Reading Room.

In 1983 the library together with the Abbey of St. Gall were made an UNESCO World Heritage Site.

A virtual library was created to provide access to the manuscripts — Codices Electronici Sangallenses  (towards the top right hand side of the page you can pick which language you want)

Currently more than 400 manuscripts are preserved in digital format.

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St. Gallen (Shown is the Abbey of Saint Gall)
Barock-Kathedrale (Baroque Cathedral)
erbaut 1755-1767, Innenrenovation 1962-1967
(Built in 1755-1767, 1962-1967 interior renovation)

postmarked in 2013 with five Switzerland stamps, one from the Swiss Alps Series and  four from the series of the 250th Anniversary of the BIrth of Jean Jacques Rousseau featuring coins.

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The Abbey of Saint Gall (German: Fürstabtei St. Gallen) is a Roman Catholic religious complex in the city of St. Gallen in present-day Switzerland.

Around 613 an Irish monk named Gallus established a hermitage on the site that would become the Abbey. He lived there until his death in 646.

Following Gallus' death, Charles Martel appointed Othmar as custodian of St Gall's relics. During the reign of Pepin the Short, in the 8th century, Othmar founded the Carolingian style Abbey of St. Gall, where arts, letters and sciences flourished. Several different dates are given for the foundation of the Abbey, including 719, 720, 747 and the middle of the 8th century. Under Abbot Waldo of Reichenau (740–814) copying of manuscripts was undertaken and a famous library was gathered.

 The library at the Abbey is one of the richest medieval libraries in the world. Since 1983 it has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site.