Abbey library of Saint Gall

Abbey Library of St. Gallen

The Abbey Library of Saint Gall was founded by Saint Othmar, the founder of the Abbey of St. Gall. During a fire in 937, the Abbey was destroyed, but the library remained intact.[1] In 1983 the library together with the Abbey of St. Gall were made a World Heritage Site, as 'a perfect example of a great Carolingian monastery'.

The library hall, designed by the architect Peter Thumb in a Rococo style, is considered the most beautiful non-sacred room of this style in Switzerland and one of the most perfect library rooms around the world.

The Collections

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, 1,650 incunabula (printed before 1500), and old printed books. The library holds almost 160,000 volumes, and most are available for public use. Books published before 1900 are to be read in a special reading room.[2] The manuscript B of the Nibelungenlied is kept here.

A virtual library was created to provide access to the manuscripts — Codices Electronici Sangallenses. Currently more than 400 manuscripts are preserved in digital format.


Some manuscripts

See also

References

  1. ↑ Murray, Stuart (2009). The Library: An Illustrated History. New York, New York: Skyhorse Publishing.
  2. ↑ Murray, Stuart (2009). The Library: An Illustrated History. New York, New York: Skyhorse Publishing. p. 288.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Stiftsbibliothek St. Gallen.
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Coordinates: 47°25′22″N 9°22′35″E / 47.4228°N 9.3764°E / 47.4228; 9.3764

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