Why St. Gallen’s Abbey Library Is a Bibliophile’s Dream

St. Gallen, Fussballstadt mit Tradition: UNESCO-Weltkulturerbe Stiftsbibliothek.

The founding legend of the Swiss city of St. Gallen is a bear of a tale. Gallus, a wayward Irish monk, wanders the alpine wilderness in the seventh century, trips over a tree root, and interprets it as a divine sign to settle and build a hermitage in the scenic Steinach valley near Lake Constance. Along the way, he befriends a helpful bear, who reputedly contributes lifesaving firewood. To this day, Ursus arctos remains the heraldic symbol of the city.

Tucked into Switzerland’s northeastern corner one hour’s efficient Swiss railway journey from Zurich, St. Gallen isn’t a typical stop for those absorbed with exploring popular highlights like Zermatt, Grindelwald, or Lucerne. But for curious travellers and bibliophiles, St. Gallen warrants addition to the Swiss must-see list, for the city is home to a medieval treasure trove, bound into one of the oldest and most beautiful libraries in the world.

A UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1983, the Abbey of St. Gall and its impressive literary collection illuminate the development of European heritage and culture over a millennium. Underneath the library’s magnificent ceiling frescoes, 170,000 volumes (50,000 of which are on view), including precious manuscripts and ancient handwritten texts like the Gospel of John circa 800 AD, are displayed behind glass on two levels of sumptuously curved burnished wooden bookcases.

Visitors slip shoes into large grey woollen slippers to gain entrance to the library’s baroque hall, located in the middle of the city’s Old Town and within the large abbey complex adjacent to St. Gallen’s 18th-century ornate baroque cathedral.

The soft footwear muffles sound and protects the library’s geometric-patterned fir and walnut flooring. Visitors linger over handwritten and illuminated texts, including bibles, biographies of saints, and eighth-century works depicting the daily lives, habits, and rituals of resident monks.

Like Dr. Who’s TARDIS, translations of a favourite volume, the Benedictiones ad mensas, transport visitors back to the Middle Ages, with pages of blessings for everyday medieval life and insightful rhymes displaying touches of 11th-century humour: “In beer’s careful brew, blessings anew.”

The abbey library’s literary collection is the main draw, but visitors are also rewarded with the beauty of its exquisite ceiling frescoes. The light pastel pink and yellow gilded plaster work depicts celestial scenes, early church councils, and golden cherubs: a heavenly contrast to the warm brown tones of the bookcases below.

This spring, the library features a temporary exhibition of its cabinet of curiosities, a collection of beautiful and unusual objects from the 16th to 19th centuries. Objets d’art such as scrimshawed ostrich eggs, delicately carved horn work, and ancient Roman coins take visitors back to the baroque world of collecting and show how modern libraries and museums deal with rare items of all kinds.

One unexpected artifact on permanent display among the worn leather spines of medieval literature is Shep-en-Isis, a 2,700-year-old Egyptian mummy. Reputed to be the daughter of a high priest, she has been in residence here for more than 200 years.

Debate over her repatriation to Egypt is ongoing, but her presence is honoured every evening by library staff, who cover the glass coffin with a white veil and recite the mummy’s name in a gesture of remembrance and respect for both the Egyptian and Christian concepts of eternal life.

Photographs courtesy of Claudia Laroye and Tourism Switzerland. 

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