Abbey of St. Gall Totally Explained

Everything about Abbey Of St Gall totally explained

The Abbey of St. Gall was for many centuries one of the chief Benedictine abbeys in Europe. It is located in the city of St. Gallen in present-day Switzerland. The Abbey has existed since 613 and became an independent principality during the 13^th Century. The library at the Abbey is considered one of the richest medieval libraries in the world. Since 1983, it has been an UNESCO Cultural World Heritage Site.

History

The monastery was founded in 613 and named after Gallus, an Irishman. Saint Gallus was a disciple and companion of Saint Columbanus, and died there in 646. Charles Martel appointed a certain Othmar as a custodian of St Gall's relics. During the reign of Pepin the Short Othmar founded the famous schools of St. Gall, where arts, letters and sciences flourished. Under Abbot Waldo of Reichenau (740-814) copying manuscripts was undertaken and a famous library was gathered. Numerous Anglo-Saxon and Irish monks came to copy manuscripts. At Charlemagne's request Pope Adrian I sent distinguished chanters from Rome, who propagated the use of the Gregorian chant.
In the subsequent century, St. Gall came into conflict with the nearby Bishopric of Constance which had recently acquired jurisdiction over the Abbey of Reichenau on Lake Constance. It wasn't until King Louis the Pious (ruled 814-840) confirmed the independence of the Abbey, that this conflict ceased. A final attempt to expand the Abbey resulted in the demolition of most of the medieval monastery. The new structures, including the cathedral, were designed in the late Baroque style and constructed between 1755 and 1768. The large and ornate new Abbey didn't remain in a monastery for very long. In 1798 the Prince-Abbot's secular power was suppressed and the Abbey was secularized. The monks were driven out and moved into other abbeys. The Abbey became a separate See in 1846 with the Abbey church as its cathedral and a portion of the monastic buildings for the bishop.

Cultural treasures

The library at St. Gall is recognised to be one of the richest medieval libraries in the world. It is home to one of the most comprehensive collections of early medieval books in the German-speaking part of Europe. As of 2005, the library consists of over 160,000 books whereof 2100 are handwritten. Nearly half of the handwritten books are from the Middle Ages and 400 are over 1000 years old.
The library also preserves a unique 9th-century document, known as the Plan of St. Gall, the only surviving major architectural drawing from the roughly 700-year period between the fall of the Roman Empire and the 13th century. The Plan drawn was never actually built, and was so named because it was kept at the famous medieval monastery library, where it remains to this day. The plan was an ideal of what a well-designed and well-supplied monastery should have, as envisioned by one of the synods held at Aachen for the reform of monasticism in the Frankish empire during the early years of emperor Louis the Pious (between 814 and 817).
In 1983, the Convent of St. Gall was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List as "a perfect example of a great Carolingian monastery".

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