St. Gallen Abbey District
| St. Gallen Abbey District | |
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UNESCO world heritage 
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| The Abbey District (aerial view) |
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| National territory: |
 Switzerland
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| Type: | Culture |
| Criteria : | (ii), (iv) |
| Reference No .: | 268 |
| UNESCO region : | Europe and North America |
| History of enrollment | |
| Enrollment: | 1983 (session 7) |
The St. Gallen Abbey District in St. Gallen in the Swiss canton of the same name was one of the most important cultural centers in Europe . The prince abbey is an ideal example of a large monastery , the history of which spans from the Carolingian era to secularization in 1805. The library is one of the richest and oldest in the world and preserves valuable manuscripts such as the oldest surviving architectural drawing in the West. Large parts of the monastery district were redesigned from 1755 to 1768 in the Baroque style. Twelve centuries of continuity are documented in the building stock, abbey library and abbey archive.
In 1983 the district and its mobile cultural assets were included in UNESCO 's list of world cultural heritage worthy of protection . The famous Nibelung manuscript B has been part of the UNESCO World Document Heritage since 2009 .
location
The monastery district is located in the southern part of the old town of St. Gallen and includes the buildings Klosterhof 1–8 and also the buildings Zeughausgasse 2–14, which lean against the wall of the monastery district. The area protected by the World Heritage Convention is surrounded by the streets: Zeughausgasse, Klosterhof (Karlstor), Moosbruggstrasse, St. Georgenstrasse and Gallusstrasse.
history
The Prince Abbey of St. Gallen was founded in 719 and was the second oldest monastery in the Alamanni area after the Säckingen monastery . It was a Benedictine abbey and was abolished in 1805. The abbot of St. Gallen was the imperial prince with a seat and vote in the diet of the Holy Roman Empire until 1798 . At the same time, St. Gallen was the first place of the Swiss Confederation to turn to , the corresponding contracts were concluded in 1451 and 1454.
On May 8, 1805, the Grand Council of the Canton of St. Gallen ordered the abolition of the monastery. The collegiate church has been the cathedral of the diocese of St. Gallen since 1824 .
Architectural monuments in the monastery district
Collegiate church
The collegiate church of St. Gallus and Otmar - has been the church of the St. Gallen monastery since it was built between 1755 and 1766 until 1805 .
The plans were drawn by Gabriel Loser and Johann Caspar Bagnato . Peter Thumb built the nave and rotunda between 1755 and 1757. Johann Christian Wentzinger designed, planned and conceived the interior and exterior decoration as a complete work, whereby he did not carry out most of the work personally. The consecration took place on November 15, 1760 after the work on the nave was as good as completed in the summer of 1760. The construction manager was Johann Michael Beer in 1760 and Johann Ferdinand Beer in 1767 . The towers were completed in 1766 as the last part of the structure. They are oriented towards the palace buildings and are 68 m high. The east facade shows the Assumption in the gable relief and below the statues of Saints Desiderius and Mauritius .
Viktor Ferdinand Bossard designed the two choir organs , which were installed in 1768 and 1770. Thirty years later, the church received a west gallery for the new, large main organ. Franz and Josef Frosch from Munich built it from 1811 to 1815. The "Frosch" organ was completely rebuilt from 1872 to 1875 by Johann Nepomuk Kuhn . Orgelbau Kuhn designed and built today's main organ in 1968. The last major renovation of the church was carried out between 2000 and 2003.
The basic structure of the east crypt dates back to the 9th and the west crypt to the 10th century. According to tradition, the tomb of St. Gallus is located in the east crypt.
Other buildings in the monastery district
- New Palatinate : This was built from 1767 to 1769 as the residence of the prince abbot. It has served as the seat of the cantonal government and parliament since 1803. The prince's throne room is now the canton's council room. It was furnished in the style of historicism in 1881. ( (location) )
- Monastery building: the southwest wing was largely rebuilt in the 17th and 18th centuries. The hall and the manuscript chamber of the abbey library (see below) were splendidly furnished in the Rococo style from 1758 to 1780. Today it is one of the most representative and beautiful library buildings in the world. In the further course is the Catholic canton school, today the monastery school house of the « Flade » ( (location) )
- Courtyard wing : This was rebuilt in its current form in 1666/67. It housed the abbot's apartments and has served as the episcopal residence since 1823 and 1847. The court chapel and the Gallus chapel below on the ground floor were consecrated in 1671. ( (Location) )
- North wing : The last part of the complex was planned, but could only be built as a cantonal armory from 1838 to 1841 after the monastery was closed . He completed the baroque concept of the Abbey District. A lower north extension and the interior work dates back to 1979. Today the monastery (see below), the state archive and the cantonal court are housed there. ( (Location) )
- Guardian Angel Chapel and Catholic Schoolhouse : The chapel was completed in 1846 ( (location) ), the former school building is six years older. ( (Location) )
- Round tower: The tower, part of the former medieval city fortifications, dates from 1518. ( (Location) )
- Karlstor : It was built in 1569/70 as the «Abbot Gate». Its furnishings include an important relief from the Renaissance period. ( (Location) )
- Remainder of the arbitration wall: This was built according to the Rorschach Treaty of 1566 and enclosed the entire area of the monastery. The two-story row of buildings ( Zeughausgasse 2–14 ) attached to the city side is part of the protected area of the World Heritage. ( (Location) )
North wing
New Palatinate
Courtyard wing
Wing with abbey library and monastery school house
Karlstor from 1570
Round tower from 1518
Zeughausgasse 4–10
Mobile cultural assets of the abbey district
The “mobile” cultural assets in the monastery library and in the monastery archive and the monastery district are an integral part of the world cultural heritage. Both institutions have had a continuity from the 8th century to the present day.
Pen library
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The St. Gallen Abbey Library is the oldest library in Switzerland. Its core is the corpus of Carolingian-Ottonian manuscripts from the 8th to 11th centuries: They include the unique St. Gallen monastery plan and important manuscripts such as the Folchart Psalter , the Golden Psalter , the Longum Gospel, Irish manuscripts and the Abrogans vocabularius , which is considered the oldest book in the German language.
Their holdings include:
- More than 2100 manuscripts from late antiquity to the present day, including around 400 from the early Middle Ages to 1100. They document the continuity of library collecting up to the present day.
- 35 manuscripts from the St.Gallen Abbey, which had been in Zurich since 1712 and were returned to the St.Gallen Abbey Library on permanent loan in 2006.
- Around 900 incontinence prints documenting the development of letterpress printing in the 15th century.
- 850 St. Gallen monastery prints that were printed from 1633 to 1805 in the monastery printing house.
- 3500 volumes from the 16th, 5100 volumes from the 17th and 11000 volumes from the 18th century represent the surviving holdings of the monastery library.
- Graphics, plans, maps, paintings and coats of arms.
- Collections of curiosities, East Indian objects, coins etc. up to the more than 2500 year old mummy of the Schepenese . This also includes the replica of the famous St. Gallen globe in the National Museum in Zurich .
Gospel Longum
Stiftsarchiv
The monastery archive contains the legal documents and administrative files of the prince abbey from (around) 720 to 1805. It functioned as a state archive until the abbey was dissolved. The archive materials include around 20,000 original documents, over 2,500 manuscripts, maps and plans as well as a collection of seals. Over 700 traditional documents ( deeds of gift) on parchment as well as almost 100 diplomas from Carolingian and Ottonian rulers date back to before the year 1000. The notes on the documents can be used to prove 1200 years of archival activity.
The second main holdings include the archives of the Benedictine Abbey of Pfäfers , which was closed in 1838, and its library, which also contains other early medieval manuscripts. The most important codices include: The Book of Fraternities and the Book of Professions from the 9th century; from Pfäfers the Carolingian «Liber Viventium» (Book of the Living), the «Liber Aureus» (Golden Book) and the richly illuminated copy book «Vidimus Heider».
literature
- Josef Grünenfelder: The St. Gallen Abbey District . Kunstverlag Fink, Lindenberg im Allgäu 2012.
- Erwin Poeschel: The art monuments of the canton of St. Gallen. Volume III: The City of St. Gallen: Part Two - The Pen. Birkhäuser, Basel 1961.
- Josef Grünenfelder: St. Gallen Cathedral. The former Benedictine collegiate church of St. Gallus and Otmar. (Swiss Art Guide, No. 847, Series 85). Ed .: Society for Swiss Art History GSK. Bern 2009, ISBN 978-3-85782-847-8 .
Web links
- Abbey of St Gall. (English)
- Unesco World Heritage Site St. Gallen Abbey District
- St. Gallen Abbey Library
- Website of the St. Gallen Abbey Archives
Individual evidence
- ^ Whc.unesco.org: Abbey of St Gall: Maps. (Small map of the Abbey District)
Cultural heritage: old town of Bern (1983) | St. Gallen Abbey District (1983) | Benedictine convent St. Johann in Müstair (1983) | Three castles and fortifications of Bellinzona (2000) | Lavaux Vineyard Terraces (2007) | Albula and Bernina lines of the Rhaetian Railway (2008) | La Chaux-de-Fonds and Le Locle , watchmaking and urban planning (2009) | Prehistoric pile dwellings around the Alps (2011) | The architectural work of Le Corbusier : Villa Le Lac and Maison Clarté (2016)
Natural heritage: Swiss Alps Jungfrau-Aletsch (2001) | Monte San Giorgio (2003) | Tectonic Arena Sardona (2008)
Coordinates: 47 ° 25 '24.8 " N , 9 ° 22' 39" E ; CH1903: seven hundred forty-six thousand two hundred and eighty-six / 254334