St Gallen Abbey

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Built between 1755 and 1767, the St Gallen Abbey Cathedral is one of the most important buildings of the late Baroque period in Switzerland. (Werner Otto)

The former Benedictine monastery still forms the historical heart of St Gallen. (SB-Bodensee Tourism)

Dating from the 9th century, the Carolingian plan of the Abbey served as an architectural model for other monasteries in Europe. (St Gallen Abbey Library)

The Baroque choir in St Gallen Cathedral. (Canton St Gallen)

The interior of the cathedral's dome is richly decorated. (Canton St Gallen)

The Abbey Library possesses around 160,000 volumes, covering around 1,000 years of history. (stiftsbibliothek.ch)

Most of the decoration of the library's main room was carried out between 1761 and 1763. (stiftsbibliothek.ch)

This illuminated manuscript on the theme of Easter dates from 1050 AD. (Daniel Ammann) RDB

A piece of the ivory cover of the "Evangelium longum", engraved around 890. It is considered on the library's booking binding masterpieces. (stiftsbibliothek.ch)

Among the library's treasures are around 1,000 Medieval codices, or manuscript books. (st.gallen-bodensee.ch)

The monastery's vaulted underground rooms are home to a very important collection of monumental sculptures, which date from the Carolingian, Ottoman and Gothic times. (stiftsbibliothek.ch)

The remains of the first Carolingian columns built around 830 during the construction of the first abbey church. (stiftsbibliothek.ch)

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1,200 years of history, religion and culture.

Founded in the 8th century, St Gallen Abbey has long been one of the most important European centres for religion, culture and art. The monastery and its magnificent baroque library became a Unesco World Heritage site in 1983.