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

• Codex Sangallensis 18
• Codex Sangallensis 48
• Codex Sangallensis 878

See also

• Abbey of St. Gall
• de:Stiftsarchiv St. Gallen
• List of World Heritage Sites in Europe

Notes

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.

References

• Beat Matthias von Scarpatetti: Die Handschriften der Stiftsbibliothek St. Gallen. Codices 547–669. Hagiographica, Historica, Geographica 8.–18. Jahrhundert. Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 2003, ISBN 978-3-447-04716-6.
• Beat Matthias von Scarpatetti: Die Handschriften der Stiftsbibliothek St. Gallen. Codices 1726–1984 (14.–19. Jahrhundert). Beschreibendes Verzeichnis. Verlag am Klosterhof, St. Gallen 1983, ISBN 978-3-906616-02-5.
• David H. Stam, ed. (2001). International Dictionary of Library Histories. Fitzroy Dearborn. ISBN 1579582443.

External links

•  Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Abbey of St. Gall". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
• Stiftsbibliothek Sankt Gallen
• Codices Electronici Sangallenses — project for the digitisation of the medieval manuscripts at St. Gallen
• e-codices, St. Gallen, Stiffsbibliothek

Coordinates: 47°25′22″N 9°22′35″E / 47.4228°N 9.3764°E