St. Gallen

This article is about the city. For the saint, see Saint Gall.
Sankt Gallen

The Abbey Cathedral of St Gall and the old city

Coat of arms
Sankt Gallen
Coordinates: 47°25′N 9°22′E / 47.417°N 9.367°E / 47.417; 9.367Coordinates: 47°25′N 9°22′E / 47.417°N 9.367°E / 47.417; 9.367
Country Switzerland
Canton St. Gallen
District St. Gallen
Government
 • Executive Stadtrat
with 5 members
 • Mayor Stadtpräsident (list)
Thomas Scheitlin FDP/PRD
(as of February 2014)
 • Parliament Stadtparlament
with 63 members
Area[1]
 • Total 39.39 km2 (15.21 sq mi)
Elevation 675 m (2,215 ft)
Highest elevation (Birt) 1,074 m (3,524 ft)
Lowest elevation (Goldachtobel) 496 m (1,627 ft)
Population (Dec 2014[2])
 • Total 75,310
 • Density 1,900/km2 (5,000/sq mi)
Postal code 9000
SFOS number 3203
Localities Wolfganghof, Winkeln, Bruggen, Lachen, Rosenberg, Riethüsli, St. Georgen, Innenstadt, St. Jakob, Linsenbühl-Dreilinden, Rotmonten, Langgass-Heiligkreuz, St. Fiden, Notkersegg, Neudorf-Industrie, Achlen, Abtwil, Guggeien, St.Josefen
Surrounded by Eggersriet, Gaiserwald, Gossau, Herisau (AR), Mörschwil, Speicher (AR), Stein (AR), Teufen (AR), Untereggen, Wittenbach
Twin towns Liberec (Czech Republic)
Website www.stadt.sg.ch
SFSO statistics

St. Gallen, or sometimes Sankt Gallen ( Sankt Gallen ; English: St Gall; French: Saint-Gall; Italian: San Gallo; Romansh: Son Gagl) is the capital of the canton of St. Gallen in Switzerland. It evolved from the hermitage of Saint Gall, founded in the 7th century. Today, it is a large urban agglomeration (with around 160,000 inhabitants) and represents the center of eastern Switzerland. The town mainly relies on the service sector for its economic base.

The main tourist attraction is the Abbey of Saint Gall, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Its renowned library contains books which date back to the 9th century.

The official language of St. Gallen is (the Swiss variety of Standard) German, but the main spoken language is the local variant of the Alemannic Swiss German dialect.

The city has good transport links to the rest of the country and to neighbouring Germany and Austria. It also functions as the gate to the Appenzell Alps.

Geography

St. Gallen is situated in the northeastern part of Switzerland in a valley about 700 meters (2,300 ft) above sea level. It is one of the highest cities in Switzerland and it often receives a lot of snow in winter. The city is pleasantly situated between Lake Constance and the mountains of the Appenzell Alps (with the Säntis as the highest peak at 2,502 meters (8,209 ft)). It therefore offers excellent recreation areas nearby.

As the city center is built on an unstable turf ground (its founder Gallus was looking for a site for a hermitage, not for a city), all buildings on the valley floor must be built on piles. For example, the entire foundation of the train station and its plaza are based on hundreds of piles.

St. Gallen has an area, as of 2006, of 39.3 km2 (15.2 sq mi). Of this area, 31.1% is used for agricultural purposes, while 28.9% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 38.4% is settled (buildings or roads) and the remainder (1.7%) is non-productive (rivers or lakes).[3]

History

Imperial City of St. Gallen
Reichsstadt Sankt Gallen
State of the Holy Roman Empire (to 1499 / 1648)
Old Swiss Confederacy associate and protectorate (1454–1798)
[[Duchy of Swabia|←]]
1401–1798 →
Capital St. Gallen
Government Republic
Historical era Renaissance, Baroque
 • City founded ca. 974
 •  Gained Reichsfreiheit 1401
 • Abbey became Old Swiss Confederacy protectorate 17 August 1451
 • Associate & protectorat of Old Swiss Confederacy
13 June 1454
 • Swabian War: de facto independent from Holy Roman Empire 1499
 • Peace of Westphalia: de jure independence 1648
 •  Annexed to Helvetic Republic canton of Säntis 1798
 • Helvetic Republic collapsed; city & abbey became part of newly founded canton of St. Gallen

1803
The Abbey Cathedral of Saint Gall

Founding of the city

The founding of St. Gallen is attributed to the Irish monk Gallus (ca 550–620 or 640), who built a hermitage by the river Steinach in 612 AD.[4]

Founding of the Abbey of Saint Gall

Around 720, one hundred years after Gallus's death, the Alemannian priest Othmar built a monastery and gave it the name monasterium sancti Gallonis (monastery of Saint Gall). In 719, its first abbot Otmar extended it to an abbey. In 926 Hungarian raiders attacked the abbey and surrounding town. Saint Wiborada, the first woman formally canonized by the Vatican,[5] reportedly saw a vision of the impending attack and warned the monks and citizens to flee. While the monks and the abbey treasure escaped, Wiborada chose to stay behind and was killed by the raiders.[6]

Between 924 and 933 the Magyars threatened the abbey and the books had to be removed to Reichenau for safety. Not all the books were returned.[7]

On 26 April 937 a scholar kindled a fire and the abbey and the adjoining settlement were almost completely destroyed; the library was undamaged, however.[7] About 954 they started to protect the monastery and buildings by a sourrounding wall.[4] Around 971/974 abbot Notker finalized the walling and the adjoining settlements started to become the town of St Gall.[7]

In 1207, Abbot Ulrich von Sax was granted the rank of Imperial Prince (Reichsfürst) by Philip of Swabia, King of the Germans .[4] As an ecclesiastical principality, the Abbey of St. Gallen was to constitute an important territorial state and a major regional power in Northern Switzerland up to 1803 when it lost its independence and was incorporated into the new Canton of St. Gallen.[8]

The city of St. Gallen proper progressively freed itself from the rule of the abbot, acquiring Imperial immediacy, and by the late 15th century was recognized as a Free imperial city.[8] By about 1353 the guilds, headed by the cloth-weavers guild, gained control of the civic government.[4] In 1415 the city bought its liberty from the German king Sigismund.[4]

Freedom from the Abbey

In 1405, the Appenzell estates of the abbot successfully rebelled and in 1411 they became allies of the Old Swiss Confederation. A few months later, the town of St. Gallen also became an ally. They joined the "everlasting alliance" as full members of the Confederation in 1454 and in 1457 became completely free from the abbot.[4] However, in 1451 the abbey became an ally of Zurich, Lucerne, Schwyz, and Glarus who were all members of the Confederation.

Ulrich Varnbüler was one of the earliest mayors of St. Gallen and perhaps one of the most colorful. Hans, the father of Ulrich, was prominent in city affairs in St. Gallen in the early 15th century. Ulrich entered public affairs in the early 1460s and gathered the various offices and honours that are available to a talented and ambitious man. He demonstrated fine qualities as field commander of the St. Gallen troops in the Burgundian Wars.

In the Battle of Grandson (1476) he and his troops were part of the advance units of the Confederation and took part in their famous attack. A large painting of Ulrich returning triumphantly to a hero's welcome in St. Gallen is still displayed in St. Gallen.

After the war, Varnbüler often represented St. Gallen at the various parliaments of the Confederation. In December 1480, Varnbüler was offered the position of mayor for the first time. From that time on, he served in several leadership positions and was considered the city's intellectual and political leader.

According to Vadian, who understood his contemporaries well, "Ulrich was a very intelligent, observant, and eloquent man who enjoyed the trust of the citizenry to a high degree."

His reputation among the Confederates was also substantial. However, in the late 1480s, he became involved in a conflict that was to have serious negative consequences for him and for the city.

St. Gallen in 1548
St. Gallen in 1642

In 1463, Ulrich Rösch had assumed the management of the abbey of Saint Gall. He was an ambitious prelate, whose goal was to return the abbey to prominence by every possible means, following the losses of the Appenzell War.

His restless ambition offended the political and material interests of his neighbours. When he arranged for the help of the Pope and the Emperor to carry out a plan to move the abbey to Rorschach on Lake Constance, he encountered stiff resistance from the St. Gallen citizenry, other clerics, and the Appenzell nobility in the Rhine Valley, who were concerned for their holdings.

At this point, Varnbüler entered the conflict against the prelate. He wanted to restrain the increase of the abbey's power and at the same time increase the power of the town that had been restricted in its development. For this purpose he established contact with farmers and Appenzell residents (led by the fanatical Hermann Schwendiner) who were seeking an opportunity to weaken the abbot.

Initially, he protested to the abbot and the representatives of the four sponsoring Confederate cantons (Zurich, Lucerne, Schwyz, and Glarus) against the construction of the new abbey in Rorschach. Then on July 28, 1489 he had armed troops from St. Gallen and Appenzell destroy the buildings already under construction.[4]

When the Abbot complained to the Confederates about the damage and demanded full compensation, Ulrich responded with a countersuit, and in cooperation with Schwendiner rejected the arbitration efforts of the non-partisan Confederates. He motivated the clerics from Wil to Rorschach to abandon their loyalty to the abbey and spoke against the abbey at the meeting of the townspeople at Waldkirch, where the popular league was formed. He was confident that the four sponsoring cantons would not intervene with force, due to the prevailing tensions between the Confederation and the Swabian League. He was strengthened in his resolve when the people of St. Gallen re-elected him as their highest magistrate in 1490.

The invasion of St. Gallen

Ulrich Varnbüler had made a serious miscalculation. In early 1490, the four cantons decided to carry out their duty to the abbey and to invade the St. Gallen canton with an armed force. The people of Appenzell and the local clerics submitted to this force without significant resistance, while the city of St. Gallen braced itself for a fight to the finish. However, when they learned that their compatriots had given up the fight, they lost confidence; and they agreed to a settlement that greatly restricted the city's power and burdened the city with serious penalties and reparation payments.

Ulrich, overwhelmed by the responsibility for his political decisions, panicked in the face of the approaching enemy who wanted him apprehended. His life was in great danger, and he was forced to escape from the city disguised as a messenger. He made his way to Lindau and to Innsbruck and the court of King Maximilian. The victors confiscated those of his properties that lay outside of the city of St. Gallen and banned him from the Confederation. Ulrich then appealed to the imperial court (as did Schwendiner, who had fled with him) for the return of his property.

The suit had the support of Friedrich II and Maximilian and the trial threatened to drag on for years: it was continued by Ulrich's sons Hans and Ulrich after his death in 1496, and eventually the Varnbülers regained their properties. However, other political ramifications resulted from the court action, because the Confederation gained ownership of the city of St. Gallen and rejected the inroads of the empire. Thus, the conflict strengthened the relationship between the Confederation and the city of St. Gallen. On the other hand, the matter deepened the alienation between Switzerland and the German Holy Roman Empire, which would eventually lead to a total separation as a result of the Swabian War.

Despite the unpropitious end of his career, Ulrich Varnbüler is immortalized in a famous woodcut by Albrecht Dürer, which is now part of the Smithsonian Institution's woodcut collection.

Among Varnbüler's sons, the eldest (Hans/Johann) became the mayor of Lindau. He is the patriarch of the Baden and Württemberg Varnbülers.

Reformation

Starting in 1526 then-mayor and humanist Joachim von Watt (Vadian) introduced the reformation into the city of St. Gallen. The town converted to the new reformed religion while the abbey remained Roman Catholic. While iconoclastic riots forced the monks to flee the city and remove images from the city's churches, the fortified abbey remained untouched.[9] The abbey would remain a Catholic stronghold in the Protestant city until 1803.

Helvetic Republic and Act of Mediation

In 1798 Napoleon invaded the Old Swiss Confederation destroying the Ancien Régime. Under the Helvetic Republic both the abbey and the city lost their power and were combined with Appenzell into the Canton of Säntis. The Helvetic Republic was widely unpopular in Switzerland and was overthrown a few years later in 1803. Following the Act of Mediation the city of St. Gallen became the capital of the Protestant Canton of St. Gallen.

One of the first acts of the new canton was to suppress the abbey.[9] The monks were driven out of the abbey with the last abbot dying in Muri in 1829.[10] In 1846 a rearrangement in the local dioceses made St. Gall a separate diocese, with the abbey church as its cathedral and a portion of the monastic buildings being designated the bishop's residence.

Gustav Adolf, former king of Sweden, spent the last years of his life in St. Gallen, and finally died there in 1837.

St. Gallen as a center of the textile industry

A view of St. Gallen in around 1900 by Spelterini

In the 15th century, St. Gallen became well known for producing quality textiles. In 1714, the zenith was reached with a yearly production of 38,000 pieces of cloth. The first depression occurred in the middle of the 18th century, caused by strong foreign competition and reforms in methods of cotton production. But St. Gallen recovered and an even more prosperous era arrived.

At the beginning of the 19th century, the first embroidery machines were developed in St. Gallen. In 1910 the embroidery production constituted the largest export branch (18% of the total export value) in Switzerland and more than half of the worldwide production of embroidery originated in St. Gallen. One fifth of the population of the eastern part of Switzerland was involved with the textile industry. However, World War I and the Great Depression caused another severe crisis for St. Gallen embroidery. Only in the 1950s did the textile industry recover somewhat. Nowadays, because of competition and the prevalence of computer-operated embroidery machines, only a reduced textile industry has survived in St. Gallen; but St. Gallen embroidered textiles are still popular with Parisian haute couture designers.

Education

HSG campus with the Abbey in the background

St. Gallen is known for its business school, now named the University of St. Gallen (HSG). It was ranked as the top business school in Europe by Wirtschaftswoche, a weekly German business news magazine, and is highly ranked by several other sources.[11] Recently, HSG has been building a reputation for Executive Education, with its International MBA recognised as one of Europe's leading programmes,[12] and runs a PhD programme.[13] HSG is a focused university that offers degrees in business and management, economics, political science and international relations as well as business law.[14] The Master in Management course was Ranked number 1 in 2014 by The Financial Times ahead of HEC Paris.[15] It is comparatively small, with about 6,500 students enrolled at present, has both EQUIS and AACSB accreditations, and is a member of CEMS (Community of European Management Schools).[16] The university maintains student and faculty exchange programs around the world. The University of St. Gallen is also famous for its high density of clubs. Particularly well known is the International Students’ Committee, which has been organising the St. Gallen Symposium for over forty years. The St. Gallen Symposium is the leading student run economic conference of its kind worldwide and aims to foster the dialogue between generations.

St. Gallen's state school system contains 64 Kindergartens, 21 primary schools and 7 secondary schools and about 6,800 students.[17] In addition to the state system St. Gallen is home to the Institut auf dem Rosenberg — an elite boarding school attracting students from all over the world. The Institut provides an education in English, German and Italian and prepares the students to enter American, British, Swiss, Italian, German and other European university programs.[18]

The canton's Gewerbliches Berufs- und Weiterbildungszentrum is the largest occupational school in Switzerland with over 10,000 students and various specialty institutes. One for example, the GBS Schule für Gestaltung teaches students design fundamentals in the practice of graphic design. The school is located in Reitusli, a small section of the town of St. Gallen.

In St. Gallen about 68.8% of the population (between age 25–64) have completed either non-mandatory upper secondary education or additional higher education (either university or a Fachhochschule).[3] Out of the total population in St. Gallen, as of 2000, the highest education level completed by 15,035 people (20.7% of the population) was Primary, while 27,465 (37.8%) have completed their secondary education, 10,249 (14.1%) have attended a Tertiary school, and 2,910 (4.0%) are not in school. The remainder did not answer this question.[19]

Coat of arms

The blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Argent a Bear rampant Sable langued and in his virility Gules and armed and gorged Or.[20]

Demographics

Largest groups of foreign residents 2011[21]
Nationality Numbers % of total
(% of foreigners)
 Germany 5,118 7.0 (24.7)
 Serbia
(incl. Montenegro and Kosovo)		 3,231 4.4 (15.6)
 Italy 2,587 3.5 (12.5)
 Bosnia and Herzegovina 1,093 1.5 (5.3)
 Austria 952 1.3 (4.6)
 Portugal 870 1.2 (4.2)
 Republic of Macedonia 787 1.1 (3.8)
 Turkey 780 1.0 (3.8)
 Spain 585 0.8 (2.8)
 Croatia 530 0.7 (2.6)

St. Gallen has a population (as of 31 December 2014) of 75,310.[2] As of 2011, about 28.7% of the population was made up of foreign nationals. Of the foreign population, (as of 2011), 5,118 are from Germany, 3,231 are from Serbia, 2,587 are from Italy, 1,093 are from Bosnia and Herzegovina, 952 are from Austria, 6,833 are from other countries.[21] Over the last 5 years, the population has grown at 4.4% per year. Most of the population (as of 2000) speaks German (83.0%), with Italian being second most common (3.7%) and Serbo-Croatian being third (3.7%).[3] Of the Swiss national languages (as of 2000), 60,297 speak German, 575 people speak French, 2,722 people speak Italian, and 147 people speak Romansh.[19]

The age distribution, as of 2000, in St. Gallen is: 6,742 (9.3%) between 0 and 9 years old; 7,595 (10.5%) between 10 and 19; 12,574 (17.3%) between 20 and 29; 11,735 (16.2%) between 30 and 39; 9,535 (13.1%) between 40 and 49; 8,432 (11.6%) between 50 and 59; 6,461 (8.9%) between 60 and 69; 5,633 (7.8%) between 70 and 79; 3,255 (4.5%) between 80 and 89; 655 (0.9%) between 90 and 99; 9 people (0.0%) aged 100 or more.[19]

In 2000 there were 16,166 people (22.3% who were living alone in private dwellings; 17,137 (or 23.6%) who were part of a couple (married or otherwise committed) without children, and 27,937 (or 38.5%) who were part of a couple with children. There were 4,533 (or 6.2%) people who lived in single parent home, while there are 419 persons who were adult children living with one or both parents, 475 persons who lived in a household made up of relatives, 2,296 who lived household made up of unrelated persons, and 3,663 who are either institutionalized or live in another type of collective housing.[19]

In the 2007 federal election the most popular party was the SP which received 25.4% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the SVP (23.2%), the CVP (17.3%) and the FDP (15.3%).[3]'

Historical population

The historical population is given in the following table:[22]

year population Swiss Nationals % German Speaking % Italian Speaking % Romansh Speaking % Protestant % Roman Catholic
1411 ca. 2,300–2,900
about 1500 ca. 3,000–4,000
1680 ca. 6,000
1766 ca. 8,350
1809 8,118
1837 9,430
1850 17,858 16,529 50.4% 49.3%
1870b 26,398 23,805 49.8% 49.9%
1888 43,296 34,168 97.5% 1.4% 0.5% 49.0% 49.7%
1900 53,796 40,342 94.9% 3.6% 0.7% 46.8% 52.1%
1910 75,482 50,582 88.7% 9.5% 0.8% 43.5% 54.2%
1930 63,947 52,679 95.9% 2.5% 0.8% 48.5% 49.0%
1950 68,011 61,009 95.4% 2.6% 1.0% 49.3% 47.8%
1970 80,852 66,270 86.3% 8.6% 0.8% 42.1% 55.1%
1990 75,237 58,300 82.4% 5.6% 1.1% 35.1% 50.8%
2000 72,626 53,132 83.0% 3.7% 0.8% 28.9% 44.0%

Economy

As of 2007, St. Gallen had an unemployment rate of 2.69%. As of 2005, there were 336 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 95 businesses involved in this sector. 11,227 people are employed in the secondary sector and there are 707 businesses in this sector. 48,729 people are employed in the tertiary sector, with 4,035 businesses in this sector.[3] As of October 2009 the average unemployment rate was 4.5%.[23] There were 4857 businesses in the municipality of which 689 were involved in the secondary sector of the economy while 4102 were involved in the third.[24] As of 2000 there were 28,399 residents who worked in the municipality, while 8,927 residents worked outside St. Gallen and 31,543 people commuted into the municipality for work.[25]

Helvetia Insurance is a major company headquartered in St. Gallen.

Religion

According to the 2000 census, 31,978 or 44.0% are Roman Catholic, while 19,578 or 27.0% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church. Of the rest of the population, there are 112 individuals (or about 0.15% of the population) who belong to the Christian Catholic faith, there are 3,253 individuals (or about 4.48% of the population) who belong to the Orthodox Church, and there are 1,502 individuals (or about 2.07% of the population) who belong to another Christian church. There are 133 individuals (or about 0.18% of the population) who are Jewish, and 4,856 (or about 6.69% of the population) who are Islamic. There are 837 individuals (or about 1.15% of the population) who belong to another church (not listed on the census), 7,221 (or about 9.94% of the population) belong to no church, are agnostic or atheist, and 3,156 individuals (or about 4.35% of the population) did not answer the question.[19]

Culture and sightseeing

Old houses of St. Gallen
The interior of the Cathedral is one of the most important baroque monuments in Switzerland
Library of St. Gallen
An opera rehearsal in front of St. Gallen Cathedral, 2007
Stadtlounge

In 1992 St. Gallen was awarded the Wakker Prize for the city's effort to create a unified structure and appearance in current and future construction.[26]

Heritage sites of national significance

There are 28 sites in St. Gallen that are listed as Swiss heritage sites of national significance, including four religious buildings; the Abbey of St. Gallen, the former Dominican Abbey of St. Katharina, the Reformed Church of St. Laurenzenkirche and the Roman Catholic parish church of St. Maria Neudorf.

There are six museums or archives in the inventory. This includes the Textile museum, the Historical and ethnographical museum, the Cantonal library and city archives, the Art and Natural History museum, the Museum in Lagerhaus and the Cantonal archives. The entire city of St. Gallen is the only archeological heritage site. Two bridges are listed, the Eisenbahnbrücke BT (railroad bridge) and the Kräzern-Strassenbrücke with a custom house.

The twelve other sites include the main train station, main post office, University of St. Gallen, Cantonal School, City Theatre and two towers; the Lokremise with Wasserturm and the Tröckneturm. [27]

Theatre

Museums

Music

Buildings

Parks

Regular events

Sport

AFG Arena, home stadium of FC St. Gallen

Transportation

Trogen railway running tramway-like on St. Gallen roads

The A1 motorway links St. Gallen with St. Margrethen, Zurich, Bern and Geneva. In 1987 the city motorway was opened, which conveys the traffic through two tunnels (Rosenberg and Stefanshorn) almost directly below the city center.

St. Gallen has its own small airport Airport St. Gallen-Altenrhein near Lake of Constance, with regular flights to Vienna and other destinations.

St. Gallen railway station is part of the national Swiss Federal Railways network and has InterCity connections to Zurich and the Zurich International Airport every half an hour. St. Gallen is the hub for many private railways such as the Südostbahn (SOB), connecting St. Gallen with Lucerne, the Appenzeller Bahnen with connections to Appenzell and the Trogenerbahn to Trogen, which also serves as a tram in downtown.

The town has a dense local bus system, including the city's trolleybus network, which is operated by the VBSG and is well established on the valley floor, but less so on the hills. As St. Gallen is located near the Appenzell mountain area, it offers also many Postauto (post bus) connections. The agglomeration also has its own St. Gallen S-Bahn system (overground local trains).

The large urban area Zurich is about 80 km south-west of St. Gallen and is reachable by car in about 50–90 minutes depending on traffic and by ICN train in 65 minutes.

St. Gallen 2013

The "St. Gallen 2013" project aims to improve local rail services, with infrastructure upgrades and new rolling-stock. By December 2013, S-Bahn services will run on six lines, at intervals of 15 to 30 minutes.[30]

Climate

Between 1981 and 2010 St. Gallen had an average of 141 days of rain or snow per year and on average received 1,248 mm (49.1 in) of precipitation. The wettest month was July during which time St. Gallen received an average of 172 mm (6.8 in) of rain. During this month there was precipitation for an average of 13.8 days. The month with the most days of precipitation were June and July May. The driest month of the year was February with an average of 57 mm (2.2 in) of precipitation over 9.1 days.[31]

Climate data for St. Gallen (1981-2010)
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Average high °C (°F) 2.5
(36.5)		 3.3
(37.9)		 7.3
(45.1)		 11.5
(52.7)		 16.3
(61.3)		 19.2
(66.6)		 21.6
(70.9)		 20.9
(69.6)		 16.8
(62.2)		 12.3
(54.1)		 6.5
(43.7)		 3.5
(38.3)		 11.8
(53.2)
Daily mean °C (°F) −0.3
(31.5)		 0.4
(32.7)		 3.9
(39)		 7.4
(45.3)		 12.0
(53.6)		 15.0
(59)		 17.2
(63)		 16.8
(62.2)		 13.1
(55.6)		 9.1
(48.4)		 3.7
(38.7)		 0.8
(33.4)		 8.3
(46.9)
Average low °C (°F) −3.0
(26.6)		 −2.5
(27.5)		 0.6
(33.1)		 3.5
(38.3)		 7.8
(46)		 11.0
(51.8)		 13.1
(55.6)		 13.0
(55.4)		 9.7
(49.5)		 6.2
(43.2)		 1.0
(33.8)		 −1.9
(28.6)		 4.9
(40.8)
Average precipitation mm (inches) 59
(2.32)		 57
(2.24)		 84
(3.31)		 100
(3.94)		 143
(5.63)		 153
(6.02)		 172
(6.77)		 164
(6.46)		 135
(5.31)		 89
(3.5)		 88
(3.46)		 80
(3.15)		 1,324
(52.13)
Average snowfall cm (inches) 39.0
(15.35)		 45.8
(18.03)		 34.8
(13.7)		 12.6
(4.96)		 0.7
(0.28)		 0.0
(0)		 0.0
(0)		 0.0
(0)		 0.1
(0.04)		 1.6
(0.63)		 23.6
(9.29)		 40.0
(15.75)		 198.2
(78.03)
Average precipitation days (≥ 1.0 mm) 10.4 9.1 12.6 11.8 13.7 13.8 13.8 12.9 11.5 9.8 10.5 11.5 141.1
Average snowy days (≥ 1.0 cm) 7 6.6 5.5 2.1 0.2 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.3 3.6 6.5 31.8
Average relative humidity (%) 84.1 81.7 76.9 75.5 74.5 75.4 74.4 78.1 81.5 83.8 83.8 85.5 79.6
Mean monthly sunshine hours 59 79 120 152 177 184 219 199 145 100 59 43 1,535
Percent possible sunshine 28 32 35 39 40 40 48 48 41 34 26 22 38
Source: MeteoSwiss [31]

Radioactivity in St. Gallen

St. Gallen is notable for reporting the highest maximum radioactivity measurements of any Swiss city, as published in the 2009 yearly report by BAG (Bundesamt für Gesundheit), the Swiss Federal Health Office. While the daily average level of gamma-ray radioactivity in the city is unremarkable at 105 nSv/h, the maximum can reach 195 nSv/h, as high as the average for Jungfraujoch, the location with the highest reported level of radioactivity in Switzerland, due to its high elevation and therefore greater exposure to cosmic rays. The same report explains that the unusually high spikes of radioactivity measured in St. Gallen are due to radioactive products of radon gas being washed to the ground during heavy rain or storms, but does not explain where the sufficient quantities of radon gas and its products to account for the anomaly would come from.[32] The yearly report for 2009 on risks associated with radon published by the same governmental agency shows St. Gallen to lie in an area of the lowest level of radon exposure.[33] In addition to the measured gamma-radiation, the city may be subject to radioactive tritium pollution in Teufen, a satellite town situated 4 km south of the city in the canton of Appenzell Outer Rhodes (this pollution is also covered in the report).

See also

References

  1. ↑ Arealstatistik Standard - Gemeindedaten nach 4 Hauptbereichen
  2. 1 2 Swiss Federal Statistics Office – STAT-TAB Ständige und Nichtständige Wohnbevölkerung nach Region, Geschlecht, Nationalität und Alter (German) accessed 31 August 2015
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Swiss Federal Statistical Office accessed 11-January-2010
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "St Gall". The Encyclopædia Britannica 24. New York: The Encyclopædia Britannica Company. 1911. p. 4. Retrieved 2008-11-15.
  5. ↑ Jones, Terry. "Wiborada". Patron Saints Index. Retrieved 2008-05-02.
  6. ↑ McNamara, Robert F. (Rev.) (2007-02-20). "St. Wiborada". Saints Alive. St. Thomas the Apostle Church. Retrieved 2007-05-02.
  7. 1 2 3 "Zeittafel zur Geschichte der Abtei St. Gallen" [History chronology about the Abbey of St Gall] (PDF) (in German). Staatskanzlei St. Gallen. Retrieved 2015-01-25.
  8. 1 2 http://www.hls-dhs-dss.ch/textes/d/D8394.php
  9. 1 2 Switzerland is yours.com-St. Gallen History accessed 20 November 2008
  10. ↑  Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Abbey of St. Gall". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
  11. ↑ University of St Gallen, International MBA rankings accessed 29 April 2009
  12. ↑ Mohr, Christoph (April 9, 2008). "Wo steht der deutsche MBA-Markt?". Wirtschafts Woche. Retrieved April 29, 2009. (German) mentions that there are only 7 "true" German MBA with international appeal, of which HSG is one
  13. ↑ University of St Gallen, Doctoral programs accessed 29 April 2009
  14. ↑ University of St Gallen portal accessed 29 April 2009
  15. ↑ Financial Times Masters in Management Rankings 2014
  16. ↑ University of St Gallen-MBA Programme accessed 29 April 2009
  17. ↑ St Gallen Public School Office (German) accessed 29 April 2009
  18. ↑ Swiss Federation of Private Schools website accessed 29 April 2009
  19. 1 2 3 4 5 Canton St. Gallen Statistics-Hauptergebnisse der Volkszählung 2000: Regionen- und Gemeindevergleich-Personen (German) accessed 30 December 2009
  20. ↑ Flags of the World.com accessed 11-January-2010
  21. 1 2 "Statistisches Jahrbuch der Stadt St . Gallen 2012" (PDF). www.statistik.stadt.sg.ch (PDF) (in German). Stadt St. Gallen. October 2012. pp. 21–29. Retrieved 2014-08-04. data from 2011
  22. ↑ St.Gallen in German, French and Italian in the online Historical Dictionary of Switzerland.
  23. ↑ St Gallen Canton statistics-Unemployment (German) accessed 30 December 2009
  24. ↑ St Gallen Canton statistics-Businesses (German) accessed 31 December 2009
  25. ↑ St Gallen Canton statistics-Commuters (German) accessed 31 December 2009
  26. ↑ Wakker Prize (German) accessed 11 May 2009
  27. ↑ Swiss inventory of cultural property of national and regional significance 21.11.2008 version, (German) accessed 11-Jan-2010
  28. 1 2 St. Gallen festivals (German) accessed 26 June 2010
  29. ↑ Schützengarten brewery accessed 14 November 2008
  30. ↑ "St Gallen 2013 project underway". Railway Gazette International. Retrieved 5 January 2012.
  31. 1 2 "Climate normals St. Gallen (Reference period 1981−2010)" (PDF). Zurich-Airport, Switzerland: Swiss Federal Office of Metreology and Climatology, MeteoSwiss. 2 July 2014. Retrieved 2015-04-05.
  32. ↑ Jahresberichte Umweltradioaktivität und Strahlendosen. See Jahresbericht 2009 (Alle Kapitel). BAG, Switzerland. 17.06.2010.
  33. ↑ Jahresbericht Radon. See Jahresbericht 2009 Radon. BAG, Switzerland. 07.07.2010.

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