Abbey library of St. Gallen
Encyclopedia
Saint Othmar
St. Othmar, O.S.B., was a monk and priest appointed as the first abbot of the Abbey of St. Gall, a Benedictine monastery in St. Gall, Switzerland....
, the founder of the Abbey of St. Gall
Abbey of St. Gall
The Abbey of Saint Gall is a religious complex in the city of St. Gallen in present-day Switzerland. The Carolingian-era Abbey has existed since 719 and became an independent principality during the 13th century, and was for many centuries one of the chief Benedictine abbeys in Europe. It was...
.
The library
Library
In a traditional sense, a library is a large collection of books, and can refer to the place in which the collection is housed. Today, the term can refer to any collection, including digital sources, resources, and services...
collection is the oldest in Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
, 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
Incunabulum
Incunable, or sometimes incunabulum is a book, pamphlet, or broadside, that was printed — not handwritten — before the year 1501 in Europe...
(printed before 1500), and old printed books. The library holds almost 160,000 volume
Volume
Volume is the quantity of three-dimensional space enclosed by some closed boundary, for example, the space that a substance or shape occupies or contains....
s.
The manuscript B of the Nibelungenlied
Nibelungenlied
The Nibelungenlied, translated as The Song of the Nibelungs, is an epic poem in Middle High German. The story tells of dragon-slayer Siegfried at the court of the Burgundians, how he was murdered, and of his wife Kriemhild's revenge....
is kept here.
The library books are available for public use, but the books printed before 1900 must be read in the Reading Room.
The library hall, designed by the architect Peter Thumb
Peter Thumb
Peter Thumb was an Austrian architect whose family came from the Vorarlberg, the westernmost part of Austria. He is best known for his Rococo architecture, mainly in Southern Germany...
in a Rococo
Rococo
Rococo , also referred to as "Late Baroque", is an 18th-century style which developed as Baroque artists gave up their symmetry and became increasingly ornate, florid, and playful...
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.
In 1983 the library together with the Abbey of St. Gall
Abbey of St. Gall
The Abbey of Saint Gall is a religious complex in the city of St. Gallen in present-day Switzerland. The Carolingian-era Abbey has existed since 719 and became an independent principality during the 13th century, and was for many centuries one of the chief Benedictine abbeys in Europe. It was...
were made a World Heritage Site
World Heritage Site
A UNESCO World Heritage Site is a place that is listed by the UNESCO as of special cultural or physical significance...
, as 'a perfect example of a great Carolingian monastery'.
A virtual library was created to provide access to the manuscripts — Codices Electronici Sangallenses. Currently 400 manuscripts are preserved in digital format.
Some manuscripts
- Codex Sangallensis 18
- Codex Sangallensis 48
- Codex Sangallensis 878Codex Sangallensis 878Codex Sangallensis 878 is a manuscript kept in the library of the Abbey of St. Gall. It dates to the 9th century and probably originates in Fulda monastery. It contains mainly excerpts of grammatical texts, including the Ars minor and Ars maior of Aelius Donatus, the grammar of Priscian, the...
See also
- Abbey of St. GallAbbey of St. GallThe Abbey of Saint Gall is a religious complex in the city of St. Gallen in present-day Switzerland. The Carolingian-era Abbey has existed since 719 and became an independent principality during the 13th century, and was for many centuries one of the chief Benedictine abbeys in Europe. It was...
- :de:Stiftsarchiv St. Gallen
- List of World Heritage Sites in Europe
External links
- Stiftsbibliothek Sankt Gallen
- Codices Electronici Sangallenses — project for the digitisation of the medieval manuscripts at St. Gallen
- e-codices, St. Gallen, Stiffsbibliothek