Monastery City Sankt-Gallen, UNESCO World Heritage Site

Wednesday January 31, 2024 -- Today we traveled to the far northeast part of the country to the region between St.Gall and Lake Constance, because that was where the weather was supposed to be best. Our plan was to walk another section of the St.James Trail (in fact, this section is considered to be the first stage of the St.James Trail through Switzerland, starting in Rorschach on the lake and ending at the huge St.Gall Cathedral. We did it in the opposite direction).

We hadn't counted on there being so much fog again, even though the forecast was for better weather after 1 p.m. Since we got to St.Gall at 11 a.m., we figured it would be a good idea to go and have a look at the Cathedral again, something we did the last time about 10 years ago. The Cathedral and adjoining ancient library are one of Switzerland's 13 UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Here is the excerpt from the UNESCO Website:  "The Convent of St Gall, a perfect example of a great Carolingian monastery, was, from the 8th century to its secularization in 1805, one of the most important in Europe. Its library is one of the richest and oldest in the world and contains precious manuscripts such as the earliest-known architectural plan drawn on parchment. From 1755 to 1768, the conventual area was rebuilt in Baroque style. The cathedral and the library are the main features of this remarkable architectural complex, reflecting 12 centuries of continuous activity."  

We didn't visit the libray, because it costs a fortune to enter, and you can only take a photo at one particular photo-spot (Library Website is HERE). Still, we enjoyed the beautiful Baroque Cathedral, and even had a quick look into the nearby Neo-Gothic Evangelical Cathedral of St.Laurenzen. After about an hour in the old town of St.Gall, we took a bus to the outskirts of the city, where we joined the St.James Trail for the 3-hour hike to Lake Constance, from where we took the train back home from Rorschach Harbour (those photos are HERE).

All of our visits in this area start with the purchase of a St.Gall Bratwurst at the train station! We got here at 11 a.m. and instead of taking the next bus to the start of our hike, we figured we'd go to have a look at the Monastery Cathedral. We ended up spending an hour in the city. 

The Broder Fountain, not far from the train station, is the largest fountain in St.Gallen, built in 1896 by the Toggenburg artist August Bösch in honour of the engineers who figured out how to bring the water from Lake Constance to the city in 1895.... at which point the citizens could bathe in their homes once a week instead of once per year!!!!

This was cool! A restaurant with a whole lot of cable car cabins offering private fondu dinners!

Heading up one of the side streets in the old town

In the store window of a music instrument shop, my favourite display was this mini-orchestra created with metal bolts!

Old Town St.Gallen

St.Gallus Square in front of the monastery

First sight of the Cathedral towers from St.Gallus Square. 

St.Gallus fountain (1936, on the spot of an older, decrepit fountain). In the section of the monastery building on the right is the library. Founded in 1612, it is the third oldest library in the world, and one of the most beautiful apparently. (Photo and Information are the library's webside HERE). We entered the cathedral through the small entrance in the center. 

In front (west side) of the cathedral

Photos don't do justice to the vastness of this Baroque interior. It was like one of those "mirror halls", where one room keeps on getting reflected forever. 

Of course this building has a magnificent organ as well. 

Hard to imagine how much work was involved in building and decorating such magnificent structures. This is one of the last monumental Baroque buildings of Western Europe, built from 1755 to 1767.

The large choral area behind the altar is gated

In the Choir Stalls are 84 intricately carved choir seats and two more historical organs (one on each side).

Intricate art everywhere you look. 

We left the cathedral out of the north exit. Only the sandstone building on the right is part of the monastery grounds. The other pretty buildings are simply part of the old town.

Looking back at the north side of the cathedral building

Looking west across the monastery grounds. 

Between the monastery buildings you can see the St.Laurenzen church building, which we had a look inside after making a tour around the monastery grounds. 

A small model of the entire monastery complex. 

The view of the huge Cathedral from the west gate of the grounds. 

Doubling back now parallel to the monastery grounds, we head back toward the St.Laurenzen church, which is an evangelical church. 

The dividing wall between the Catholic Monastery and the rest of the city (which had mostly converted to Protestantism during the Reformation) was built in 1566, but only a small piece remains. 

After the Reformation when the city of St.Gallen mostly converted to Protestantism, a wall was built here separating the Catholic Monastery grounds from the rest of the city. 

Just outside of the old dividing wall is the St.Laurenzen Church. We had a look inside, just in time, as there was a concert going to start in about 15 minutes and after that the church would have been locked. This building is under National Monument Protection. The building was erected between 1850 and 1854 as a rebuild of the original 1423 church building here. 

We knew as soon as we entered that this was a neo-gothic construction. The huge organ here is at the very front of the church. This is the main evangelical church building in St.Gallen and seats 1000 people!

At the back of the church above the entrance is another part of the organ! I'd never seen such huge pipes!

Heading north through the old town now toward the marketplace where we are going to catch a bus to the outskirts of the city, where we are starting our hike on the St.James Trail. 

Our little walk through the heart of St.Gallen added almost two kilometers to the additional 12 kilometers we walked afterwards. 

The city of St.Gallen. On the left is the small walk we did around the heart of the city, and the light pink trail on the right is the 12-km additional hike we did this day. 

Location of St.Gallen in the northeastern part of Switzerland.