How the Irish Helped Shape Modern Switzerland - A Visit to the Eastern Canton of St. Gallen

St. Gallen in Switzerland's Far East

A few weeks ago on the One Year: 26 Canton Series we took a snowy trip to the cultural powerhouse of Appenzell. This week we are back, in the far east of Switzerland, this time in the Canton of St. Gallen.

Join us as we explore the fascinating old town of St. Gallen alongside its famous Abbey and Stiftsbibliothek. Our wanderings are fairly condensed but we more than make up for it with an unforgettable journey to the roots of Switzerland.

Starting in the wild and untamed forests of Arbon, in the era before St. Gallen, we see how one (possible) Irishman changed the course of Switzerland’s history forever then head back towards the present with some excellent twists and turns along the way. It is going to be a lot of fun and we hope you enjoy.

Making our way to the Abbey of St. Gall at the Center of the St. Gallen Old Town

Before there was a St. Gallen or even a Gall

The Abbey Museum in the Cellar of the Abbey of St. Gall

Our story starts in the 4th Century, about four hundred years before the Abbey of St. Gall was founded. In fact, St. Gall himself wouldn’t be born for another 200 years at this point. The Rhaetian people, native to the Alps had been duly incorporated into the Roman Empire alongside their Celtic neighbors the Helvetii a couple of centuries earlier. If you are keen to learn more on that, you can read all about it on my trip to the Canton of Vaud earlier this year.

Early Christianity was spreading across the Roman Empire replacing the Pagan religion of the Romans but, here in modern St. Gallen, at the edge of the Roman Empire, things were about to get a bit dicey for this newfound religion.

For centuries the Alemanni, the native Germanic people to the north, had attempted to push further south. Around 400 AD the Alemanni overran Roman forces in Eastern Switzerland and the Roman elites, with their empire on the brink of collapse, more or less retreated from Switzerland. The ensuing century was chaotic. The Western Roman Empire properly fell and Germanic occupation led to a social and cultural upheaval that saw Latin and the Christian Religion almost entirely wiped away in most of Central and Western Europe.

If you are thinking how these events 1600 years ago could possibly be relevant to modern Switzerland, look no further than Switzerland’s majority German speaking population. The bitter remains of the native Rhaetian people who once called almost all of Eastern Switzerland home can only be found today high in the mountains of the Canton of Graubünden, speaking their native Romansch just beyond the reach of the Alemanni.

To kick off our trip to St. Gallen, we headed straight from our hotel by the train station to the UNESCO World Heritage Abbey of St. Gall and its library, the Stiftsbibliothek. Arguably, this combined site falls towards the less-than-hidden side of Hidden Switzerland Travel but where some popular tourist sites fall a bit short, this one delivers in spades.

Before we get into why a relatively small library in the far east of Switzerland could possibly represent a notable attraction to anyone other than a bibliophile (and why you probably want to visit on your next trip), we first head to the basement of the Abbey right at the heart of the old town.

A dark basement with no windows may seem like an odd place to start our journey, and so it may be, but it’s probably the closest we can get to the roots of St. Gallen today, the main collection of the Abbey Museum.

Travelers from Afar

A short video and exhibits in the cellars of the Abbey tell the rest of this story in far greater fidelity than I could ever hope to but I will do my best to condense it for you here.

Around 550 AD Gall was born. Depending on who you ask, that was either in Ireland or, more likely, in the region of the Alsace, between modern France and Germany. Whether in an Abbey in Ireland or somewhere along the way, Gall found his way into cahoots with Columbanus, almost certainly a true Irishman, who in 589 set out with his companions to proselytize on the Continent.

In the 6th Century, Christianity and scholarly writing were still alive and well in Ireland which was just a bit too far afield to be incorporated into the fallen Empires of old. Like Switzerland, much of Continental Europe had lost the Christian faith but Gall and Columbanus were on a mission to change that.

In 610, the missionaries were exiled from Gaul in modern day France by those opposed to the Christian faith, and Gall and Columbanus headed into Alemania. Two years later, Gall found himself infirmed and recovering in Arbon along the shores of Lake Constance in the modern Canton of St. Gallen.

While Columbanus continued on, until the end of his days at the ripe old age of 95, Gall remained deep in the forest near Arbon as a hermit. Being a hermit, however, did not appear to stop Gall from preaching, founding a monastery, and becoming a fabled hero (eventually a Saint).

I read a few of the more creative stories about St. Gall with exorcised demons and the like, but my favorite, and probably the most well-recognized, goes something like this: One day Gall was making his way through the woods and stopped to warm himself by a fire. Suddenly a bear appeared and charged him. In the face of Gall’s holy glory, the bear became so stunned that it stopped its attack and slunk back off into the woods. A few minutes later, the bear returned with a mouth full of firewood for Gall. From then on, the bear was Gall’s friend and became his forest companion for the rest of his days.

While I can't confirm the validity of Gall as an animal tamer, it is clear that the Irish influence brought Christianity back into force on the Continent after a multiple-century hiatus. Anyone who tells you history doesn’t repeat itself is probably full of it. Nearly a thousand years before the church found its way into the Americas, continental Europe, the veritable heart of the modern Christian faith, was itself resurrected by missionaries.

Power in the Name of God

Several decades after the death of Gall, the brotherhood's first Abbot Othmar (also a Saint, you can find his bones upstairs) founded the Abbey of St. Gall at the location of Gall’s monastery deep in the forest near Arbon. Today that deep forest is the location of modern-day St. Gallen.

From its founding, the Abbey of St. Gall began to acquire lands across modern-day eastern Switzerland. By the early 800’s this increasing influence drew the irritation of the Bishopric of Constance and conflict erupted.

We might think of monasteries today as meek and peaceful religious enclaves, but this was not always the case in the Middle Ages. Abbeys or Klosters and Bishoprics were the power brokers of their day, seamlessly blending faith and authority. Such an arrangement should not be such a foreign concept to us. One need only look to modern-day Iran of Vatican City to see where the lines between church and state are blurred beyond recognition.

Crowned by the Pope himself, the Frankish Emperor King Louis the Pious (son of Charlemagne), who controlled most of what would eventually become France and the Holy Roman Empire, was the only one with the power to quell the strife between the Abbot of St. Gallen and the Bishop of Constance.

The Emperor formalized the authority of the Abbey of St. Gall and, upon his coronation, the emperor's son, King Louis the German, granted the Abbey complete autonomy from the Bishopric bringing in a Golden Age.

With power and influence came substantial wealth and the Abbey thrived for several centuries. The erudite from all around joined the Abbey and began to fill its library with scholarly works. In the 13th Century, the Abbot became a Prince of the Holy Roman Empire granting him even more influence and power.

But, with all this power came political responsibility. Increasingly embroiled in local politics, the Princely Abbot faced newfound pressure from all sides. Over time, the growing town of St. Gallen had been working to free itself from under the thumb of the Abbey. The town was granted as a free Imperial city by the Holy Roman Emperor in the 15th Century and the textile guilds took over local authority creating a further rift between the city and the Abbey (Particularly when the city chose to adopt the new Protestant Faith).

Up in the surrounding mountains, things weren't going much better for the Abbot. The farmers of Appenzell whose lands were under the Abbot’s personal control were becoming increasingly discontent. By 1401, this came to a head and the resulting war saw Appenzell and eventually St. Gallen aligned with the enlarging Swiss Confederacy.

Round and round we go through wars, broken promises, and a swirling relationship with the various Swiss Cantons on both sides until 1798 when the Abbey finally succumbed to the pressure and lost its secular power.

A Library to Rival All Libraries

Seemingly a theme here at Hidden Switzerland Travel, after several hours, we slowly arose like mole people from the basement, our eyes adjusting to the light of day to take in the modern Abbey of St. Gall. This baroque masterpiece was completed between 1755 and 1768, when the Abbey of St. Gall still remained the largest religious city-state in all of Switzerland.

Just up a few flights of stairs from the cellars, we slipped on our required over-shoe booties and waddled through a tiny ornate wooden threshold into the even more extravagant Stiftsbibliothek, the library of the Abbey of St. Gall. Despite a tumultuous history that saw many of the Abbey’s books pilfered or burned over the centuries, to this day, the collection here remains one of the world’s finest.

I like books as much as the next guy but I admit, I probably wouldn’t have gone out of my way to see the library had it not been so conveniently located at the center of St. Gallen (or as well advertised). But, color me impressed…

The walls of the library are fantastically paneled, the floors are covered in fine hardwood inlay and the intricately hand painted ceiling looks like something out to the Sistine Chapel. Then, of course, there are the books. Thousands of them, some well over 1000 years old. Most of the books are leather bound and chained to the walls like something out of the Restricted Section of the Hogwarts Library.

Most of these works were created, translated, or transcribed by hand (or later by press) right here at the Abbey. The volumes recount everything from fairytales to family histories to daily life in the Middle Ages. I am always baffled by the sheer volume of knowledge around European development dating back to prehistory and much of that knowledge can be credited to the myriad of works in this unparalleled library.

Inside the Stiftsbibliothek in the Abbey of St. Gall

A replica of a 16th Century Globe in the Stiftsbibliothek

A giant and stunning globe standing in one corner of the library reveals the unbelievably accurate known geography of the world during the 16th Century. Mind you, this globe is a replica painstakingly created from the Original in 2009.

In another one of Switzerland’s stories that is almost too strange to believe, the Cantons of Zurich and Bern looted the Abbey of St. Gall in 1712 during the religiously motivated Second Villmergen War. A large number of manuscripts and the aforementioned globe were carted back to Zurich and Bern as spoils of war. After peace was made in 1718, the Bernese returned their booty, but Zurich was rather keen to hold on to their new toys.

Fast forward to 1996 and the 300-year-old dispute over cultural property between St. Gallen and Zurich remained near a boiling point. The federal government of Switzerland was forced to step in and mediate a compromise between the Cantons that took over 10 years to complete. The 2006 agreement saw Zurich return a portion of the collection and fund 7000 hours of work to create a perfect replica of the globe. The original remains in the collection of the Swiss National Museum in Zurich to this day.

A selection of works on display in the Abbey of St. Gall collection

The Oppulence of St. Gallen

After bidding farewell to the Stiftsbibliothek we headed just next door to the St. Gallen Cathedral. Built as the Abbey church during its renovations between 1755 and 1768, the building was first opened in 1772.

In 1805 the Canton dissolved the 1000-year-old abbey leaving the church to become a parish. This arrangement did not last for long as the church became the Cathedral of the new Diocese of St. Gallen in 1847. Of course, in true Catholic style, and with the wealth of the Abbey to back it up, the church was already fitting of a Cathedral when it was built.

The rich interior of the St. Gallen Cathedral

From the outside, this late Baroque masterpiece sports massive twin bell towers which anchor an equally imposing structure. Inside, soaring vaulted ceilings host a series of murals and fine stucco work that rival the best of Europe. Not to mention the omni-present gold leaf and intricate decorations that spill out of nearly every nook and cranny.

The face of the St. Gallen Cathedral in the Abbey of St. Gall

The Cathedral and the Abbey, rightfully designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987, were only made less difficult to leave by the fantastic St. Gallen Old Town. You pass through the town to get to and from the Cathedral and for its size, I have yet to visit a more opulent inner-city in all of Switzerland.

The old town buildings are beautiful and well-kept, demonstrating the wealth that came from St. Gallen’s booming textile industry from the middle-ages through to the mid-19th Century. Just beyond the inner city and its medieval charm, one might think they had been transported to Vienna with an abundance of fantastic Baroque buildings.

More To Do Than One Trip Can Cover

Unfortunately, like most of our short visits to the Swiss Cantons, all good things must come to an end. A few evening wanders around the St. Gallen old town and our visit to the Abbey really only gave us a quick taste of what St. Gallen has to offer. We are eager to head back and explore a bit more in the future.

As a whole, Switzerland’s eastern Cantons are a bit of a slow burn but almost certainly warrant more attention than they receive. Switzerland's east does not immediately offer the impressive views of Bern (though I think there are some equally striking peaks to be found) or the big city vibes of Zurich or Geneva but it makes up for it in accesible history and culture. The closer you are willing to look, the more and more you can find, and to me, that represents truly excellent travel.

We hope you liked hearing about our visit to St. Gallen. If you were a fan of this week’s trip, you can find similar installments in our series One Year: 26 Cantons where we visit all 26 of Switzerland’s Cantons in 2024. Stay tuned for additional articles on our Swiss Travels every week!

Until next time, gute Reise, and feel free to leave a comment on one of our social media platforms!