St Gall Cathedral and Abbey Library E-Book

Josef Grünenfelder

• Herausgeber: Gesellschaft für Schweizerische Kunstgeschichte GSK
• Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 68

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2023

Beschreibung

St Gall cathedral was built in 1755–1770 as the church of the Benedictine monastery, which was dissolved in 1805. In the Middle Ages this church, erected on the site of the hermitage of St Gallus, was one of the most important monasteries in the western world. Today the Abbey Archive and Abbey Library still possess invaluable documentary evidence from that era. The Baroque monastery complex testifies to the flourishing of the prince-abbey in the 17th and 18th centuries. The church, like the adjacent abbey library, built after the plans of Peter Thumb and decorated by the best South German artists of the day, forms the monumental conclusion of a long series of Baroque abbey churches realised by Vorarlberg master builders. St Gall’s abbey district is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the collections of the Abbey Library and Archive are included in the UNESCO World Documentary Heritage List.

Leseprobe

Josef Grünenfelder · Cornel Dora

St Gall Cathedral and Abbey Library

Canton of St Gall

General and Architectural History up to the New Construction of the Abbey Church in the 18th century

The cell of St Gallus

The Benedictine monastery

A short history of the Abbey Church of St Gall

Architectural history up to the Baroque era

Architectural History and Fortunes of the Baroque Abbey Church

Construction of the nave and the rotunda 1755–1757

Artistic decoration 1757–1760

Construction of the choir from 1761 onwards

Decoration of the choir

Structural alterations after the dissolution of the monastery in 1805

Renovation and restoration phases

Exterior of the Abbey Church

The double tower façade

Floor plan and exterior

Tour of the Interior

Inside the church

Ceiling paintings and stucco work

Furnishings and fittings

The crypts

The sacristies and church treasure

Abbey Library

A brief history of the Abbey Library

The Baroque Abbey Library 1758–1784

Appendix

Layout plan

Representatives of the Old Testament, the beatified and the saints are shown on different levels of clouds in the large painting of the cupola. They are united in the worship of the Holy Trinity according to the eight Beatitudes in the Sermon on the Mount.

1 Holy Trinity

2 Virgin Mary

3 John the Baptist

4 Anna and Joachim

5 Joseph

BEATI PAUPERES SPIRITU

Blessed are the poor in spirit

6 Gallus

7 Columban

8 Francis

9 Coelestin

10 Nicholas of Flue

11 Johannes Kalybita

12 Alexius of Edessa

BEATI MITES

Blessed are the meek

13 Francis of Sales

14 John Gualbert

15 David

16 Moses

17 Notker

18 Elizabeth of Hungary

19 Monica

BEATI QUI LUGENT

Blessed are they who mourn

20 Victor

21 Bruno

22 Mary Magdalene

23 Mary the Egyptian

24 Dismas

BEATI QUI ESURIUNT ET SITIUNT IUSTITIAM

Blessed are they who hunger and thirst after righteousness

25 Benedict

26 Thomas

27 Ignatius Loyola

28 Bonaventure

29 Anthony the Hermit

BEATI MISERICORDES

Blessed are the merciful

30 Charles Borromeo

31 Tobias

32 Louis

33 Purchart

34 Martha

35 Martin

BEATI MUNDO CORDE

Blessed are the poor in heart

36 Scholasticca

37 Gerold

38 Catherine of Alexandria

39 Emperor Heinrich II

40 Kunigunde

BEATI PACIFICI

Blessed are the peacemakers

41 Pope Clement II

42 Leo the Great

43 Ulrich

44 Bernhard

45 Elizabeth of Portugal

46 Cyrill

BEATI QUI PERSECUTIONEM PATIUNTUR

Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake

47 Idda

48 Eusebius

49 John Nepomuk

50 Boniface

51 Otmar

52 Ignatius Theophorus

53 Barbara

General and Architectural History up to the New Construction of the Abbey Church in the 18th Century

The cell of St Gallus

The story recounting how the Abbey of St Gall came to be built goes back to the year 612. According to his vita (biography), Gallus, a disciple of the itinerant Irish monk Columbanus, fell ill in Bregenz at that time. The group had been about to leave for Italy after a long stay in the region. Gallus, however, became a hermit and retired to the Forest of Arbon. He built a cell and oratory (place for private worship) in the valley of the Upper Steinach.

St Gallus (c. 550–c. 645)

Gallus belonged to a group of monks who, under the leadership of their abbot, Columbanus, left the monastery of Bangor in Ireland to follow Christ as itinerant monks and to work as missionaries. They founded the Luxeuil Monastery in Burgundy, from where they were later forced to leave, before arriving via a circuitous route in Tuggen in Zurichgau. It was there that Gallus, in his zeal, smashed a heathen idol (an image of a pagan deity). The monks continued their journey, finally arriving in Bregenz on Lake Constance, where they met a Christian community and stayed for some while. Gallus fell ill and therefore remained in Bregenz when Columbanus travelled on to Langobardan in Italy, where he founded the monastery of Bobbio and died in 615.

In the Forest of Arbon, the primeval woods to the south of Lake Constance, Gallus tripped over the root of a tree near the Steinach waterfall while looking for a site for his hermit cell. Interpreting this as a sign from God that this was the place where he should remain, Gallus ordered a bear to collect wood for the fire, rewarding him with a loaf of bread. The bear thus became the saint’s attribute (characteristic, FIG. 1) and can be seen in the armorial bearings of the prince-abbey and the city of St Gall as well as in those of Appenzell. Gallus was a priest-monk, trained in philosophy and theology, and was both headstrong and a nature-lover. He was also a passionate fisherman. Many people came to his cell in search of advice. Gallus refused calls to become the bishop of Constance or the abbot of Luxeuil. Over the years a small community of monks gathered around the cell of St Gallus, who died around 645. His tomb became a destination for many pilgrims. A first vita (biography of the saint) was written a few decades after his death.

FIG. 1, 2 Sandstone figures by Johann Christian Wenzinger on the north front of the rotunda.

St Gallus, an itinerant Irish monk, founded a hermitage c.612 on the site of the later monastery.

St Otmar introduced the Rule of St Benedict to the monastic community c.747. He was to become the monastery’s first abbot.

The Benedictine monastery

Otmar, an Alemannic priest, took over the leadership of the group of hermits in 719. In 747, reacting to pressure from the Frankish majordomos Karlmann and Pippin, Otmar imposed the Rule of St Benedict on the group. He thus became the second founder, after Gallus, of the abbey, which was to survive for over a thousand years.

St Otmar (c. 690–759)

Otmar established the St Gallen monastic community as a permanent monastery. An Alemanni from Lake Constance region, he was trained as a priest at the Rhaetian bishopric of Chur. In 719, the Arbon tribune Waltram appointed him head of the spiritual community at the tomb of St Gallus. From the early 8th century, donations of land, people and privileges to the Gallus monastery were documented in the records of the monastery archives. Political intrigues resulted in Otmar’s banishment to the island of Werd near Stein am Rhein, where he died in 759. The monks bringing his body back to St Gall survived a storm on Lake Constance without coming to harm when, owing to a miracle, a small barrel of wine, all that remained of their provisions, failed to run out. This explains why St Otmar is represented with a wine barrel as his attribute (FIG. 2). He was declared a saint in 864.

A short history of the Abbey Church of St Gall

As early as around the year 700 during the time of Otmar, the St Gall community received numerous donations of land, people and privileges. The monastery soon flourished and was highly regarded during the 9th century. The school was considered a perfect model of monastic and scientific life, in particular under Abbots Gozbert, Grimald, Hartmut, Salomo and Ulrich I. Benedictine scholarship and art reached a high level both in the monastery and scriptorium as well as with eminent teachers such as Notker the German. Through favourable circumstances, documentary evidence of this culture has been preserved until the present day and is stored in the abbey archives and library (see page 46).

Thanks to close links with the kings and emperors of the Carolingian and Ottonian eras, St Gall became one of the most famous monasteries in the Empire. St Gall’s abbots belonged to the chapel royal; some of them even acted as Imperial chancellors. Imperial privileges guaranteed the monastery independence from the Bishop of Constance as of 818 and, later, freedom of the Empire. Closeness to the ruling house, however, sometimes also led to unfavourable connections with Imperial politics.