Visita Iglesia: St. Gallen Cathedral, Abbey of Saint Gall in Switzerland

ST. GALLEN, Switzerland — A Unesco (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) World Heritage site, the Stiftskirche St. Gallus und Otmar (Collegiate Church of St. Gall and Otmar) or St. Gallen Cathedral is a Roman Catholic church that was a part of the Abbey of St. Gall.

Since 1847, the cathedral has been a part of the Diocese of St. Gallen. It is considered as among the last great sacred structures of the Baroque period. Its interior is one of the country’s most important baroque monuments.

About a minute’s walk from the cathedral is the Abbey of Saint Gall, a Carolingian-era monastery founded in 719 by Saint Othmar where Saint Gall built his hermitage.

In 1983, Unesco included the Convent of St. Gall as a World Heritage Site for being “a perfect example of a great Carolingian monastery.”

The former monastery is still home to the Abbey Library of St. Gall, one of the world’s richest Medieval libraries with over 160,000 books. The Instagram-worthy library is celebrated for its opulent Rococo interiors.

Bird feeding outside St. Gallen Cathedral (left); the abbey and the cathedral in different perspectives