World Heritage Sites in Switzerland Codexery

Abbey library of Saint Gall

One of the oldest monastic libraries in the world.

It was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1983 along with the Abbey of St Gall.[1] In St. Gallen, Switzerland, one finds the abbey library of Saint Gall, a medieval monastic library.[1]

Quick Facts

Country
Switzerland

Facts from the source article.

Key facts and history

This translates to "healing place for the soul," based on an inscription at the Library of Ramesses II.[2] The collection includes 1650 incunabula and 2100 manuscripts from the 8th through 15th centuries.[3] Saint Othmar, who also founded the Abbey of St. Gall, established this library.[4] The Abbey burned in 937, yet the library survived that fire without damage.[4]

Between 1758 and 1767, the Rococo-style library hall was built, with Peter Thumb serving as its architect.[4] Switzerland's oldest library collection is here; it also ranks among the world's earliest and most significant monastic libraries.[3] Public access is granted to most of the nearly 160,000 volumes held there.[3] The Nibelungenlied's manuscript B resides in this library.[3]

What the cited sources add

The Gundis Gospel-Book, a splendid liturgical manuscript from around 900, contains a monumental "Maria" monogram.[5] The Science Times account notes that Saint Gall's Abbey Library possesses specialized CT scanners dedicated to mummy imaging.[6] Shep-en-Isis, who passed away 2,600 years ago, has her mummy housed in the library.[6]

References

  1. Wikipedia, "Abbey library of Saint Gall" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Abbey of St. Gall", UNESCO World Heritage List, 2019 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  2. Wikipedia, "Abbey library of Saint Gall" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Lutz, "The Oldest Library Motto: ψγxhσ ιατρειον", The Library Quarterly, 1978, p. 36–39 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  3. Wikipedia, "Abbey library of Saint Gall" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Berlitz: Switzerland Pocket Guide", Berlitz Publishing Company, April 1999, p. 40–41; Murray, "The Library: An Illustrated History", Skyhorse Publishing, 2009, p. 288 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  4. Wikipedia, "Abbey library of Saint Gall" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Murray, "The Library: An Illustrated History", Skyhorse Publishing, 2009; "Abbey library of St. Gallen /Stiftsbibliothek (Abbey Library) St. Gallen", 2017-01-19 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  5. "e-codices –– Virtual Manuscript Library of Switzerland", www.e-codices.unifr.ch. facts only, no text reused. e-codices.unifr.ch
  6. "3D Face Reconstruction of Mysterious Egyptian Mummy 'Shep-en-Isis' Who Died 2,600 Years Ago Revealed", The Science Times. facts only, no text reused. sciencetimes.com

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Abbey library of Saint Gall (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.

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