Pfäfers Abbey

24 July 2021

The Pfäfers Abbey (St. Gallen) was the most important cultural centre in the region in the Middle Ages. It was founded around 740 and owned properties and rights in Liechtenstein, the Sarganserland and Graubünden. A major crisis occurred during the Reformation. However, the monastery gradually succeeded in bringing about a first and second golden age in the 17th and 18th centuries.

With the end of the old Confederation in 1798 came another crisis from which the monastery never recovered. In 1838, the Great Council of the canton of St. Gallen decided to close the monastery and confiscate its property. Around 1850, a psychiatric clinic was established in the building.

(Source: Historsiches Lexikon der Schweiz, Pfäfers (Kloster) (hls-dhs-dss.ch).