The Abbey of the former Benedictine monastery of St. Gall, founded in 612 by the Irish monk Gallus, is famous today. The library possesses about 170 000 books. At the heart the collection are 2 100 medieval manuscripts, of which 400 date before the year 1000.  They form the very basis of Western cultural and intellectual history. This collection includes biblical and liturgical studies, book illuminations by Irish and St. Gall monks, and works of musical and literary history, the old German language and the history of law and medicine. In the vaulted cellar is the Lapidarium, which houses an important collection of Carolingian, Ottonian and Gothic architectural sculpture from the former church. In a separate part there is an exhibition on the cultural history of the Abbey.

Museum: The Abbey library
City: St. Gall
Country: Switzerland
Address: Klosterhof 6D
Website: http://www.stiftsbibliothek.ch