St. Gallen Cathedral is a Roman Catholic church in Switzerland and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is considered one of the last great sacred structures of the Baroque era. The Irish monk Gall built a hermitage on the site in 612. Around 719 a first abbey church was built over his grave, and a crypt was erected from 837 to 839.
Prince-abbot Cölestin Gugger von Staudach started the present church in 1755, and the architect Peter Thumb, who also designed the abbey library, completed it in 1767. Most of the frescoes are by Josef Wannenmacher.
The canton dissolved the abbey in 1805, and the church became a cathedral in 1847. The interior was renovated from 1962 to 1967. Its nine bells, hung in two towers, are the most complete set of historic church bells in Switzerland.
Comments