Editing Abbey of Saint Gall (section)

==Cultural treasures==
[[Image:Codex Sangallensis 1092 recto.jpg|thumb|left|The [[Plan of St Gall]] (c. 820–830), the only surviving major [[architectural drawing]] from the [[Early Middle Ages]]]]
[[File:Saint Gall planta.PNG|thumb|The diagram version of the Plan]]

The [[Abbey library of Saint Gall]] is recognized as one of the richest medieval libraries in the world. It is home to one of the most comprehensive collections of early medieval books in the German-speaking part of Europe. {{as of|2005}}, the library consists of over 160,000 books, of which 2100 are handwritten. Nearly half of the handwritten books are from the Middle Ages and 400 are over 1000 years old.<ref name="Codices"/> Lately the ''Stiftsbibliothek'' has launched a project for the digitisation of the priceless manuscript collection, which currently (December 2009) contains 355<ref name="Codices"/> documents that are available on the ''Codices Electronici Sangallenses'' webpage.

The library interior is exquisitely realised in the [[Rococo]] style with carved polished wood, stucco and paint used to achieve its overall effect. It was designed by the architect [[Peter Thumb]] and is open to the public. In addition it holds exhibitions as well as concerts and other events.<ref>[http://www.stiftsbibliothek.ch/site/content.asp?typ=Aktuell&category=01%24Aktuell&lang=DE St. Gall Library website (limited English information) {{in lang|de}}] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070727114426/http://www.stiftsbibliothek.ch/site/content.asp?typ=Aktuell&category=01%24Aktuell&lang=DE |date=July 27, 2007 }}</ref>

One of the more interesting documents in the Stiftsbibliothek is a copy of [[Priscian]]'s ''Institutiones grammaticae'' which contains the poem ''[[Is acher in gaíth in-nocht...]]'' written in [[Old Irish]].

The library also preserves a unique 9th-century document, known as the [[Plan of St. Gall]], the only surviving major architectural drawing from the roughly 700-year period between the [[fall of the Western Roman Empire]] and the 13th century. The Plan drawn sometime between AD 820–830 AD<ref>{{Cite book |last= Price |first=L. |title= The Plan of Saint Gall in Brief |year= 1982 |publisher= University of California Press |location= Berkeley |page= ix |isbn= 9780520043343}}</ref> was never actually built, and was so named because it was dedicated to the then-abbot of Saint Gall and kept at the famous medieval monastery library, where it remains to this day. The plan was an ideal of what a well-designed and well-supplied monastery should have, as envisioned by one of the synods held at [[Aachen]] for the reform of monasticism in the Frankish empire during the early years of emperor [[Louis the Pious]] (between 814 and 817).

A late 9th-century drawing of [[Saint Paul|Paul]] lecturing an agitated crowd of Jews and gentiles, part of a copy of a [[Pauline epistles]] produced at and still held by the monastery, was included in a medieval-drawing show at the [[Metropolitan Museum of Art]] in [[New York City|New York]] the summer of 2009. A reviewer noted that the artist had "a special talent for depicting hair, ... with the saint's beard ending in curling droplets of ink."<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/19/arts/design/19drawing.html?hpw "Those Medieval Monks Could Draw"] Review by [[Roberta Smith]], ''The New York Times'', June 18, 2009 (6/19/09, p. C25 of the NY ed.). Retrieved 6/19/09. "Pen and Parchment: Drawing in the [[Middle Ages]]" runs through August 23, 2009.</ref>

St. Gall is noted for its early use of the [[neume]], the basic element of Western and Eastern systems of [[musical notation]] prior to the invention of five-line [[staff (music)|staff]] notation. The earliest extant manuscripts are from the 9th or 10th century.

In 1983, the Convent of St. Gall was inscribed on the UNESCO [[World Heritage List]] as "a perfect example of a great [[Carolingian Renaissance|Carolingian]] monastery".<ref>[https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/268 UNESCO website] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170509200414/https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/268 |date=2017-05-09 }} accessed 30 December 2009</ref>