St. Gallen
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St. Gallen ([Sankt Gallen] ; French Saint-Gall; Italian San Gallo) is the capital of the Canton of St. Gallen in Switzerland. It evolved from the hermitage of Saint Gall founded in the 7th century. Nowadays it is a large urban agglomeration (with around 150'000 inhabitants) and presents the center of eastern Switzerland. The town mainly relies on services for its economic base.
The city has good transport links to the rest of the country and to neighbouring Germany and Austria. It especially functions as the gate to the Appenzell mountain area.
Main tourist attraction is the Abbey of St. Gall, which belongs with its renowned library (with books dating back to the 9th century) to the UNESCO cultural heritage.
Notable buildings include:
- Abbey of St. Gall
- University of St. Gallen, Swiss member of the Community of European Management Schools
- Train Station from the beginning of the 20th century
Geography
St. Gallen is situated in the north-eastern part of Switzerland in a valley around 700 meters above sea level. It is one of the highest cities in Switzerland and can receive quite a lot of snow in winter. The town is nicely situated between the Lake of Constance and the mountains of the Alpstein (with the Säntis as the highest peak at about 2500 meters) and therefore offers excellent recreation areas nearby.As the city center actually rises on an unstable turf ground (thanks to its founder Gallus who was looking for a hermitage and not founding a city), all buildings on the valley floor have to be built on pales - as e.g. the whole train station and its plaza that are based on hundreds of pales.
History
Founding of the City
The founding of St. Gallen is based on the irish monk Gallus (* around 550; † 620 or 640), who built a hermitage at the river Steinach in 612.Founding of the Abbey of St. Gallen
Around 720, one hundred years after Gallus' death, the alemannian priest Othmar built an abbey and gave it the name St. Gallen (see: Abbey of St. Gall).Reformation
Starting in 1526 then-mayor and humanist Joachim von Watt (Vadian) introduced the reformation in the city of St. Gallen.The Two Golden Ages
In the 15th century St. Gallen became successful in producing textiles. In 1714 the climax was reached with a yearly production of 38'000 pieces of cloth. The first depression happened in the middle of the 18th century caused by strong foreign competition and starting cotton production. But St. Gallen was able to catch up and an even more glamorous era arrived. At the beginning of the 19th century, the first embroidery machines were developed in St. Gallen. In 1910 the embroidery production was the largest export branch (18 percent of the total export value) in Switzerland and more than 50(!) percent of the global production originated in St. Gallen. One fifth of the population in the eastern part of Switzerland lived from the textile industry. World War I and the Great Depression thereafter let the St. Gallen embroidery fall into a second large crisis. Only in the 1950s a slight recovery started in the textile industry. Nowadays, only a small textile industry can survive in St. Gallen because of high specialization and the production of powerful embroidery machines. St. Gallen embroideries (e.g. by Akris) are still in high demand by the creators of Paris Haute Couture.Education
St.Gallen is famous for its university, aptly named University of St. Gallen (HSG). It is the number one school for business and management in German-speaking Europe and one of the top addresses worldwide. As a focused university that only offers degrees in business and management, economics, political science & international relations as well as business law, it is comparatively small, with about 5,000 students matriculated at present. It is both EQUIS and AACSBA accredited, and a member of CEMS (Community of European Management Schools). The university maintains student and faculty exchange programs around the world. Furthermore, St. Gallen is also known for a world famous private school, namely, Institut auf dem Rosenberg - an elite boarding school attracting students from all over the world.Culture and Sightseeing
Theater
- In the modern and somewhat extravagant [Theater Hall St.Gallen] operas, operettas, ballet, musicals and plays are performed. It has an impressive average utilization of nearly 80 percent.
- In the nearby [Concert Hall] with its grand art nouveau style all sorts of concerts (classic, symphony, jazz etc.) are given.
Museums
- Historical and ethnography museum (collections of regional early history, city history, folk art, cultural history as well ethnographical collections from all over the world)
- Art museum (painting and sculptures from the 19th and 20th century)
- Art hall St. Gallen (national and international modern art)
- Natural museum (natural history collection)
- Museum in the storehouse (swiss native art and art brut)
- Textile museum (historical laces, embroidery and cloth)
- Lapidarium of the abbey (building blocks from 8th to 17th century)
Music
- The [symphony orchestra St. Gallen] performs besides its duty at the city theater numerous symphony concerts in the city concert hall.
- The well known [St. Gallen Open Air Festival] takes place in the nearby sitter valley the first weekend in july.
Buildings
- Old Town
- ''Drei Weieren (three artificial water basins from the zenith of the textile industry with art nouveau-bath houses; reachable by the Mühleggbahn (train) from 1893)
- Convent of St. Gall with the famous library and abbey (UNESCO-world heritage)
- Bank Wegelin, the oldest bank in Switzerland, founded 1741.
- Tröckneturm Schönenwegen; the tower was built 1828 and was used to hang up freshly colored cloth panels for drying.
- Protestant church Linsebühl, an impressive new renaissance building dating from 1897
- University of St. Gallen (HSG; University for Business Administration, Economics and Law with an excellent reputation in the german-speaking world), founded 1898.
- Embroidery exchange, splendid building with the god for trade Hermes on its roof.
- Public bath, the oldest public bath in Switzerland dating from 1908.
- Catholic church St. Martin in the Bruggen district; the concrete church built in 1936 was at that time highly modern.
- 1992 the city of St. Gallen received the Wakkerpreis.
- Kursana Residence (http://www.kursana.ch)
- Stadtlounge (City Lounge) - a pedestrianised area in the central city designed to represent a loungeroom, but in the street. [link] German only, pictures are universal though
Parks
- Wildlife park Peter and Paul
- City park at the theater
- Cantonal school park
Regular Events
- OLMA, traditional Swiss Fair for Agriculture and Nutrition in autumn as well as numerous other exhibitions at the OLMA Fairs St. Gallen.
- OpenAir St. Gallen in the sitter valley.
- Children Feast, originally a product from the textile industry. It is organized every third year.
- St.Gallen Symposium, the "three days in may" attract personalities from economy, politics and society to the University of St.Gallen every year. The Symposium takes place in 2006 for its 36th time. The subject is: "Inspiring Europe".
- New Orleans Jazz Festival, St. Galler Fest, Gassenfest, are public parties that take place in the streets of the Old Town every year.
Transportation
The A1 motorway links St. Gallen with St. Margrethen, Zürich, Bern and Geneva. In 1987 the city motorway was opened, which leads the traffic through two tunnels (Rosenberg and Stefanshorn) almost directly below the city center.St. Gallen has its own small airport [Airport St. Gallen-Altenrhein], residing at nearby Lake of Constance with regular flights to Vienna and other destinations.
St. Gallen is closely tied to the national Swiss Federal Railways net and has InterCity connections to Zurich and the Zurich International Airport every half an hour. St. Gallen is the hub for many private railways such as the Südostbahn (SOB), connecting St. Gallen with Lucerne, the Appenzeller Bahnen with connections to Appenzell and the Trogenerbahn to Trogen, which also serves as a tram in downtown.
The town has a dense local bus transportation system operated by the VBSG, which is well established on the valley floor and less on the hills. As St. Gallen is located near the Appenzell mountain area, it offers also many Postauto (post bus) connections. The agglomeration disposes also of its own S-Bahn System (overground local trains).
The large urban area Zurich is about 80km south-west of St. Gallen and is reachable by car in about 50 minutes and by train in 69 minutes (by ICN).
Trivia
In St. Gallen, there is the oldest brewery of Switzerland called Schuetzengarten.Gustav Adolf, former king of Sweden, spent the last years of his life in St. Gallen, and finally died there in 1837.
Newspaper Articles
[Auf Pantoffeln in goldene Zeiten (German)]External links
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