Switzerland Guide
Ostschweiz and Liechtenstein
The abbey library (Stiftsbibliothek)
The abbey library (Stiftsbibliothek) is one of the oldest libraries in Europe, and famous both for its superb Baroque interior and for its huge collection of rare and unique medieval books and manuscripts.
The 28-by-10-metre room is acclaimed as Switzerland's finest example of a Baroque secular interior, and the first glimpse of it as you enter is dizzying. Designed by the same Peter Thumb who worked on the cathedral, the library dates from slightly later: its orthodox Baroque architecture is overlaid with the opulent decoration of the Rococo period which then held sway. The four ceiling frescoes by Josef Wannenmacher depict with bold trompe l'oeil perspectives the early Christian theological councils of Nicaea, Constantinople, Ephesus and Chalcedon. Among the wealth of smaller frescoes set amongst the ceiling stucco, in the far southeast corner you'll spot The Venerable Bede, a seventh-century English monk from Northumbria who wrote one of the first histories of England.
The books are ranged on floor-to-ceiling shelves, originally organized by subject (indicated by the cherubs at the head of capitals around the library), but now arranged alphabetically. Inside the recessed panels between each bookcase are registers of books in the nearby shelves, with space to leave your name: the library still operates as an ordinary lending library. Its list of cultural treasures is extraordinary: works include an astronomical textbook written in 300 BC; copies made in the fifth century of works by Virgil, Horace and other classical authors; texts written by Bede in his original Northumbrian language; and the oldest book to have survived in German, dating from the eighth century. Various of these and other treasures are displayed in glass cases dotted around the main area.
Opening time: Mon– Sat 10am–5pm, Sun 10am–4pm; Dec– March closed noon–1.30pm; closed for 2 weeks in late Nov
Price: Fr.7
Website: www.stibi.ch