St. Gallen (canton)

St. Gallen (canton)

The story of St. Gallen moves from the shores of **Lake Constance** to the peaks of the high Alps. You start in a region of rolling hills and apple orchards before the ground rises into the spectacular **Alpstein** range. The landscape is a mix of high culture and raw nature. It feels vast and diverse offering a different experience at every elevation from the Rhine valley to the **Toggenburg**. The road carries you toward the peaks of the **Säntis** where the views reach across six different countries. You find yourself in a land of high altitude dairies and narrow ridge walks like the **Lisengrat**. Down in the valleys the villages are known for their textile history and the fine lace that once dressed the royalty of Europe. **The Abbey District** remains the cultural anchor with its world famous library. You see the massive limestone towers of the **Churfirsten mountains** rising like a wall above the blue **Walensee**. The St. Gallen canton is a place of contrast where the silence of a baroque library meets the roar of a mountain wind.

St. Gallen (canton) highlights

Part of these road trips

Follow the routes that cross this destination

The Scenic Route
The Heritage Drive
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History of St. Gallen (canton)

The story of St. Gallen is built upon the ruins of a wandering Irish monk named Gallus who fell into a briar bush in 612 AD and decided it was a sign from God to stay. This humble hermitage grew into one of the most powerful and influential **Benedictine** abbeys in Europe. By the Middle Ages the **Abbey of St. Gallen** was a City of Scholars possessing a library so vast it became the intellectual center of the Western world. In the 15th century the townspeople grew tired of monastic rule and fought for their own independence leading to a unique era where the city and the abbey lived side by side as rivals. This tension fueled an industrial boom in textiles. The region became world famous for its white gold which was fine linen and intricate lace. By the 1800s the **St. Gallen embroidery industry** was so massive that it accounted for a significant portion of all Swiss exports funding the grand ornate buildings that still line the streets today. While the valleys were getting rich on lace the people in the Alpstein mountains were perfecting the art of the high altitude dairy. The history of the canton is a tale of two worlds including the sophisticated scholars of the abbey and the tough mountain farmers of the **Toggenburg**. This diversity created a land where you could go from a gold leaf baroque library to a rugged mountain hut in a single afternoon. It is a story of how faith knowledge and fine craft transformed a wild forest.
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