St. Gallen

St. Gallen, or sometimes Sankt Gallen ( Sankt Gallen ; English: St Gall; French: Saint-Gall; Italian: San Gallo; Romansh: Son Gagl) is the capital of the canton of St. Gallen in Switzerland. It evolved from the hermitage of Saint Gall, founded in the 7th century. Today, it is a large urban agglomeration (with around 160,000 inhabitants) and represents the center of eastern Switzerland. The town mainly relies on the service sector for its economic base.

The main tourist attraction is the Abbey of Saint Gall, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Its renowned library contains books which date back to the 9th century.

The official language of St. Gallen is (the Swiss variety of Standard) German, but the main spoken language is the local variant of the Alemannic Swiss German dialect.

The city has good transport links to the rest of the country and to neighbouring Germany and Austria. It also functions as the gate to the Appenzell Alps.

Geography

St. Gallen is situated in the northeastern part of Switzerland in a valley about 700 meters (2,300 ft) above sea level. It is one of the highest cities in Switzerland and it often receives a lot of snow in winter. The city is pleasantly situated between Lake Constance and the mountains of the Appenzell Alps (with the Säntis as the highest peak at 2,502 meters (8,209 ft)). It therefore offers excellent recreation areas nearby.

Canton of St. Gallen

The Canton of St. Gallen (German: Kanton  St. Gallen , Swiss German: 'Sanggale') is a canton of Switzerland. St. Gallen is located in the north east of Switzerland. It covers an area of 2,026 km², and has a population (as of 31 December 2014) of 495,824.As of 2007, the population included 97,461 foreigners, or about 20.9% of the total population. The capital is St. Gallen. Spelling variations include: St. Gall, Saint Gall, Saint Gallen, Sankt Gallen, and Son Gagl.

History

The canton of St. Gallen is an artificial construct of various historical territories, defined by Napoleon Bonaparte in the Act of Mediation in 1803. About half of the canton's area corresponds to the acquisitions of the abbey of St. Gallen over centuries.

The city of St. Gallen became independent of the Abbey in 1405. At the same time, the Abbey lost control of the Appenzell. Conversely, the Toggenburg was acquired by the Abbey in 1468. Both the City and the Abbey were associates (Zugewandte Orte) of the Old Swiss Confederacy, but unlike Appenzell never joined as full members. The territories at Lake Zürich, Walensee and Rheintal remained independent until 1798. In the Helvetic Republic, the northern parts of the modern canton together with Appenzell became the Canton of Säntis, while its southern parts together with Glarus became the canton of Linth.

St. Gall (disambiguation)

St. Gall may refer to:

See also