Plan of Saint Gall

It is widely held that the Plan was dedicated to Gozbertus, the Abbot of St Gall from 816–36. However, recently Alfons Zettler[15] has put forward the possibility of it being dedicated to another monk, Gozbert – known as young Gozbert – also an inhabitant of the monastery of Saint Gall during the same period.

The text reads [as translated by Horn into English]:

For thee, my sweetest son Gozbertus, have I drawn this briefly annotated copy of the layout of the monastic buildings, with which you may exercise your ingenuity and recognize my devotion, whereby I trust you do not find me slow to satisfy your wishes. Do not imagine that I have undertaken this task supposing you to stand in need of our instruction, but rather believe that out of love of God and in the friendly zeal of brotherhood I have depicted this for you alone to scrutinise. Farewell in Christ, always mindful of us, Amen[16]

The Latin reads:

Haec tibi dulcissime fili cozb(er)te de posicione officinarum paucis examplata direxi, quibus sollertiam exerceas tuam, meamq(ue) devotione(m) utcumq(ue) cognoscas, qua tuae bonae voluntari satisfacere me segnem non inveniri confido. Ne suspiceris autem me haic ideo elaborasse, quod vos putemus n(ost)ris indigere magisteriis, sed potius ob amore(m) dei tibi soli p(er) scrutinanda pinxisse amicabili fr(ater)nitatis intuitu crede. Vale in Chr(ist)o semp(er) memor n(ost)ri ame(n).[17]

Monk's cloister. Plan of Saint Gall. Buildings surrounding the cloister clockwise from the top: warming room and dormitory, refectory, vestiary and kitchen, cellar and larder (bottom of the picture). The basilica can be seen to the left of the picture.

The monastic cloister occupies the centre of the Plan. It is placed in the southeast aligning itself both with the sacred east and with the poor – the accommodation for pilgrims and the poor is placed in the east just beneath the cloister – far from the worldly commodities and pleasures of the secular elite.[22]

The structure of the cloister is highly symbolic. Firstly, it is a closed space looking inwards to its own centre where a savin tree is placed – sauina – illustrating the ideal of a monk's experience removed from the world.[23][24] Secondly, it is foursquare and four paths lead from its covered galleries to the centre – semitae per transuersum claustri quattuor – symbolising Jerusalem and its four rivers.[23][24]

The cloister is surrounded by two-storied buildings consisting of the warming room and dormitory to the east – calefactoria domus and dormitorium – the refectory, vestiary and kitchen to the south – refectorium, uestiarium and coquinam – and the cellar and larder to the west – cellarium and lardarium.[24][19] The monks, as well as the abbot, had a private entrance to the basilica either through their dormitory or through the portico of the cloister.[25]

Abbot's House. Plan of Sain Gall. See private passageway to Basilica (right of image).

The abbot's intermediary position between the clerical and lay worlds is seen in the position of his accommodation on the Plan.[26][27] The abbot's quarters are located at the other side of the abbey church from the monk's cloister, to the north-east, aligning itself with the secular elite guest houses where the royalty, the emperor and the emperor's court would lodge.[28] The abbot's house also looks over the infirmary and novitiate to the east, the outer school and the house for elite guests to the west.[28]

The abbot's house faces outwards, its porticoes opening to the outside world, in opposition with the monk's cloister porticoes which open to an enclosed green space.[29] However, in order to comply with an ascetic way of life and to the Benedictine Rule, the abbot shares his bedroom and privy with seven other monks, and his servant quarters are set apart.[30]

Finally, the abbot's residence has a privileged entry to the east-end of the basilica through a private passageway – ad eclesiam ingressus – signalling his spiritual status as head of the monastery.[26]

Basilica. Plan of Saint Gall.

The monastery church or basilica is cruciform in shape and doubled-apsed to the east and to the west. It measures c.91.44 meters from apse to apse, the nave is c.12 meters in width and each aisle is c.6 meters in width.[31]

In the west entrance there are two towers dedicated to St. Michael (northern tower) and St. Gabriel (southern tower). The inscriptions on the towers – ad universa super inspicienda – give them a surveillance function while no indication of bells is given.[32]

The entrance to the church is also the only entrance to the whole monastic complex[33] and it is marked by a square porch inscribed: Adueniens adytum populus hic cunctus habebit (Here all the arriving crowd will find their entry).[24] From here the visitors are directed to a semi-circular atrium where they are separated to different parts of the monastery depending on their status – the elite is directed to the north gate and the pilgrims and lower-classes to the south gate – or to the church.[33][34]

The interior of the church is divided by columns and railings which not only direct the lay visitors to their authorised spaces but also block their view of the sacred east where the altar of Saint Mary and Saint Gall is placed.[35] According to Horn and Born only one-sixth of the church is accessible to seculars while five-sixths of it is reserved for the sole use of the monks.[31] Lay guests are only admitted in the side aisles of the church, the area around the baptismal font – fons – and the crypt – cripta; the only place in the church where monks and seculars mix to worship at the tomb of Saint Gall.[36] The transept, the presbytery, the nave and the two apses (dedicated to Saint Peter to the west and Saint Paul to the east) being solely for the ascetics' use.[33]

The northern and southern aisles of the basilica are furnished with four altars each. The northern aisle houses the altars (from west to east) of Saints Lucia and Cecilia, of the Holy Innocents, of Saint Martin, and of Saint Stephen. The altars on the southern aisle are dedicated (from west to east) to Saints Agatha and Agnes, to Saint Sebastian, to Saint Mauritius, and to Saint Lawrence.[37][38]

The nave opens to the aisles through nine arcades in each side, three of them "railed off"[37] to prevent the entry of laymen. The main surface of the nave houses the baptismal font, the altar of Saint John the Baptist and Saint John the Evangelist, the altar of the Holy Saviour at the Cross and the ambo. The transept is separated from the nave by further screens and railings, in its southern arm is the altar of Saint Andrew and in its northern arm the altar of Saints Philipp and James. From the transcript the monks and lay brothers access the crypt.[39] Finally, at the easternmost of the church is the presbytery with the high altar dedicated to Saint Mary and Saint Gall.[40]

According to Earl Anderson (Cleveland State University), it is likely that Umberto Eco references the plan in his novel The Name of the Rose:

"perhaps larger but less well proportioned" (p. 26): Adso [a character in the book] mentions actual monasteries that he had seen in Switzerland and France (St. Gall, Cluny, Fontenay), but the standard of "proportion" most likely alludes to the Carolingian (9th century) "Plan of St. Gall," which sets forth an architectural plan for an ideal monastery.[42]

The Plan has inspired a tradition of model making. In 1965 Ernest Born and others created a scale model of the plan for the Age of Charlemagne exhibition in Aachen, Germany. This became the inspiration for the book he co-authored in 1979 with Walter Horn, but was also the first in a tradition of modeling the plan. More recently the plan has been modeled on computers using CAD software. It is possible to see the different models in the Saint Gall Project website.[24]

Campus Galli is a Carolingian monastic community under construction in Meßkirch, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. The construction project includes plans to build a medieval monastery according to the early 9th-century Plan of Saint Gall using techniques from that era. The long-term financing of the project is to come from revenue generated from the site's operation as a tourist attraction. The construction site has been open for visitors since June 2013.[43]

The St. Gall Project was founded to produce a digital online presence for the plan including models and an extensive online database on early medieval monastic culture. The project is directed by Patrick Geary (UCLA) and Bernard Frischer (University of Virginia)[44] with funding from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. The website was released to the public in December 2007. Future resources will include intellectual and textual aspects of the plan and monasticism; space for publication of new papers and research, lesson plans and teaching aides, blogs and chat rooms.[45]