Gallus Square

To understand why a quiet square in St. Gallen matters, it helps to know that for centuries the town was really two places. On one side stood the abbey, a Catholic ecclesiastical state ruled by a prince-abbot, and on the other lay the city, a free imperial town that adopted the Reformation in the sixteenth century under its mayor, the humanist Joachim von Watt, known as Vadian. The two lived side by side, a wall and gates separating them, until the abbey was dissolved in 1805. The area around Gallus Square sits at the point where the two worlds met, and walking from the square toward the cathedral still feels like crossing a threshold, from a town of merchants and weavers into a precinct of monks and prayer.

The square itself is modest. It is a paved open space edged with old houses, shuttered windows and the occasional café, and it has the quiet, slightly formal look of a place built for processions and meetings, not for shopping. The pedestrian streets of the old town begin only a few steps away, and the noise of the main shopping lanes fades as you approach. Stone benches along the edge provide places to sit, and in good weather people stop to eat lunch or wait for friends. It is the sort of place where you notice small things, such as the carved doorway of a house, a window box of geraniums, or the sound of the cathedral bells.

St. Gallen was famous in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries for embroidery. Machines and workshops in the town produced fine lace and embroidered cloth that was exported all over the world and supplied the fashion houses of Paris, and the wealth created by this trade built many of the grand houses around the old town. The Textile Museum, a short walk from the square, tells the story of this industry and displays pieces of remarkable delicacy, and the embroidery tradition still has a presence in the city. Seeing the old houses of merchants near the square gives an idea of the prosperity that came from fabric.

For visitors, the square is a good starting point or a resting place. It is a few minutes' walk from the Abbey Library and the cathedral, and about ten minutes from the railway station through the old town. After seeing the library's baroque hall, the cathedral's interior and the nearby museum, you can sit here to take stock before exploring the shopping streets, with their oriel windows and painted façades. The surrounding lanes lead to small shops, bakeries and cafés, and in the evening the area is quiet.

The square has no entry fee and is open at all times. It suits walkers, photographers and anyone who likes to read the layers of a town. Allow a short stop of fifteen minutes, or use it as the base for a longer walk of an hour or two through the old town. Comfortable shoes are recommended, as the paving is uneven, and the best light is in the morning, when the sun falls on the façades.