Bringing a Trove of Medieval Manuscripts Online for the Ages

By JOHN TAGLIABUE

Published: October 20, 2008
NYTimes

ST. GALL EN, Switzerland — One of the oldest and most valuable collections of handwritten medieval books in the world, housed in the magnificent baroque halls of the library in this town’s abbey, is going online with the help of a $1 million grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

The Stiftsbibliothek, or abbey library, in the Swiss town of St. Gallen. Its collection of medieval manuscripts is being digitized.

The project is making the library in St. Gallen, Switzerland, more popular; annual visits are up 30 percent from a decade ago.

For centuries scholars from around the world have flocked to the Stiftsbibliothek — literally, the abbey library — in this quaint town nestled in the rolling hills of eastern Switzerland, to pore over its vast collection of manuscripts, many written and illustrated before the year 1000. more