![SWITZERLAND - JANUARY 01: Library of the monastery St. Gallen, Switzerland. 2000 hand writings, 1635 incunable and almost 100.000 books. The library was built between 1758 and 1767 und richly decorated. (Photo by Imagno/Getty Images) [St. Gallen, Schweiz: Ehemaliges Benediktiner-Kloster. Stiftsbibliothek mit 2000 Handschriften, 1635 Wiegen- und Fruehdrucken (Inkunabeln) und schliesslich 100.000 Buechern, 1758-1767 erbaut und kunstvoll ausgestattet. Stift St. Gallen: 612 Zelle des hl. Gallus, eines Gefaehrten Columbans, 719 wird durch den hl. Otmar das Kloster errichtet, das 747 die Regel Benedikts annimmt, 1805 saekularisiert.]
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Abbeys, Architecture, Books, Interiors, Libraries, Photo tgg06/01](https://lp-cms-production.imgix.net/2023-06/StiftsbibliothekStGallen.jpeg?auto=format&fit=crop&ar=1:1&q=75&w=1200)
Northeastern Switzerland
If the greatest masterpieces on earth are wrought for the glory of God, St Gallen’s Stiftsbibliothek (Abbey Library), is like a living prayer. Religious…
Must-see attractions in Central Europe
Bernese Oberland
This is the big one. At 3454m above sea level, Jungfraujoch is Europe’s highest train station: a once-in-a-lifetime trip, with views of the deeply…
Museumsinsel & Alexanderplatz
Walk through ancient Babylon, meet an Egyptian queen, clamber up a Greek altar or be mesmerized by Monet's ethereal landscapes. Welcome to Museumsinsel …
Museumsinsel & Alexanderplatz
For over 60 years, not a soul was able to visit Berlin’s Neues Museum – in fact, it sat in ruins. But today it’s one of the city’s most celebrated…
Museumsinsel & Alexanderplatz
The Pergamonmuseum is one of Berlin’s most visited historical gems and perhaps also its most controversial. This museum offers an archaeological time-warp…
The Engadine
When an environmentally on-the-ball land like Switzerland has just one national park, you can bet it’s a good one. Huddled away in the far southeast of…
Valais
If ever a view in Switzerland is going to leave you dumbstruck (and there are a few great ones to choose from!), it will surely be the infinite swoop of…
Montreux
If ever a castle could fit the fairy-tale bill, the dashingly handsome Château de Chillon would be it, with its moat, double ramparts and riot of turrets…
Triglav National Park
Sitting at a view-enhanced elevation of 1611m, this mountain pass is about 13km southwest of Kranjska Gora, via a storied road that zigzags madly and…
Historic Mitte
This compelling exhibit tells stories of terror and persecution in Nazi Germany.
Prague
Built over a time span of almost 600 years, St Vitus is one of the most richly endowed cathedrals in central Europe. It is pivotal to the religious and…
Gdańsk & Pomerania
Malbork’s blockbuster attraction is its show-stoppingly massive castle sitting on the banks of the sluggish Nogat River, an eastern arm of the Vistula…
Malá Strana
Strolling across Charles Bridge is everybody’s favourite Prague activity. However, by 9am it’s a 500m-long fairground, with an army of tourists squeezing…
Kraków
Some 14km southeast of Kraków, the Wieliczka (vyeh-leech-kah) salt mine has been welcoming tourists since 1722 and today is one of Poland's most popular…
Gdańsk
Opened in 2016, this striking piece of modern architecture is a bold addition to the northern end of Gdańsk's waterfront. It has rapidly become one of…
Cologne
Cologne’s geographical and spiritual heart – and its single-biggest tourist draw – is the magnificent Kölner Dom. With its soaring twin spires, this is…
Weimar
Between 1937 and 1945, hidden from Weimarers and surrounding villagers, 250,000 men, women and children were incarcerated here, some 56,500 of whom were…
Aachen
It’s impossible to overestimate the significance of Aachen’s magnificent cathedral. The burial place of Charlemagne, it’s where more than 30 German kings…
Bavarian Alps
A pocket-sized trove of weird treasures, Schloss Linderhof was Ludwig II’s smallest but most sumptuous palace, and the only one he lived to see fully…
Kraków
As the political and cultural heart of Poland through the 16th century, Wawel Royal Castle is a potent symbol of national identity. It's now a museum…
Castle District
Castle Hill is a kilometre-long limestone plateau towering 170m above the Danube. It contains some of Budapest’s most important medieval monuments and…
Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial & Museum
Oświęcim
Auschwitz-Birkenau is synonymous with the Holocaust. More than a million Jews, and many Poles and Roma, were murdered here by German Nazis during WWII…
Southwestern Slovenia
What attracts most people to this little church is the famous Dance of Death or Danse Macabre, a fresco that shows 11 skeletons leading the same number of…
Warsaw
Warsaw’s top palace, 10km south of the city centre, was commissioned by King Jan III Sobieski in 1677. It has changed hands several times over the…
Füssen
Appearing through the mountaintops like a mirage, Schloss Neuschwanstein was the model for Disney’s Sleeping Beauty castle. King Ludwig II planned this…
Innsbruck
Picturesquely perched on a hill and set among beautiful gardens, this Renaissance pile was acquired in 1564 by Archduke Ferdinand II, then ruler of Tyrol,…
Esztergom
The largest church in Hungary sits on Castle Hill, and its 72m-high central dome can be seen for many kilometres around. The building of the present…
Vienna
Vienna's foremost opera and ballet venue, the neo-Renaissance Staatsoper, is one of the finest concert halls in the world. Even if you can't get tickets…
Prague
Prague’s most popular attraction. Looming above the Vltava's left bank, its serried ranks of spires, towers and palaces dominate the city centre like a…
Eastern Slovakia
Crowning a travertine hill above Spišské Podhradie village, this vast, Unesco-listed fortification is one of Central Europe's biggest castle complexes…
Salzburg
A prince-archbishop with a wicked sense of humour, Markus Sittikus, built Schloss Hellbrunn in the early 17th century as a summer palace and an escape…
Vienna
Vienna’s Gothic masterpiece Stephansdom – or Steffl (Little Stephan), as it’s ironically nicknamed – is Vienna's pride and joy. A church has stood here…
Salzburg
Salzburg's most visible icon is this mighty, 900-year-old clifftop fortress, one of the biggest and best preserved in Europe. It's easy to spend half a…
Warsaw
For over 60 years this socialist realist palace has dominated central Warsaw. A ‘gift of friendship’ from the Soviet Union, it was completed in 1955 and…
Salzburg & Salzburgerland
Billed as the world’s largest accessible ice caves, Eisriesenwelt is a glittering ice empire spanning 30,000 sq metres and 42km of narrow passages…
Erzsébetváros & the Jewish Quarter
Budapest's stunning Great Synagogue is the world's largest Jewish house of worship outside New York City. Built in 1859, the synagogue has both Romantic…
Danubiana Meulensteen Art Museum
Slovakia
The windswept location of this world-class art gallery is as invigorating as the works on display. On a promontory jutting into the Danube, the…
Budapest
Home to more than 40 statues, busts and plaques of Lenin, Marx, Béla Kun and others whose likenesses have ended up on trash heaps elsewhere, Memento Park,…
