At the birthplace of urban settlement

Urban development began at Gallusplatz. Right outside the monastery walls, craftsmen and others settled there — the first residents of St.Gallen who did not belong to the monastic community. Within St.Gallen’s old town, Gallusplatz seems unusually spacious. In the center of the square, a fountain designed by Rudolf Seitter in 1936 commemorates St.Gallus. The two towers of the collegiate church were moved from their usual location in the west to the axis of Marktgasse toward the east because the monastery wall at that time did not allow direct access to the monastery church from the west.