How a Swiss city built on unstable turf became a global textile powerhouse

Countries & Cities · Published 3 October 2026 Swipe more like this →

In short: St. Gallen began as a 7th-century hermitage on marshy ground, requiring modern engineers to drive hundreds of piles into the earth to support its infrastructure. Despite this precarious foundation, the city evolved into an intellectual center and a world-leading hub for high-end embroidery that still serves Parisian haute couture today.

The city of St. Gallen traces its origins to the hermitage of the Irish missionary Gallus, who reportedly settled by the river Steinach in AD 612. By the 8th century, an abbey was established at the site, which grew into a major center of pilgrimage, trade, and learning. As the settlement expanded around the abbey, it faced significant challenges, including a 926 raid by Magyars and a devastating fire in 937. Because the town center sits on unstable turf, the city has long relied on deep-piled foundations to maintain its structures, a necessity that continues to define its urban engineering.

Throughout the Middle Ages, the town engaged in a protracted struggle for independence from the abbey's ecclesiastical rule. This conflict reached a boiling point in the late 15th century under the leadership of Ulrich Varnbüler, who sought to curb the abbot's power. His aggressive tactics, including the destruction of a new abbey building in Rorschach, ultimately backfired, leading to a military intervention by the Swiss Confederation. While Varnbüler was forced to flee, the resulting political fallout solidified the city's ties to the Confederation and accelerated its eventual separation from the abbey's authority.

St. Gallen's economic identity was forged in the textile industry, which gained prominence in the 15th century. By 1910, the city produced over half of the world's embroidery, making it a vital node in the global market. Although the industry suffered during the World Wars and the Great Depression, it reinvented itself through specialization. Today, the city remains a significant cultural and economic center, home to a world-renowned business university and a UNESCO World Heritage site, the Abbey Library, which preserves manuscripts dating back to the 9th century.

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