St Gallen Cathedral Chancel

St Gallen, Switzerland 2011–2013

Client: Katholischer Konfessionsteil des Kantons St.Gallen UNESCO World Heritage Site

This commission for a new chancel at the centre of St Gallen Cathedral was won in an invited competition. St Gallen is justly famous as a long-lived monastic community with a lavish cathedral and an extraordinary library. The commission was to commemorate the 300th anniversary of the construction of the Baroque cathedral and was required to replace a temporary wooden chancel that had been there since the 1960s.

Floor plan

Plan of the Cathedral's nave

Section

Front elevation

Floor plan

Formwork plan

Inlay plan

Frieze detail

Detail of the construction process

Detail of steps

Rucellai Sepulchre, Florence, Leon Battista Alberti, 1467

Lecture

Treffpunkt Gestaltung Im Handwerk
Die Barocken Blätter der Kathedrale

Schweizer Baumuster-Centrale, Zurich, Switzerland

23 January 2020, 6pm

baumuster.ch

Florian Zierer speaks at the Schweizer Baumuster-Centrale on the subject of the construction of the new chancel at St Gallen Cathedral.

Project: St Gallen Cathedral Chancel

Consecration

St Gallen Cathedral Chancel

St Gallen, Switzerland

The consecration of the new chancel at St Gallen Cathedral, designed by Caruso St John Architects, was celebrated in a service led by Bishop of St Gallen Markus Büchel and attended by 1200 members of the diocese. In his sermon the Bishop refered to the design as a "couragous and successful work". Construction of the new chancel was completed in four months, during which time the Cathedral remained open to the public.

Project: St Gallen Cathedral Chancel

Location
St Gallen, Switzerland

Date
2011–2013

Client
Katholischer Konfessionsteil des Kantons St.Gallen

Heritage
UNESCO World Heritage Site

Construction cost
1.6m CHF

Area
300 m²

Caruso St John Architects
Adam Caruso, Peter St John, Florian Zierer

Project architect
Florian Summa

Project team
Colm mac Aoidh, Christof Bedall, Michael Schneider

Structural engineer
Grünenfelder & Lorenz AG

Cost consultant
Jaeger Baumanagement AG