Annual Exhibition Abbey Archives 2023

Annual exhibition in the exhibition space of the St Gall Abbey Archives
27 January 2023 to 24 January 2024

In the early Middle Ages, many people bequeathed their possessions to the monastery of St.Gallen in order to be provided for by it for life. With the deed formula victus et vestitus, they requested the same amount of «food and clothing» in their old age as the monks were entitled to.

The human need for a dignified life in old age and illness gives rise to different forms of social security in the Middle Ages and the early modern period. In addition to the family and the monastery, hospitals have played an important role since the later Middle Ages.

How do we want to grow old? The annual exhibition 2023 of the Abbey Archives of St.Gallen illuminates from a historical perspective a topic that has lost none of its topicality over the centuries.