The Abbey of St Gall is an outstanding heritage site of the world that has preserved the history relating to monastic era of human faiths; this large Carolingian monastery is one of the most important cultural centres in Europe. It is a typical ensemble of a large Benedictine convent. Its Abbatial Library is one of the richest and oldest in the world wherein documents concerning the history of the origins of Alemannic Switzerland are well preserved.

Unesco’s writings on this heritage finds, ‘The Abbey of Gozbert (816-837) exerted a great influence on the development of monastic architecture following the Council of Aix-la-Chapelle, as demonstrated by the famous plan of St Gall of the 9th century which comprises architectural drawings of 341 inscriptions on parchment that may be perceived as the ideal layout for a Benedictine Abbey.

‘An Abbey is a complex of buildings used by members of a religious order under the governance of an abbot or abbess’. This definition of ‘abbey’ does not exclusively identify a Christian monk or a Buddhist monk; the word ‘abbey’ finds its root in ‘abhaya’ means ‘fearless’ of ‘do not fear’; a divine abode where safety from all worldly fears is assured. It also defines ‘abasa’ means a ‘place of residence’ or ‘house’; he who dwells in an ‘abasa’ is called ‘abasika’;

English ‘abbot’ or ‘abbad’ or Greek ‘abbas’ and Latin ‘abbat’, means one and the same thing, ‘abhuta’ or ‘adbhuta’( means ‘not seen or heard before’)  or ‘abadhuta’ ( a wanderer or houseless monk), has different name-forms also. Aramic ‘abba’ which means ‘father’ also refers to Indian ‘Baba’ meaning ‘father’ or the ‘head or chief’ of a religious institution; Pali texts find ‘abhaya’ as a name of a Thera or a monk or a King or son of a king etc; ‘Abhaya’-giri Vihara as a place of monks. English ‘Abbey’ is as same as Pali ‘Abhaya’ or Abhayagiri Vihara. Name Abhaya used in case of the Lichhavis of Vesali(Basileon of the Bible) is a wonderful thing for history that marks ancient Romans using this name that highlights their religious identity. So Gall means ‘giri’ which can be seen as same as ‘ghara’ or the ‘house’ or the ‘abasa’. Sometimes ‘giri’ also identifies a ‘mountain’ means ‘parabata’. The latter is anciently used to mark a human settlement; because of its raised platform to avoid flood waters it was then very frequently called a ‘parbata’ means ‘mountain’. Here Saint means Indian ‘Santha’ , a religious person identifying his detachment living outside his home.