The Abbey of Saint Gall is a Roman Catholic religious complex in the city of St. Gallen in Switzerland of a dissolved abbey (747-1805). The Carolingian-era monastery has existed since 719 and became an independent principality between 9th and 13th centuries, and was for many centuries one of the chief Benedictine abbeys in Europe. It was founded by Saint Othmar on the spot where Saint Gall had erected his hermitage.