Built in the Parc des Bastions against the original city wall erected in the 16th century to protect the City of Geneva, the International Monument to the Reformation was constructed in 1909 to mark the 400th anniversary of Calvin’s birth and the 350th anniversary of the foundation of the Academy.
Guillaume Farel, Jean Calvin, Théodore de Bèze et John Knox
The Mur des Réformateurs was built in 1909 to mark the 400th anniversary of Jean Calvin’s birth and the 350th anniversary of the foundation of the Geneva Academy, now the University of Geneva. The monument was inaugurated in 1917.
The project, chosen ahead of 71 other competing projects, was the work of four Swiss architects. The statues were created by two French sculptors.
The monument consists of a stone rampart engraved and decorated with bas-reliefs, in front of which stand the statues of statesmen, pioneers and protectors of the Reformation. Protected by a water feature recalling the moat around the former fortifications, the work as a whole is a hundred metres long.
The four great preachers
The central group represents the four great preachers: Guillaume Farel, Jean Calvin, Théodore de Bèze and John Knox, all four wearing the ‘robe of Geneva’ and holding the little people’s bible.
As an international monument, it also recalls the work and influence of Calvinism in different countries: to the left of the central group can be seen Admiral de Coligny for France, William the Silent for the Netherlands and Frederick William, Elector of Brandenburg, protector of the Huguenot refugees, for Germany. To the right are Roger Williams for New England, Oliver Cromwell for Great Britain and Stephen Bocskai for Hungary. The bas-reliefs and inscriptions complete the documentation.
Article modifié le 07.04.2022 à 11:35