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Calvin Auditory

16th-century Protestant churchesChapels in SwitzerlandChurch of ScotlandChurches in GenevaCultural property of national significance in the canton of Geneva
Gothic architecture in SwitzerlandJohn CalvinReformed church buildings in SwitzerlandTourist attractions in Geneva
Calvin Auditory
Calvin Auditory

The Calvin Auditorium or Calvin Auditory (French Auditoire de Calvin), originally the Notre-Dame-la-Neuve Chapel, is a chapel in Geneva, Switzerland, which played a significant role in the Protestant Reformation. It is associated with John Calvin, Theodore Beza and John Knox. The auditorium lies directly adjacent to St. Pierre Cathedral in the Place de la Taconnerie. The austere Gothic-style building was constructed in the 15th century, on the site of earlier 5th-century religious buildings, and was originally dedicated to Notre-Dame-la-Neuve. From 1536, the time of Geneva's Reformation, it became a lecture hall where Calvin actively expounded his reformed theology: Bible studies were conducted here at 7:00 each morning. In 1559, it served as the original home of the University of Geneva. Once Geneva accepted the Reformation, it became a haven for Protestant refugees from all over Europe, and Calvin gave this building over for them to worship in their own language. It was also used by the Scottish reformer John Knox, during his exile in Geneva in the 1550s. Here he ministered to an English-speaking refugee congregation and developed many of the ideas that were to be influential in the Scottish Reformation. Subsequently, it became a place used by numerous Protestant refugee groups including Italian Waldensians, Dutch Reformed and Scottish Presbyterians. It is viewed by many Reformed churches throughout the world as a crucible of their faith. Some of them had great political influence, like the 1559 student of the academy Philips of Marnix, who corresponded after Calvin’s death with De Beze. He was influential in drafting the Union of Utrecht in the Netherlands, which promoted freedom of conscience for citizens. Effects of the influence of Auditoire visitors is documented in the Reformation Monument. A tour linking the Auditoire to other sites in the old town with great societal significance is available online.Over the years, the building deteriorated. In 1954, the World Alliance of Reformed Churches reached an agreement with the National Protestant Church of Geneva and launched a programme to restore the auditorium, which was completed in 1959. THe effort was led by Rev. Dr. Harrison Ray Anderson, Minister of Fourth Presbyterian Church of Chicago, and former moderator of the Presbyterian Church. Today, following in the tradition established by Calvin, the Auditoire is still used for worship in languages other than French. It hosts the congregation of the Italian Reformed Church, as well as being used by a congregation of the Church of Scotland as its main place of worship every Sunday.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Calvin Auditory (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Calvin Auditory
Place de la Taconnerie, Geneva Cité

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N 46.2008 ° E 6.1484 °
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Auditoire de Calvin

Place de la Taconnerie 1
1204 Geneva, Cité
Geneva, Switzerland
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Calvin Auditory
Calvin Auditory
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Geneva
Geneva

Geneva ( jə-NEE-və; French: Genève [ʒənɛv] (listen)) is the second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaking part of Switzerland. Situated in the south west of the country, where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the capital of the Republic and Canton of Geneva. The city of Geneva (ville de Genève) had a population of 203,951 in 2020 (Jan. estimate) within its small municipal territory of 16 km2 (6 sq mi), but the Canton of Geneva (the city and its closest Swiss suburbs and exurbs) had a population of 504,128 (Jan. 2020 estimate) over 246 km2 (95 sq mi), and together with the suburbs and exurbs located in the canton of Vaud and in the French departments of Ain and Haute-Savoie the cross-border Geneva metropolitan area as officially defined by Eurostat, which extends over 2,292 km2 (885 sq mi), had a population of 1,044,766 in Jan. 2020 (Swiss estimates and French census).Since 2013, the Canton of Geneva, the Nyon District (in the canton of Vaud), and the Pôle métropolitain du Genevois français (literally 'Metropolitan hub of the French Genevan territory'), this last one a federation of eight French intercommunal councils, have formed Grand Genève ("Greater Geneva"), a Local Grouping of Transnational Cooperation (GLCT in French, a public entity under Swiss law) in charge of organizing cooperation within the cross-border metropolitan area of Geneva (in particular metropolitan transports). The Grand Genève GLCT extends over 1,996 km2 (771 sq mi) and had a population of 1,037,407 in Jan. 2020 (Swiss estimates and French census), 58.4% of them living on Swiss territory, and 41.6% on French territory.Geneva is a global city, a financial centre, and a worldwide centre for diplomacy due to the presence of numerous international organizations, including the headquarters of many agencies of the United Nations and the Red Cross. Geneva hosts the highest number of international organizations in the world. It is also where the Geneva Conventions were signed, which chiefly concern the treatment of wartime non-combatants and prisoners of war. Together with, for instance, New York City (global headquarters of the UN), Basel (Bank for International Settlements), and Strasbourg (Council of Europe), Geneva is a city serving as the headquarters of one of the most important international organizations, without being the capital of a country.In 2021, Geneva was ranked as the world's ninth most important financial centre for competitiveness by the Global Financial Centres Index, fifth in Europe behind London, Zürich, Frankfurt and Luxembourg. In 2019, Geneva was ranked among the ten most liveable cities in the world by Mercer together with Zürich and Basel. The city has been referred to as the world's most compact metropolis and the "Peace Capital". In 2019, Mercer ranked Geneva as the thirteenth most expensive city in the world. In a UBS ranking of global cities in 2018, Geneva was ranked first for gross earnings, second most expensive, and fourth in purchasing power.

Reformation Wall
Reformation Wall

The International Monument to the Reformation (French: Monument international de la Réformation; German: Internationales Reformationsdenkmal), usually known as the Reformation Wall (French: Mur des réformateurs), was inaugurated in 1909 in Geneva, Switzerland. It honours many of the main individuals, events, and documents of the Protestant Reformation by depicting them in statues and bas-reliefs. The Wall is in the grounds of the University of Geneva, which was founded by John Calvin, and was built to commemorate the 400th anniversary of Calvin's birth and the 350th anniversary of the university's establishment. It is built into the old city walls, and the monument's location there is designed to represent the integral importance of the fortifications, and therefore of the city of Geneva, to the Reformation. The monument was the culmination of a contest launched to transform that part of the park. The contest involved 71 proposals from around the world, and was won by four Swiss architects: Charles Dubois, Alphonse Laverrière, Eugène Monod, and Jean Taillens (whose other design came third). The sculptures were then created by two French sculptors: Paul Landowski and Henri Bouchard.During the Reformation, Geneva was the centre of Calvinism, and its history and heritage since the sixteenth century has been closely linked to that of Protestantism. Due to the close connections to that theology, the individuals most prominently depicted on the Wall were Calvinists; nonetheless, key figures in other theologies are also included. At the centre of the monument, four 5 metre-tall statues of Calvinism's main proponents are depicted: William Farel (1489–1565) John Calvin (1509–1564) Theodore Beza (1519–1605) John Knox (c.1513–1572)To the left (facing the Wall, ordered from left to right) of the central statues are 3 metre-tall statues of: Frederick William of Brandenburg (1620–1688) William the Silent (1533–1584) Gaspard de Coligny (1519–1572)To the right (ordered from left to right) are 3 metre-tall statues of: Roger Williams (1603–1684) Oliver Cromwell (1599–1658) Stephen Bocskai (1557–1606)Along the wall, to either side of the central statues, is engraved the motto of both the Reformation and Geneva: Post Tenebras Lux (Latin for After darkness, light). On the central statues' pedestal is engraved a Christogram: ΙΗΣ. The monument gave inspiration to one of the most important 20th century Hungarian poems, written by Gyula Illyés in 1946 under the title Before the Monument of Reformation in Geneva.