Note #9196 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:
06161 March 14, 2006
Reformation museum in Geneva is next-door to Calvin's cathedral
'Exactly where the Reformation was voted in 1536'
by Jerry L. Van Marter
LOUISVILLE - A new museum in Geneva, Switzerland, devoted solely to the Protestant Reformation has delighted its founders by attracting more than 20,000 visitors in its first 10 months.
"It's amazing to see the reactions so far," Isabelle Graessle, director of the International Museum of the Reformation told the Presbyterian News Service during one of a series of visits to U.S. Reformed churches to tout and raise funds for the museum. "Ninety percent of our visitors come out happy and amazed, but also shocked - because they've forgotten so much of their religious roots."
The museum, believed to be the first in the world dedicated exclusively to the Reformation, is housed in Maison Mallet, built in 1722 next-door to the cathedral of the Protestant Church of Geneva - founded by John Calvin - that dominates old Geneva's skyline. "The museum is exactly where the Reformation was voted in 1536," said Francoise Demole, vice president of the museum's foundation/board of directors.
Maison Mallet also contains the offices of the Protestant Church of Geneva and two private apartments. The museum has retained the look and feel of an 18th century apartment. The building is also a little-known archaeological site, Demole said.
"Many Christian and pre-Christian artifacts have been found," Graessle added. "Geneva had been a crossroads in Europe, and this is well reflected in the site."
Most of the artifacts on display are Genevan, although an "international room," with materials from other parts of the Protestant world, is one of the top priorities for the further development, Demole said.
The collection includes a first edition of Calvin's Institutes, which the founder of Presbyterianism wrote in 1536 at age 27; an original copy of the Knox Bible (named for John Knox), produced in 1555; the first Bible published in French; the collected papers of Theodore de Beza, who became "shepherd" of the Geneva flock after Calvin died in 1564; letters by all the 16th century French kings recounting the struggles of the Reformation during its infancy in France; and sketches drawn by Calvin while he was teaching at his first religious academy in Geneva.
Visitors are particularly struck by the display of a burned Bible and some "wig Bibles," Graessle said. "During the times when Protestants were persecuted, people would hide their Bibles in their fireplaces or the women would conceal their Bibles in their wigs," she said. "People are shocked by these stories, but we want to show the shadows and not just the positives."
The fledgling museum is already looking forward to 2009, Calvin's 500th birthday. Demole said the museum staff plans to coordinate its celebration with others in Geneva. "We hope for special exhibitions and lectures, a symposium of Calvin scholars from all over the world, and a joint exhibition with the Museum of Art and History about life in 16th-century Geneva," she said.
For more information about the International Museum of the Reformation, visit its Web site: www.musee-reforme.ch.
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