July 21st. Before proceeding to Geneva Airport for our flight back to Malta we had some time to explore Geneva – not much but it was an added bonus. This is ‘The Reformation Wall’. It is the international monument to The Reformation and it honours the main individuals who led the protestant reformation. It was built in 1909 to commemorate the 400th anniversary of John Calvin’s birthday and the 350th anniversary of the establishment of the university of Geneva.
During the reformation, Geneva was the centre of Calvinism and its history and heritage have been linked closely to Protestantism.
In this picture, the large figures in the centre of the wall represent: W. Farrel, J. Calvin, T. Beza and J. Knox. Next to them on the right are R. Williams and O. Cromwell. On the left side are G. de Coligny and William I, Prince of Orange.
To think that, during the time when to the north of Italy the Reformation ‘against’ the Catholic Church was in full swing, Malta and the states surrounding the Mediterranean were, in the meantime, fighting a ‘holy’ war against Muslim advances against the same Church.
Thank you very much for looking and for your lovely comments on yesterday's picture.
Great history lesson- and yes- it seems strange that while Calvin, Knox and others were fighting within the church, other forces were attacking it from without. But then, that has been going on for ages. Nice processing of this monument!
